Wishing for Spring

A few years, I treated myself to what I thought was a fat-quarter bundle of Kaffe Fassett fabrics. I finally pulled them out a few months ago, but discovered that most of the designs were by Philip Jacobs and Martha Negley. No matter, I love them just as much as Kaffe's fabrics.

Just loopy meandering quilting...

Backing and binding...I love striped bindings, even when they're not cut on the bias!

More Free Fabric!

As in my previous post, here's a quilt I made using fabric from a "free" table at one of my guild's workshops. Not really my colors, but the fabric was already cut into three-inch strips, so it was easy to quickly sew up a top using the "jelly roll race" method. This will be given away to a worthwhile charity someday.

Backing and binding...(the backing came from an old project of mine that I didn't like anymore)

Simple loopy meandering quilting...

The Best Things in Life Are Free!

My guild usually has a "free" table set up at workshops and retreats, and I can't resist bringing some fabric home with me. This quilt is made using one-yard cuts of three fabrics that I picked up a few months ago from one of those "free" tables. The pattern is free and called "Pink Picture Frame" by Wood Valley Designs.

(as usual, click on the photos to see a larger view)

Closeup of the double-loop quilting...

I had some fabric left over for the center part of the back. The red is from a backing that I had used on another quilt.

A closeup of the quilting on the back...

Another Finish

I finished this Quick Strippie quilt in October, but I'm just catching up with posting it here on my blog.

Here's a closeup...

...and backing and binding...

Still Catching Up

I finished this quilt back in July, in time for my guild's 2018 exhibit. It's the "Turning Twenty" pattern, which uses 20 fat quarters with almost no waste, which means that very little went into my scrap pile when I was done!

Quilted with randomly-spaced lines...

Backing and binding...

Wow, November Already!

It's been months since I last wrote a blog post, but that doesn't mean I haven't been quilting. I've made quite a few tops this year, but many still need to be quilted and bound. Here's one I finished in September for a new member of the family on my husband's side. It's the fourth one I've made using gingham fabrics that I bought in a thrift store several years ago. You can see the other three by clicking here, here, and here.

This baby's grandma is the owner of the chevron gingham quilt I made in 2013, so I thought it would be quite appropriate to make the baby's quilt out of the same fabrics.

Here's a closeup of the quilting....

Backing and binding...

Sweet Quilt

Here's my latest finished quilt, made using the same gingham fabrics as in this quilt that I showed last month.

I think it looks like pieces of candy. The free pattern is appropriately called "Candy Swirls" and can be found on the Moda Bake Shop site. It comes together very easily.

Here's a closeup shot of the quilting...just easy, loopy meandering...

And the fun backing and binding...

How I Trim My Quilts

A friend recently asked me to show her how I trim my quilts after quilting and before binding. I usually like the bindings on my quilts to be full (except on wall hangings), so this is how I do it.

This is what I use to cut the excess backing and batting. It's a portable cutting mat/ironing mat combo...

Here it is opened up...

This is the quilt as it comes off of my HQ16 midarm machine...

I use a long ruler and trim 1/2 inch from the quilt top. The extra 1/2 inch of batting and backing fabric will be sewn into the binding and help make it full...

Here's what the top looks like after all four sides are trimmed...

And a closeup shot of one of the corners where you can see the extra 1/2 inch...

Nothing Goes to Waste

Like most quilters, I usually have a piece of batting left over when I'm finished with quilting a quilt. I can't bring myself to throw it away, so the pieces accumulate in a plastic tote that I keep in my quilting studio. After quilting seven quilts, I had enough pieces that could be joined together for a decent-sized batting. My Bernina has a flat joining stitch, which is just that. It joins two pieces together and the seam is completely flat. Here's a shot of what it looks like...It's a bit hard to see because of the light thread.

Here are the seven pieces of batting joined together...big enough for my next quilt!

The Best Things in Life Are Free (Part 2)

Here's what I made with some of the free fabric that I came home with in March (see my previous blog post for details).

The top, backing, and binding fabric was all free to me. All I contributed was the batting and thread (and my labor, of course).

 I don't really like the fabrics individually, but I am pleasantly surprised with the result. If you have enough variety in scraps, the outcome looks great!

The Best Things in Life Are Free

On National Quilting Day (March 17 this year), I attended a fun one-day "mini-retreat" with 20 of my fellow guild members. It was a day filled with friends, food, fun, demos, laughter, and lots of inspiration. If you're interested, click here for photos from the event.

At the mini-retreat, we had a table set up with free items that guild members had donated. Things like books, fabric, notions, etc., that needed a good home. I came home with some yardage, fat quarters,  and a bunch of  2 1/2" squares, already cut!

Free yardage and FQs

2 1/2" squares, already cut!

chaining, chaining

Check my next blog post to see what I made with all of those squares!

Last Finish for April

I spent most of the winter going through my stash and making lots of quilt tops, and I finally had a chance last month to buy some backings. Most of my time this month has been spent finishing up those quilts. This is the latest -- just scrappy gingham stars. (click on the photos for a larger view)

The binding fabric had the strips printed on the diagonal, which makes cutting binding strips so easy. I love the look of bias-striped binding...