I made more progress on my HST Chaos quilt - it's supposed to be my leader-ender project for the year, but I have become smitten with these little low volume prints and I ended up sewing 20 blocks and laid a few out:
Then I had to re-evaluate as the blocks weren't nesting the way I liked. I decided that my 4-patch base wasn't the best course of action so I spent some time with my seam ripper and remade my blocks in this manner:
I cut and pieced the blocks for the Economie Zoologie quilt that I bought on clearance as a kit from Craftsy a few years back and stitched it into a top. I need to find something a little less colorful for the back because the top is pretty happy:
I cut and pieced this Wildflower pattern that has been in hiding in a bin for too long:
And I cut and pieced this baby quilt top:
I am making the binding for a quilt I picked up from Jackie on Monday:
I also pulled out my bin of potholder pieces and am attempting a machine binding.
Epic fail 😏:
I'll be ripping this out as we settle in to watch rodeo this evening. I have one finish this month: this baseball baby quilt:
It feels good to be making progress on some projects. I actually made a quilty road trip with some friends on Thursday. We went to one of our favorite shops for the first time in 2 years. We had a ball, but would you believe I walked out without buying a single thing? It's true - I walked out empty handed. I looked for a binding and was on the hunt for a couple of backings, but although I do my best to support local quilt shops, I'm not paying $12.99 / yd for backing. I was tempted by numerous pretty fabrics, but I have so many projects ready to work on here that I just could not justify bringing more home. March is going to be busy so I'm not expecting to accomplish as much in regards to sewing, but I'm ok with that. There's more to life than sewing, but a little stitching is good for the soul when things get busy.
10 comments:
Looks like you had plenty of quilty fun in Feb. I love that wild flowers quilt, would like to see a picture of the whole thing :) Machine binding takes practice, just keep working at it.
You did have a productive month! Love all the quilts but especially the Wildflower and baseball quilt! January and February are always productive for me since the weather is so bad! I made several attempts to machine bind and each time was an epic failure until I watched Missouri Star Quilt Company’s video on attaching binding by machine! I bound several small quilts and I could not believe how great they turned out! You might check out their video.
Boy, you have been BUSY!! And you're just sharing your quilting stuff! Can't imagine what else is going on in addition to. Lots of cute stuff you're working on.
You are galloping through projects like a barrel racer. All are so beautiful. I especially love the baby quilt in brown and light blue. The epic fail is only a learning curve. I'm sure you will get the hang of it soon enough. enjoy! ;^)
congratulations on a productive month. Like you, I have a lot of projects boxed and ready to tackle. But I seem to be stalled on my current project for my oldest granddaughter. I gave her the fabric for placemats and napkins at her bridal shower almost 2 yrs. ago. Of course there were some quilts with deadlines in the meantime, but I just have to finish her gift. On the other front -- I just have about 4 rows to finish on the queen-sized EPP quilt. You had shown a picture of a quilt with 6 pointed stars and hexagons, but in my quilt the hexagons are also scrappy. I have been working on it for almost 3 years, but someday I hope to send you a picture of a finished quilt.
I too have tried machine binding and didn't like it. I really enjoy the hand binding process anyway. The only time I paid $12.99 and up for a yard of fabric was when I was in Alaska visiting our daughter. EVERYTHING in Alaska costs more. Personally, I go through buying spurts. I won't buy any fabric for weeks then go on a buying binge. Love all of your projects and your blog.
Even if machine binding was a fail, I LOVE the cowboy prints! To be honest, I also failed at machine binding. Makes my heart a little happy to know I’m not the only one who failed at that! Something for both of us to work on!
You were very productive!!!
Looks like February was very productive!
I just attended a sale at the shop over the mountain on Saturday. On fifth Saturdays they have a sale where all regular priced merchandise is 25% off, and the clearance merchandise (which is already 30% off by the yard and 40% if you finish the bolt) was an extra 28% off in honor of leap year. I brought home backing for three quilts by finishing bolts. Can't beat that price. I always look for my backing there first. :)
I struggled with machine binding until someone in my community quilting group gave me this tip: After squaring up the quilt, stitch around the edge within the quarter inch seam allowance for your binding (I use a 2.5 stitch length). That gives the edge just a bit of stiffness so the binding folds over evenly.
I apply the binding to the back, fold it to the front and then stitch a quarter inch from the edge. That puts the line of stitching on the binding on both the front and back.
It took me a few tries, but this is what I do on 90% of my quilts now.
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