Quilt-Finished

  

I have been working on a Missouri Star Quilt designed by 3 Dudes Quilting. You can see a video here.  For me, the hardest part of any quilt is the actual quilting.  I don't turn my finished quilt tops over to a professional quilter.  A lot of people do.  I don't for two reasons.  One, it's my quilt and I don't think I can claim it if I have someone else do part of it. Two, it is expensive to have a quilt finished and I am cheap.

If you have been following my blog, you will have seen progress on this jelly roll quilt. ( A jelly roll is a roll of strips of fabric cut into 4 foot lengths. all the fabric goes well together and it is a way to make a fabulous quilt in less time.  Check out the video!)

I had to take a break.  I was tired of quilting.  I made some baskets, I made some pillow cases for Ryan's Case For Smiles and I was ready to finish the quilt.  Plus, I had decided I wanted to gift it for Christmas, so I had to get it done!

The fabric isn't pink.  It just looks like it in this light.

 

You can see the stitch in the ditch, and free motion quilting detail best on the back of the quilt.  I used a thread that blended in with the back, but you can still see the detail at the right angle.  

Even after you finish the quilting and the binding, you aren't quite done.  You need to snip off any stray threads and to clean and iron your quilt.

  

The fibers from the batting in the middle gets on top of the quilt when you are working with it. At least mine does.

  

I like to a use a sticky roller over both sides of the quilt to pull off any stuck fibers.  And the occasional me hair!  I like to press my finished quilt to make it crisp looking and get rid of any wrinkles.

  

Then I am done!  I always take a picture of a finished quilt.

   

And now I can start on the knitting project I have been thinking about.

Almost Ready For Binding

 

I have a bunch of light blue set-in triangles in my quilt.  I decided to sew increasingly smaller triangles within the bigger ones to quilt them.  After some trial and error,  I found I could go in one inch from the edge and I could fit in two triangles.

 

I did not go back and fix the ones where I went in 3/4 of an inch and squeezed in three triangles.

If I wake up and it's bothering me, I will take out the stitches and redo them.  If I can sleep through the night, I will let them stand.

 

Then I did some stitch in the ditch for the green border.  This is where you gently pull at a seam and stitch where two fabrics come together.  These stitches are almost invisible in a quilt. 

I have one more wide border to think about what I am going to do.  It is the colorful one next to the green border in the picture above.  With any luck I will decide and get it done tomorrow.

Then I have the binding and I'm DONE.

But I forget how to do the binding and so that will take some time.  Good thing I have a book.  And YouTube.

Striped Placemats

The pattern for making a striped runner I made earlier includes information on making a rectangular striped place mat.  I like the idea of a set.   When I saw the demonstration at the Trinity Quilt Shop there was a round one and I liked that better.  Of course that means I was "flying blind"  and had to extrapolate for a round one.  That means hours of agonizing over each cut.  I made one and the very center was kind of wonky...that is a technical term meaning "looks funny to me".

I took it back to the Quilt Shop and said "What did I do wrong and how do I fix it?" Or words to that effect.  Caroline very kindly explained to me that as long as the lines matched the center was an iffy thing....or words to that effect.  So I was let go to work blindly in the darkness..or in the privacy of my craft room.


 
I cut 6 triangles with the 60 degree ruler.  This actually means you have to cut 12 triangles because you have to flip the triangle over so that there is no waste.  This means each place mat will be different, because you will have different areas of the stripes at least I did for my particular fabric.  But that is OK because I like them both. 

 

I lined up the stripes and sewed them together until I had 2 sets of three.  This will be half of your placemat top.  I then cut a straight line across the centers so that they would line up better.

Sew the two halves together and press.  Make sure the stripes all line up.  I didn't have to pick out thread and resew very much.  Maybe I have gotten better at this sewing thing...or, worse case scenario, I have gotten less picky.

 
 
I had a lot of left over batting from the quilts I have made...all two of them.  I did not want to buy new batting for this project.  I lined up the scrap pieces with the straight edges together.  I placed the top I had finished on the two pieces of batting and cut with an extra inch margin...just in case.  I don't KNOW in case of what?  I just DID.

 

Butt the edges of the batting together right under the presser foot, lined up so the seam is centered.  Then zigzag with fairly short stitches until the two pieces are joined together.  Voila!  ( This is about 20 percent of the French I remember from high school.)  One piece of batting for your place mat, at no additional cost.  My favorite kind of project. 

When I finish quilting I hope everything will stay nicely in place and I am not going to worry about it.  Not ever.  It will be fine.  Keep going!

 

Next I measured the backing fabric and cut it in strips.  I placed the tops face down on the backing fabric and cut around the edges with my large clear ruler.  I also left about 1/4 inch, just in case...

Next make a sandwich.  The batting, then the backing face up and the top face down.  Smooth and pin.  Sew 1/4 inch in from the edge of the top piece.  You will want to leave about 8 inches unsewn to turn the piece right side out.  I put two pins where I want to stop and start.  This reminds me not to sew the whole thing!

Cut all around so the edges are even.  Press and turn right side out.  I had to put my fingers in the corners to push them out to a point.  Press the open seam so that the edges are folded under 1/4 inch.  Hand sew the gap and press again.

I just did a quick quilting of "stitch in the ditch".  Gently pull out at each seam on each triangle and sew in the seam.  I also sewed around one of the stripes about halfway up.  I have to make a lot more so I don't know if I will do more quilting.  I am thinking of adding some 1/4 inch in from the edges all around.


 
I still don't like the wonky centers.  Don't know what to do about that.  If I had one of those fancy machines I might add some embroidery to hide it.  Still thinking...