Skip to main content

Working on my PHD

I've been trying to be a good girl lately and work on my PHD.  My Projects Half Done that is!

I started this queen sized flannel quilt almost four years ago.  I just fell in love with the border print and knew I had to make something with that beautiful flannel!  Blue, brown, cream, and green are just a color combination that I can't resist.  So natural and peaceful.  You'll notice I do a lot of projects in some combination of those colors.

I picked out the Hopscotch pattern for my flannels so that it would showcase the larger print well.  Also, I feel like flannel can be a bit tricky to piece accurately so it's better suited to larger patterns. 

Four years ago, I managed to make it all the way to the completion of the quilt top and I even prepped the binding!  I had the backing there and ready to go, but somehow I just never took the leap to lay it out.

Well, thank goodness I took the time to get that done.  My task today was to sit down with my cup of coffee and my sewing machine and start quilting my layers. 

 
(P.S. did you know that I do all of my sewing in the summer months from my RV?!  It's a smallish  space, but much bigger than my old RV.  And frankly, I'll make any space work for a quilting room!)
 
 
I felt so good when I took that big heavy quilt off of my machine and got to pet the pretty finished quilt top. 
 
Then I turned it over.
 
What a coffee buzz kill! 
 
Right there in the very center of my quilt back lay this unsightly tuck.  



Ugh.  Whoa there Katie.  Too much coffee girl! Step away from the coffee and slow down that quilting.

Well, after a little seam ripping (just enough to make my friend there lay down and behave) I was finally happy with my quilting so I got down to binding.

I went back and forth on whether to hand sew the binding down, or do a machine finished binding.  I've worked with both methods and I would say that the method I use depends on the project.  If I'm even mildly interested in submitting my quilt for a show, or keeping it as an heirloom it's a no-brainer.  Hand sewn binding all the way.

A lot of the quicker, less stress pieces that I make purely for function, or sometimes even to sell, I choose a nice stitch pattern and machine sew that puppy down.  It saves A LOT of time!
Ultimately with this quilt, it was the flannel that made my decision for me.  The bulk of all that flannel just wasn't going to get through my machine in a way that was going to make me happy. So hand sewing the binding it is!

 
Here's a little glimpse of the outer border (the fabric I just fell in love with) and the nice striped binding that I put on. 
 
Now off to my lawn chair with my quilt to get some work done on that binding! 

Have a very quilty night my friends!


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Long time comin'

I had hoped that I would have more energy to work while I have the house trailer to myself, but unfortunately that was not the case today.    After a slow start to the day and still a much needed nap, I was able to muster some energy and get to work sewing.   I am a quilter who always has a TON of UFO’s.   Sifting through half-done projects, I decided to start yet another one.   I decided to pull out a selection of fabric that I had purchased almost exactly a year ago and get to work on the quilt that I had designed with that line in mind.   These fabrics and this quilt have been on my mind for quite some time, so this one has certainly been a long time coming. The fabrics are from the “Serenity” line by Heather Mulder Peterson.   I absolutely love her designs! I have a good collection of her books and have really enjoyed every line of fabric she has put out for Henry Glass & Co.   “Serenity” is by far my favorite of her fabric lines...

Creating a Blog Planner

I like to think I'm a pretty organized gal.  But with a busy life and lots of work, my mental best laid plans for blogging are quickly falling through the cracks. I ran across this great blog planner through Pinterest and I'm getting ready to give it a whirl!  The printables that Lamberts Lately  developed here are absolutely adorable and I can't wait to put them to use! Another awesome Pinterest find was this great tutorial from Just A Beautiful Life on to-do's and best practices for creating your own blogging binder. Between the great advice from both of these sites, I've got a start on my own blogging binder. I did a little office supply shopping (honestly, I love shopping for office supplies!) and picked up a cute colorful binder, some tab dividers, sheet protectors, loose leaf lined paper, and post it notes to put together with my freshly printed blog planning sheets. I have a three hole punch and nice markers at home to use already...

Hand Sewn Binding Tutorial

The more professionally accepted way to finish your binding is to sew it by hand to the back of your quilt. For heirloom pieces I prefer this method, but for quick, functional quilt I use the machine sewn method.  The directions are very similar, but I will list them out here separately so that the directions are clear.  Creating your binding Measure around the entire outer edge of your quilt and then add 20 inches to this measurement. Divide this total by 40. This new number is the number of strips that you need to cut. If you came up with a decimal, round your number up to the next whole number. For example, if your result was 7.6, round up to 8. Cut that total number of strips measuring 2.5” wide x the width of fabric. To connect your strips together, make the seam on the diagonal. Lay the first strip right side up and the second strip on top with right sides together, perpendicular to the first strip. Sew on the diagonal from point to poin...