Binding the Basket

I decided I wanted to bind this quilt with the black stripe fabric that I used in the outside border and add a colored piping just to the inside of that binding to add some spark.  Tried out several colors in the quilt for this piping and settled on the gold fabric I used in the narrow inside border.  Of course I didn’t have enough of that gold fabric left but luckily my friend Janet had some left on a bolt in her shop Quilter’s Delight in Holdrege, NE and mailed it to me right away.

Before I could bind it I needed to block it.  The edges were so, so rippled after I finished quilting it but after the blocking they were so nice and flat.  I soaked the quilt in the bathtub in cool water with some Quilt Wash soap to remove the starch that I used on the back of all the fabrics then squeezed the water out with my hands and rinsed several times in cool water.  I treated it very gently since the edges were not finished and sure didn’t want the batting to tear away.  After the rinses I gently squeezed as much water out that I could then rolled it in towels several times to remove more water then laid it out on several layers of bed sheets in the middle of my living room floor and measured it and patted it out  to be as square as possible.  After it was dry I trimmed it up square, easy now that the borders were nice and flat.

For the cording on the inside of the piping I had two sizes on hand here at home.  This is drapery cording in two different sizes.  I made a sample using both of the cords and decided to use the larger cord.  The smaller cording would have worked but wanted a bolder accent that the larger one would add. 
I used a Bernina 31 foot, which is a pintuck foot, to stitch the cording and it worked great.  I cut the fabric strip wider than I needed and did cut it on the straight of grain which worked but think I would cut my strips on the bias the next time as it did want to stretch on the diagonal somewhat when I stitched it.  I wanted the subtle stripe to end up going straight across the piping instead of on an angle which would have happened if I used bias strips.

Several years ago I purchased this acrylic tool to trim 3 sizes of cording.  The first photo shows the end of the tool – wanted you to see the grooves.  The cording sits in the grooves and then the excess is trimmed off.  Each size of cording can be trimmed for 1/4” seam or 1/2” seam so it is very versatile.  It is only about 8” long but slides along on the cord very easily to cut.  Just after I bought it I thought to myself that this was probably not a wise decision and it might sit un-used in a box for years but I have used it and it makes trimming an even seam allowance so easy.  A regular ruler rocks back and forth on the cording and just doesn’t work well at all.

Trimming the Cording Strip VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

I use Elmer’s School Glue instead of pins to attach the piping to the quilt before I stitch it.  I use a tiny line of the glue, lay the binding down with the seam edges even with the outside edge of the quilt.  The last step is to press with a dry iron to set the glue.  It holds everything exactly where I want it. I used Susan Cleveland’s method she calls “Piping Hot Binding” to put the piping on my quilt.  She has two excellent YouTube videos showing how she stitches the piping onto her quilts so check them out if you are interested.   “Piping Hot Binding part 1” and “Piping Hot  Binding part 2
I found Susan’s method so much easier than trying to miter the piping as I had done in the past.  I always felt it added so much bulk to the corners but didn’t know any other method.  With Susan’s method you pull about 1/4” of the cording out and trim it off so the bulk of the cord starts right at the point where it should and none is left in the seam allowance.

 

I am thrilled at how the piping looked when I finished the binding.  I got the pop of color I wanted and the corners are great.

Until later,
Lynn

Red Tulips

Happy Mother's Day

Until Later,

Lynn

Amaryllis

I planted my amaryllis bulbs in my flower beds last summer then dug them up and put them in the garage for the winter.  I usually pot them up in January or February so I can have blooms in the late winter but forgot about then until the first of April.  I have two bulbs, one that bloomed last year and is the first one to bloom this year.  It is peach colored and the blooms are larger than one of my hands with my fingers spread as wide as I can.  The blooms are huge and so beautiful!
The flower stems came up so fast and is so pretty blooming sitting in my family room window.  This photo shows only two of the blossoms open but now there are 4 open with another one to go, all on this one stem.This amaryllis flower stem is probably 2 feet tall and even though it is planted in a heavy pot the stem was really leaning over.  It was leaning about 45 degrees and was threatening to un-pot itself.  I first backed a chair up to it gently keeping it in an upright position.  Of course the chair blocked the view so had to figure out something else.My solution was to tie a length of yarn to the window screen clasps.  So far that is working for this one.  The other isn’t nearly as tall but not bloom quite yet either so will watch it for leaning problems too.  You can see the replacement heifer pen in the background across the driveway.  (These are heifers that are 1 year old and will become cows next year and are called replacement heifers as they will replace old cows that John will cull from the herd.)  They have to be kept in a different pen than the cows that are having calves as they still remember nursing and will find their mothers and try nursing, often succeeding, robbing milk that is needed by the new calf.
This is the other amaryllis that is getting close to blooming.  Last year the bulb that I bought didn’t bloom and was supposed to have a red flower  so I am wondering if it will be red or another peach one.  Time will tell.  I hope it is blooming by the time I go to Paducah.

