Painted Flower Completed

I wrote an earlier blog about how fun it was to take a class from Susan Brubaker-Knapp.  She taught her painting on fabric technique at Asilomar this spring.  The flower that I chose to paint was from a picture taken by my friend, Rachael Brake.

In an earlier post, I showed the painting part.  Now I'm showing you the finished piece.

I quilted it in several colors of thread.  I did rocks and gravel in the gravel background, leaves in the leave background, and very little stitching in the flower so as not to cover up the painting.

Rachael's flower by Joanne Roth

close up of gravel quilting

close up of leaf quilting

I hope you like it!

Modern Chic and Jazzy, Part Two

I wrote a previous blog about sewing the top for this fun and modern quilt.  This one is about the quilting.

I played around with a couple of different ideas for the quilting.  At one point, I thought that I might do feathers.  At another point, I thought that I would do a lot of circles and other fun stitches.  In the end, I went with the more modern approach, and I ending up liking it a lot.

The quilting templates that I bought from Jamie Wallen a make it so easy make nice small circles.

Since I made this quilt for our charity auction, I was not being that careful in the quilting.  I don't know if this is a bad thing or a good thing, because once I give myself the license to NOT worry about it being judged, it gets progressively sloppier and sloppier.  But sometimes, it's nice to give yourself a little more artistic freedom and go for the fun and not for the perfection.  Don't you think so too?

So here it is all complete, with a close up to show you the quilting.

Modern Chic and Jazzy by Joanne Roth

Close up of quilting

I hope you like it!

Binding Services

I've offered binding services to raise money for the auction for Clark County Quilters for a couple of years in a row now.  I wrote a blog about the scalloped edge quilt that I bound last year.  This year I finished a quilt that is large, but had nice straight edges.

The person that bid on the services made a quilt for a friend's son who is undergoing cancer treatment in Texas.  What a special gift this person made, and what a special person she is.  I have run across so many generous and giving people in all the years I have been quilting.  Yet it always amazes me when I hear the stories.  Do you go to your local quilt guild meetings and hear the same kind of stories? I bet you do.  And if you aren't a member of a local quilt guild, why not?  Get out there and absorb some of the kindness in this world.

While I worked on the binding for this quilt, I vibrated my good thoughts for this unknown son.

Quilt by Monique Clark of Portland

I hope you like the quilt.

Modern Quilt - Chic and Jazzy Pattern - Part One

I have so much fun making modern quilts.  One company, Sew Kind of Wonderful,  has been putting out patterns to go along with their tools and I've made my second pattern now.   The pattern name for this one is called, "Chic and Jazzy".  The pattern instructions call for making 12 blocks and sewing them in a strong vertical and horizontal setting.  But I thought that I would like it better as a block set on point, so that's what I did.  Here are the changes that I made.

First, I had to make 13 blocks instead of 12.  Second, I changed the sashing from 6" to 4" so that there would be less white space, but still plenty of room for fancy quilting.

Original pattern

My design idea

I like lime green - have I told you that yet?  I bet I have.  I also like turquoise and teal.  So for this quilt, I used the green in place of the gray called for in the pattern, and used different fabrics for the centers and the surroundings for each block.  I have a lot of lime green fabrics.  Who knew how much, just a lot!  I also have a lot of turquoise and teal.  Yes, many piles reside in my stash.

So fast forward.  In order to do an on-point setting, I had to calculate the size of the setting triangles for the edges.  Since I had 12" blocks and 4" sashing, this was an easy calculation = 16".  I drafted a pattern on freezer paper that was 16" on each edge.  This was placed on the white fabric so that the long edge was on the grain line lined up with the selvage edges.  Then I folded this pattern in half, and cut another pattern for the corner triangles.  Those were placed on the white fabric so that the long edge was on the diagonal.  Paying attention to the grain line is important to make sure the outside edges are on grain when the top is completely sewn.

