Tagged: 37

Sep 04

Black and White Window Quilt complete (37)

Twitt

The binding is on, and the black and white quilt is finally complete!

black and white quilt

The front

Black and white quilt back

The Back

Black and white quilt corner

Scrappy black and white binding

The Binding

The final quilt measured 69 inches x 89 inches before washing.  I did not pre-wash my fabric, nor did I pre-wash my batting.  To me, it doesn’t make sense to do it because charm packs and jelly rolls do not come pre-washed.  The only benefit I see to pre-washing is that your colors won’t bleed in the final quilt.  I once read a hint that to eliminate bleeding of colors, add a cup of table salt to the wash water.  I have done that for my most recent quilts, and I have not seen any bleeding.

Since I don’t pre-wash my fabrics or batting, my quilts will experience some shrinking after being in the wash.  The black and white quilt shrunk down to 64.5 inches x 84 inches.  That is a 6% decrease in size.  Be sure to factor that in when making your quilts.

Solid squares for next quilt

I still have two quilts that I am working on.  The flying geese quilt, and another nine patch quilt that I haven’t posted pictures of yet.  I am also beginning a new quilt.  432  squares, each 3 inches x 3 inches resulting in 2.5 x 2.5 inch squares.  The final quilt will be 40 x 67 inches wide.  I am making it for my son, who is constantly asking me to, “Draw Bus.”  So far, I have cut out 69 blue and white squares, 25 purple squares, 66 squares of floral green, 4 squares of leafy green, 4 squares of circle green, 16 squares of red, 11 squares of orange, and 14 squares of yellow.  I’ve decided that I will take you through the whole process, square by square, so that you can watch me make the final product.  I’m not working with a pattern, just a sketch that I drew out.  If it turns out well, I will enter it into a contest that is coming up.  If not, then hopefully my son will love it, and maybe he’ll stop asking me to “Draw Bus.”

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Posted in Bus Quilt, current quilt, finished quilt, twin quilt

Sep 03

Black and White quilt (37) and pot holders.

Twitt

Rest in Peace, sweet Singer.  I’ll never forget you.

When I tried to wind my bobbin, the needle began moving, and then the machine started beeping and lights started flashing.  I knew it was the end of my run with the Singer.

Now I have a new machine.

I LOVE IT.  I LOVE IT.  I LOVE IT!!!!

I’ve had it for a whole day, now, and I have been able to make two pot holders (using this tutorial by Elizabeth Hartman) and finishing my black and white quilt.

My mom had given me an item of clothing that she thought would be fun to recycle into something new.  I agree.  It has a fun Asian elephant print.  Since I needed to test the new machine anyway, there was no better way to do it than testing it on pot holders.

I made my pot holders with one cotton layer (elephant fabric), two layers of cotton batting (using up my batting scraps!), and one layer of something that I bought years ago.  I don’t know what type of fabric it is, but I think it is some sort of thick home decor fabric.  Maybe I bought it to make curtains?  Who knows!  Anyway, now it is a pot holder.

Front of pot holders

Pot holders before and after binding is hand stitched to the back. The white diagonal line is where the hand can be placed inside.

pot holder back

The mystery fabric...

And I literally had the black and white quilt halfway quilted when the Singer died on me.

Black and white window quilt

Black and white quilt literally half way complete.

So, I was SO HAPPY to finally be able to finish it.  This quilt was pieced almost a year ago, before I was pregnant.  I used the scraps from the pink and black quilt.  I had a lot of scraps!!!  Then, it just sat there during my morning sickness phase, and it sat there during my “I don’t want to have to quilt a twin and rip out tons of string because I don’t know how to baste properly and keep sewing puckers on the back side” phase, and then it finally became a priority to me.  This was the first twin quilt that did not pucker on me, so I didn’t have to undo anything.  YAY!!!

pinning the binding

I have become a believer of pinning the binding before you sew.  I know, Sewing 101, but it makes a big difference!  Straighter lines, and believe it or not, it is actually faster to pin.  For me, anyway :)

Sewing the binding on the black and white quilt

I pin the binding to one side at a time, and then sew.  I learned how to do mitered corners on the internet.  I make my binding strips 2.5 inches long and then fold them in half and iron them, so the resulting strip is 1.25 inches wide.  I machine sew it to one side, and then hand stitch it to the back.  As you can see in this quilt, I have used the scraps to make the binding.  Hopefully, soon I will have it complete and I can post pictures of it!

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Posted in current quilt, twin quilt