(As you can tell I wrote this before I left for Paducah and forgot to post it.  Yes, they both bloomed before I left  and were exactly the same color.  Drats!  As I am writing this both bulbs shot up another flower stalk and are ready to bloom again.  I will have to look for a red one when they go on sale near Christmas this year.)
Until Later,
Lynn

Stitching the Design and Removing the Water Soluble Film

The last blog repeat, this time from November 20, 2011.  Wanted to follow up right away and not make you click back links to read.  Just ignore if you are not interested in re-reading a past post.

I used a shiny gold colored thread and followed the lines on the water soluble film as best I could.  I did find it made the edge of the quilt a little stiff so I wobbled every once in a while.  Of course I might have wobbled anyway as I am not an expert machine quilter but why not use that as an excuse – ha, ha!

Since the water soluble film was quite heavy it didn’t want to tear off the stitches.  I didn’t want to wet the entire film to remove it so came up with an alternate method.  I first used a regular paint brush and a cup of water and just painted the lines of stitching.  The plastic could be lifted off the un-stitched areas slick as could be.  As I was using the paint brush I remembered I bought a Yasutomo Niji Waterbrush at Paducah that I had never used with the water color pencils also unused.    (Must get them out and actually use them soon.)  I dug the brush out of my drawer of miscellaneous quilt stuff and put it to work.  It was nice not to have to dip my brush into water all the time, just had to give this waterbrush a little squeeze to get more water into the bristles.
To fill it you unscrew the top and squeeze the barrel while holding it under water.  As the brush gets dry the soft plastic barrel is squeezed to re-saturate the brush.  I just painted the stitching lines and that was enough to melt the plastic so the rest could be removed with the small hemostats I used to grab the pieces to remove them.

Of course there are tiny bits left but when I wash this quilt the rest should all dissolve and wash away.  This removal took a little time but really wasn’t too bad, especially when I did it while watching TV.  I had a little mess of tiny pieces to vacuum up around my chair when I was finished though.

After getting all the plastic film off the quilt borders I examined my stitching.  The parts that were really squiggly and wiggly I removed and re-quilted them.  I traced the original stitching lines with that same white chubby crayon that comes off when ironed to mark where the stitching would be re-stitched. 
The next step I will take when all the boo-boos are fixed is to echo quilt around my feathered designs.  I will be using black thread so it doesn’t detract from my feathers and make the feathers stand out more.  I am thinking this may take a while and right now I don’t know how many rows I will be doing until I actually start stitching it.  Don’t look for a report on that stitching as I will probably keep the rest a secret until the unveiling in May 2012.  I know, it is unfair to get teased about this quilt and not get to see it and if I knew for sure none of quilt guild members read this blog I would be more open about showing everything right now.

This has been a fun quilt to work on so far.  Have been thinking about what I want to do next but right now have no idea.  I could start working on the program I am going to give for my quilt guild in January – Tips and Tricks for Making Bags/Purses.  I have lots of ideas and things I want to show and tell about but need to get it all organized and probably should start soon.  I want to make samples, compile lists of resources for patterns, and relay other tips and tricks I have picked up when making bags.  I like doing programs as I always learn so much so volunteer to give programs on something I want to know more about.  Our guild has only about 30 members and have a variety of programs but can't afford to bring in big name quilters so have a lot of member given programs.  They cover a big variety of subjects and everyone appreciates the work put in to prepare.  The more I type about this program the more I am convinced I had better start as time will go quickly the next couple of months.

 Until Later,
Lynn