Around the Twist Finished

I am calling this quilt done! Not my finest work but with a UFO this old I am just glad it is finished. I measured and measured the excess backing fabric I had and came up short about 8" no matter how I figured so could not cut it off to make the binding from it. I have never just folded the backing over to the front for a binding before and don't think I will ever do it again. I found it to be too stretchy and hard to get even. It is done now, thank goodness but was a big pain in the neck. The outside is a little wobbly but after working with it for a while I decided I had better quit as it was getting worse.

I did miter the corners of the binding so it sort of looks like regular binding. Was tricky to get the miter - had to trim out extra bulk to make the folds and fiddle with it quite a bit on each corner. I did machine stitch the folded edge with a small blanket stitch.

I have been asked what I used for batting (Hobbs cotton ) and what quilting thread I used (Bottom line on the top and bobbin). You might ask why I used these products....to give you the simple answer they are what I had here on hand at home. I wanted to start quilting on this piece right away so just pulled my thread stash out and picked out what I thought was the best choice.

As far as the batting goes when I basted this piece I was again not going shopping and thank goodness I found a piece of batting that was large enough so used it. Seems like I am never planning ahead to get my thread and/or batting and when you live an hour away from the closest quilt shop sometimes it is a little inconvenient to say the least.

OK, now what am I going to do with this quilt? I don't have a clue! It is too small for a lap quilt unless a nursing home might want it for a person in a wheel chair. It really doesn't go with the decor in my house either. All I can say tonight is thank goodness IT IS DONE!!!

Until Later,
Lynn

Around the Twist - Quilting Done

38"x 46 1/2"

Finished the quilting on this Around the Twist UFO and now am trying to figure out what to bind it with. Have not found any of the fabrics used on the front and so far have not found any of the backing. I am considering/figuring out if I have enough of the backing on the outside of my quilt to cut off and make binding or if I will just have to fold it over from the back to make the binding. I guess I just need to measure the length of strips I can get after cutting them off and carefully measure how much length I will need to go around the quilt to see which method I will choose.

I quilted an undulating feather design in the navy border and kind of a hook like feathered shape for the corners. The photos of this quilt really don't capture the colors of the fabrics very well. The orange looking fabric is really kind of a burgundy color and the outside blue/navy is really a dark blue that almost looks black. Have tried all kinds of settings on my camera and in Photoshop Elements to get the color correct and it just isn't happening.

Lynn

Quilting One UFO

I have had this UFO basted and ready to quilt for some time now. A few days ago I pulled it out of the closet and decided to get to work on it. I think I basted it for quilting at least a year ago using the Sharon Schamber method.

This quilt top was made many years ago....don't even remember when I made it but it was a LONG, LONG time ago. I do remember where I got the pattern though. It is from this Trudy Hughes book "Template-Free Quiltmaking" published in 1986 and the pattern is called Around the Twist.

I used this quilt top several years after I made it to demonstrate to my guild how to do machine trapunto using a water soluble thread and a heavier batting under the design. The excess heavy batting is trimmed away after the design is stitched with this water soluble thread then the quilt is layered like usual and quilted. The trapunto designs stand out more than the other quilting of course as they have more batting under the designs.

Here is the design I stitched with the water soluble thread years ago and amazingly it was still all there holding the extra batting to the backside of the quilt top. I thought it might have dissolved while it was folded up with the rest of my UFOs since we do get high humidity at times. Did test it to make sure it will dissolve when I finish the quilting and indeed it does so won't have to worry about that possible problem.

I really don't know what I will do with the quilt once I get it finished as it is not quite the colors I decorate with anymore. Maybe it will have to be a donation lap quilt.

Until Later,
Lynn