Christmas in July- just barely

This pattern is called Christmas 101 and is from the Jan Patek book Country Quilts.  

This is a great book with lots of Primitive patterns.

This is also a Jan Patek pattern  Santa Clause Lane which  I won in a giveaway on Lavender Quilts back in  August of 2012. 

The tops have been pieced for some time and I finally got them quilted and off my UFO list.
It was my plan to have quilts to hang for Christmas when all the family was still coming to my house for Christmas dinner.  Well, time has moved along and we now all get together at my Daughters house.
I have become very lax in my seasonal decorating  maybe these will inspire me to do more.

Fresh Laundry - My Retreat Quilt

This past May I went on a quilt retreat with 5 ladies from my small quilt group.  You know you always need something mindless to sew when you are sewing with a group of friends because with all the conversation it’s hard to concentrate on anything complicated.

 This was a free jelly roll pattern called Fresh Laundry by Liz Katsuro found here.  I already had the black and white jelly roll so I just cut a bunch of white 2.5 inch strips with my Go cutter and was good to go.

Yesterday I finally found time to put the binding on.  I have started stitching most of my bindings by machine using the method shown here.  There is just not enough time for me to stitch them all by hand and for quilts that will be washed a lot I think it makes a stronger edge.

While looking around YouTube the other day I ran across this Video called
"Quilt Binding, The final connection”.  It was something new to me and I thought some of you might be interested in seeing it.
That’s all for today.
Happy stitching,
Nancy

Sawtooth Medallion

Sawtooth Medallion  is a pattern from the book  

A Treasury of Scrap Quilts by Nancy J Martin.  

It was one of my first attempts at needle turn appliqué.

I finished the top at least 6 years ago if not longer and put it away until I became a better long arm  quilter.  Well, I have finally figured out you don’t become a better quilter by absorption or by buying books and tools.  

You actually need practice.

Having finally come to this conclusion I decide to just get busy and quilt some of the many tops I have stored away.
So just pretend you are on galloping horse when you look at this one.
Happy stitching,
Nancy

Simply Fun and Lovers Links

I stitched the binding on two more of my binding pile quilts this week.  The first one is "Simply Fun" made from a pattern by Glad Creations, Inc.  I purchased the fabrics for this quilt on a trip to the Nashville quilt show back around 2005.  They no longer have the show in Nashville which I find sad because I enjoyed going to Opryland.

This next quilt is called "Lovers Links" and is from a pattern in a McCall's Quilting magazine from August 2000.

I made this one with the Stitch "N Sisters Club in 2005.

It's been fun turning some of this into this.

The Binding Pile

I know this poor quilt has a name but for the life of me I just can't remember it or even find the pattern I used to make it.    I do remember it was a kit I bought on sale at A Scarlet Thread several years ago.
So for now I will just call it The Christmas quilt.

Keep records, Keep records, Keep records.
I think I was told this when I first started quilting evidentially I didn't listen.

It's quilted with a pantograph called Banana Swirls.

One Christmas gift ready.
Thanks for stopping by and Happy Stitching.
Nancy

UFO's

 I have spent the last couple of weeks trying to do something about all these  quilt tops.
They have been hanging over this door for several years and I think people are getting tired of bumping into them every time they come into this room.  Not to mention this is the room where my DH's computer is.

This is the result so far.  I put an all over design on these simply because there were so many to do.  I know some of them would look better with a little custom quilting but I want to get finished before the end of this century.  They are trimmed but not bound and I will post about each one as I get the binding completed.

This is what I have left to do except for the little ones that are not hanging.  There are 5 of those.

I need to buy backs for some of them and some of them need something more than a pantograph.

Oh, and I am not counting all the appliqued quilt tops in the plastic bin. Oh my!   Those will require a lot of thought.  I have put so much work into them and am not the best custom quilter out there.