Pattern piece cut from freezer paper

I always over-cut the setting triangles so that the quilt can be squared up in the end.  In order to get the right sized triangle to fit, I marked the 16" from the corners, and made sure this lined up with the edges of the blocks.

Over-sized triangles for the edges

The top ended up measuring 60"x 60".  Here it is almost done sewing.  This picture shows how you sew the rows to get the on-point setting.  It's sewn into diagonal rows.  Then the rows are sewn together.

Top almost sewn together

Top all sewn, waiting to be quilted

 I plan to use the green for the binding, and do the quilting with heavy batting so that it'll pop.

I hope you like it so far.

Binding a quilt that has been trimmed even with the edge of the top

My previous post showed you what I do to maintain full binding when I start with an untrimmed quilt.

Sometimes, I sew on binding for our charity group or for a friend.  In those cases, the quilt usually comes to me already trimmed.  And most of the time, it is trimmed even with the edge of the top, leaving only 1/4" seam allowance.

Since most binding is cut at 2-1/2", which gives a 3/8" finished binding, the 1/4" seam WILL NOT fill the binding.  There will be a little bit of space with nothing inside.

To fix this and still end up with a full binding, I sew a 3/8" seam.  Start the first end 3/8" from the edge, and pin the binding even with the edge of the quilt.

Sew with a 3/8" seam.  I eye 1/8" outside my 1/4"mark on the walking foot because I can't see the 3/8" mark on my sole plate while I'm sewing this seam.

When you fold the corners, place the fold even with the edge.

Keep sewing all side, leaving a tail at the end.  Sew a corner per my previous post.

You don't need to trim anything off after you've sewn on the binding.  It will be FULL with the 3/8" seam allowance.

I hope you use this technique the next time you add binding to a quilt that has been trimmed even with the edge of the top.  Yes, you will lose 1/8" of the top, which may end up cutting off the points of some blocks.  But most of the time, there is a solid piece of border fabric on the outer edges, so it won't affect the look of the quilt at all.

May all of your bindings be FULL.

Just serging away the day

I have been sewing nearly all of my life and I have finally bought a serger.  So I'm learning how to use a new machine.  That's good for my brain, don't you think?

My friends advised me to go with a Baby Lock serger, and to make sure and get one of the newer models with the automatic threading and the ability to do a cover stitch.  So I sold some old diamond rings that were sitting in my safe, and splurged.

Here is my new serger!  Its the Evolution, which can sew just about everything and hold eight spools of thread.

So far, I've taken one beginning class and have watched a ton of YouTube videos.  What did we ever do before YouTube.  And a huge shout out to those of you that do videos!

I dived right in and pegged an old pair of yoga pants (so that they're not the old fashioned bell bottoms), made two pairs of legging/pants, and have made two knit tops.  

I'm having so much fun.  I don't know why I waited so long to get one!  Well, maybe it's all the quilts that are running through my head that keep me more interested in making quilts than in making clothes. And one more toy.....

I hope you enjoy learning new things too.

Quick technique for quilt hanging sleeve

I learned a new quick technique from a quilting friend and I thought that I would pass it along to you!

Most quilt shows call for a 4" hanging sleeve, and I've heard that some are calling for a 4-1/2" sleeve now.  Wow.  In order to make the quilt hang nicely, the sleeve needs to have more space on the outer (or back) edge and less up against the quilt itself.

My friend told us to cut the sleeve at 9" wide and the length needed for your quilt.  Then press this is half lengthwise.

Open it back up, then press both sides to the center.

Put these two raw edges together and sew a 1/4" seam.  (in the picture below, you can see that I sewed the seams on the edges first, since these are easier to sew when the sleeve is flat).

Press this seam to one side carefully, so that you keep the previously pressed edges.

Now when you put this on the back of your quilt, you will automatically have two pressed sides to sew onto the quilt.  The beauty of this technique is that you will also automatically have more space left for the slat.

Hope you like this technique too!