wip - quilting/binding reunion @ midnight

quilting . . . My FAVORITE part!  

I have always loved how the quilting on Sunkissed Sally turned out.  Random spiraling circles with the centers left untouched.  Those center circular blanks really pop out and help to create a softness to the quilt.   I wanted to see if I could create the same affect with triangles on "reunion @ midnight".

For a cleaner start on quilting words, bring up your bottom thread, back stitch a few stitches then move along your letter, going back to clip those threads, or for the invisible look, fish them into your quilt.  Letters will be more defined if you go over them twice.

If you are using a print font and not cursive, move along the bottom of the letters to the next letter.

Thoughts on binding:

Hand sewing the back of the binding gives a classic, finished look.  You can skip the clips and pins holding your binding till you have time to sew it down by stitching your binding with the largest stitch your machine provides.   It may take you days or weeks before you have some of that precious  "hand sewing time" to tackle the back of your binding.

Trick:  If you sew your binding down with that long stitch, you will have to adjust the tension on your machine since you are going through multiple layers.  BUT!  if you don't change the tension, you will get a stitch like the one pictured above, which is MUCH easier to remove once you've completed your hand sewing.

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binding technique

Do you hand sew your binding?

ANNOUNCING: Fall Blogger's Quilt Festival

When I first started quilting, I came across Amy's Quilt Festival for Bloggers.  I was so captivated by the quilts, and it motivated me to be a part of the next festival (semi-yearly), so I learned all about blogging and started a quilt.

Here is the button for this fall's festival . . . I like the design!  It's such a fun place to show off your work, and to see what others are doing.  I challenge you to prepare a quilt for the show.  You can't have previously posted about it.   SEE BELOW You have 8 weeks!

You can learn about previous festivals by looking for the bottons on the right side of my blog, or by looking under "Labels".

I STAND CORRECTED!!    And it's so exciting!  Because this morning as I posted this, I thought I was going to need to start and finish a whole new quilt, or wait 2 months to show you REUNION @ MIDNIGHT.

So, Amy says that you can use a quilt that you've already blogged about, but you need to write a new post for it.  She doesn't want old posts. YES!!!



Entries from  previous festivals:

reunion placemats

I guess we're going "reunion" in the kitchen.  

Now that we're "empty nesters", we decided it was time to take the nasty plastic cover off our kitchen table.

The wood needs protection.  I've been stumbling over what design to use for pieced placemats.  Any design would do.  I finally decided that the stress I was allowing was not worth it for "placemats" and decided to use what reunion canvas I have left.

They are a standard size placemat, altering a bit to get one more placemat.  To minimize on bulk, finish off the edges, then turn under once, press and sew 1/4 inch from the edge. 

The weight of the canvas fabric gives just enough protection, but not too much bulk . . . PERFECT!  

The table runner with this red canvas may be from the hometown line.  

Simplicity won the day!  I'm very happy AND IT'S DONE!  

Sweetwater is coming out with their next line of fabric, yesterday's post is promising a sneak peek in their blog next week.  I've been stuck on reunion for too long.  

My husband has found "his answer" to all my troubles.  He started saying this on a regular basis about a year ago.   I didn't like it at first, but these 4 words have provided an amazing amount of therapy, and I didn't even have to pay for it!  

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back for Reunion @ midnight

wip . . . backing for Reunion @ Midnight.

I get so much satisfaction when I can take the scraps from the top of a quilt, and use them on the back.

I had some nice shaped scraps from the Reunion @ Midnight top.  Easy to randomly put together.

 Backs are fun to come up with.  You can basically do just about anything . . . no pattern is right or wrong.

Piecing can sometimes be a bit of a challenge especially when there aren't any instructions.

READY TO QUILT !!!

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wip - Reunion @ midnight

I've procrastinated long enough.  This quilt goes to college in just 13 days, so now I have a real deadline.  Have you ever marveled at how much faster you work at the end of a deadline?  IT'S AMAZING !!!   Today's goal, finish the top.

It's been a busy summer with all the normal stuff and some extras added in,  kids moving, babies birthing, odd trips . . . . .

Its' time for a quilt finish.

A thought about cousins I recently read on FB . . .

"Cousins are usually the first friends we have as children.  No one will ever understand your crazy family like your cousins do, even if you haven't talked too much lately."

I've thought a lot this year about the cousins that I grew up with, making forts in Grandpa's hay barn, running through corn fields, riding old tractors . . . until recently, I hadn't seen them for years.  This quote is so true.

We had a photo opp of a new generation of cousins in our family, I have to wonder what that quote will mean for these 2 in another 20 years.

Some of you may know how long it takes to get 2 infants fed, burped, diapered, clothed, re-diapered, re-clothed and happy at the same time for a 60 second photo opp.

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