One thing I am earning from this experience.  No more making quilts just because they look pretty in a book or a magazine or because a friend makes it.  I need to have a purpose for the quilt and it needs to get quilted before I start on something else.  I mean I am running out of places to stack quilts.
I wonder is there anyone else out there like me?
Happy stitching,
Nancy

Saved from the Lost and Found

I have had this UFO for quite a while.  So long I can't even remember where I bought it or what it's called.
I bet no one else has ever  been so bad.  Now that it's finished it will make another good dragger quilt.
Happy Stitching,
Nancy.

More UFO'S

I finished a couple of more UFO'S this week.  This first one called Daisy Chain is from Australian Patchwork & Quilting Magazine 2004.  

It only needed some quilting and binding  and I don't know why I put it off for so long.

  I made this quilt when I first started quilting and didn't know much about quit fabric.  All the fabrics  were purchased at  (cover your eyes if you are a fabric snob)  

Jo-Ann's.  

This little alphabet quilt was started when I was at the AccuQuilt retreat in June 2011.  I used their dies to cut out the alphabet since I don't have those.   Now  that it's washed I think the squares could have used a little quilting.
Both quilts were bound using the machine binding technique from the previous post.
It sure is fast.
Happy stitching,
Nancy

2012 First Finish

 My first finish for 2012.  This quilt is a BOM  from Stitch 'N Quilt a local shop that has been closed for several years.

The blocks were made in 2005 and forgotten about, but since joining Sew It's Finished I have been going through my UFO's to see what I have and I discovered this one.  It was called Sunday Sampler because you picked up your block on Sunday afternoon.  The first block was $5 but if you brought your block in completed the next month your block was free.

This past week I added the corners and the black sashing put on the borders and quilted it.  When I was ready to do the binding I decided to try something different.  Instead of doing all that sewing by hand I added a machine sewn binding.

First I cut my binding 2 1/4 inches wide.  I like to use bias binding when I have enough fabric.  After joining the ends and pressing I sewed it to the back of the quilt instead of the front just like I would do if I planed on sewing it down by hand only  the back instead of the front.

When I came to a corner I just mitered it like I normally would and kept sewing and sewing until I came to the end.

This is the way I join my ends.  First I measure 2 1/4 inches from the end of the binding strip on the left.  

The exact width of my binding.  If my binding was 2 1/2 inches I would measure that amount.  Then I overlap the strip on the right and cut it at the mark.  I hope the picture shows better than I  explain.

 I  lay the strip on the left---right side up and place the strip on the right wrong side up on top of it.  Mark from corner to corner and stitch on this line.  If you click on the pictures they should enlarge.  Don't be tempted to add a little to your measurement because it won't fit if you do.














Trim to 1/4" and sew the binding  to the quilt.

 Turn your quilt to the right side and sew the binding down.  I used my little foot with an edge guide to help keep my stitching straight. I also backstitched a couple of stitches in the corners just to be sure they were secure.

You can see  some stitching on the back of the quilt and I wouldn't use this method for all my quilts mostly just what I call draggers.

It is much faster a lot less stress on my hands and I have a finished quilt.

Happy stitching,
Nancy

Busy Week

I got a couple of the quilts on my "Quilts Waiting to be Quilted" list finished.

Classic Blue & White was one of Little Quilts 2005 Second Saturday Sampler quilts.

The second quilt is from the book Jelly Roll Quilts and is called Pandora's Box.
I won a Mother Goose jelly roll from All Washed up in June 2009 and this is the quilt I made.

I quilted Classic Blue and White  with an all over design and used wool batting.

Pandora's Box also has wool batting and is quilted in a feather design.

I have also been working on my scrappy nine patch and snowball quilt. 

I sewed all the blocks together and now I just need to decide what kind of border

I want or even if I want a border. 

What do you think?

Quilts Ready for Quilting

You know the saying "It isn't a quilt until it's quilted." Well I have a lot of tops that are not quilted.

When I first started quilting I must have been bitten by the bug because I made so many tops I couldn't manage to quilt them all. I just kept putting them in plastic containers and going on to the next one.
This is the year I decided to get them out and put them on hangers so they would be right in my face hoping this would motivate me to quilt them. I still have a few more hidden in the plastic that I have to get backs for but that's a project for another day.