Reducing My Quilting Footprint

Normally when cutting my quilting cotton, I keep pieces 1" square or larger. Anything narrower, I have felt total freedom in tossing. Well, now I don't have to throw out even the tiniest shreds. Why? Yuki, that's why. Look what she's been up to:
This is made up entirely of little shreds. Yuki spreads out layers of shredded fabric over batting to create a picture. She then lays a piece of netting over the whole thing and quilts it. Amazing, no?

And yet I have a story of injustice to a talented quilter: She made another incredible quilt. Aargh! I didn't take a picture. But take my word for it: it was bee-yoo-tee-full! Pink, white, and yellow roses made in a crazy quilt fashion surrounded by a ribbon completely made from quilting thread. The whole thing looked three-dimensional. She showed to to some proficient quilters who hardly said a word about it.

• "Did you see my rose quilt?"
• "I saw it."

What in the world? I mean this is an incredible work of art. We are a community and must support each other. And quilters, I think, are the only ones who really understand what goes into something like that.

The only thing I can think is that these were traditional quilters who couldn't wrap their minds around art quilts. I can understand walking past the art quilts in a show when your focus is traditional, but at a friend's house? Here is my remonstrance: play nice!

Quilt Wisdom: It's Not Finished 'Til It's Labelled

What is with me? I'm an old-fashioned housewife, making quilts, knitting socks, cooking (not altogether willingly) dinner from scratch most nights but absolutely in love with science fiction. I've been watching Firefly on Hulu. Good show! Well, I guess that's just me: Stuck in the past, dreaming of the future... Okay, self-examination complete.

Wahoo! The Second Christmas Scrap Quilt is done! I love that word--DONE! Originally known as "The Girl," it is now
I finished sewing down the label during the Women's All-Around Gymnastics last night. I won't say who won just in case you haven't seen it yet.

The Game is Afoot

Holmes: What do you see here, Watson?
Watson: Hmm, a sewing machine and gardening gloves. What can this possibly mean?
Holmes: Elementary, my dear Watson. A woman with small hands has clearly been using the quilting function on her sewing machine. The gloves provide the purchase needed to manipulate slippery fabric.
Watson: Brilliant, Holmes. You never cease to amaze me.

Three for the Price of One!

Four, actually. I participated in a quilt block swap back in November. Most of the blocks I kept, but I sent out and received back quite a few. The total number of these 8.5" Double Four-Patch blocks is

87.

Well, I thought that would make a nice bed size quilt. That was before I thought about finishing a nice bed size quilt. Molly's a normal-sized machine and a muscular quilter might fit a twin sized quilt in there, but a queen: no way! So I pulled out the most masculine 30 and made a quilt for my dad a few months ago. (No, I don't have a picture.) That left

57.

I put them away for a while until I could figure out what to do with 'em. So Thursday night, when everything was going wrong, I pulled 'em out to see what could be done. You quilters know that multiplication comes into creating a layout. 5 blocks x 6 blocks makes a 30 block quilt, 4 blocks x 5 blocks makes a 20 block quilt and so on. Well, I started laying 'em out and noticed that many of the blocks I made had a brick-red color going on, so I put 'em together. Turns out there were 20. Here's the layout:
That left

37.

That was when I noticed some were softer colors, so I put them together. And there were just 20. That's another 4 x 5 quilt.
So then I had a few leftover:

17.

Well, you probably know that's a prime number and unless I want a quilt that's 1 block by 17 blocks, I'd have to do something else. So I pulled one out. And I was left with a group of bolder, saturated colors.
So now I have one leftover and 3 quilts to finish. I already have the fabric for borders, binding, and backs. What does that mean? I gotta get back to work.

PS: This is what's left of the binding for my second Christmas scrap quilt. I need a name! The first one was called "The Economics of Christmas", because everything was free except of course my time. I'd like to keep it in that vein: a subtle reminder that a person doesn't have to spend to have something nice.

Splicing binding

Okay, my experiment totally worked so here's the low-down:

How to splice your binding ends on the diagonal

I've run into a little persnickity thing when binding my quilts. Many instructions call for a diagonal seam to create the binding, but then finish off with a straight seam that goes right across. I wanted the finish to be diagonal, too.

This is just about finishing binding a quilt. I'm going from the binding directions in the back of most Quilt-in-a-Day books, so follow their directions ('cuz they rock!) except cut your starting binding edge on a 45° diagonal before you start sewing it down.

1. Measure 4" from where the cut hits the fold and start sewing, following the QIAD directions. We'll call this the starting edge.
2. So you've gotten all the way around your quilt and stopped sewing 4" from where your binding will overlap. Good.
   
3. Unfold your binding from both ends and lay it wrong side up. Plan to cut your ending edge .5" past where the two strips will meet. Mark it with pins or chalk it at the top of the diagonal and the bottom. Check to make sure your marks will go .5" beyond the starting edge.
4. Now it's time for the struggle. Get out a cutting mat (the smaller the better) and jam it in between the ending edge of the binding strip and the quilt. Cut, based on your markings. You should now have something that looks like this:
5. Pin the right sides together and sew, using .25" seam. Note the little dog ears when pinning. This helps when sewing a diagonal--I learned that at the quilt festival!
6. Fold back over and finish attaching the binding, using the QIAD method. Ta-da!

I hope this was clear. If you have any suggestions for making my instructions a little better, let me know. Happy Tuesday! Oops, it got late. Happy Wednesday!

Teacher Links!

Stashbuster Alert! I used only fabrics I already had for these two classes!

Here's the start of the "Slice 'Em and Dice 'Em Gloriously Easy Scrap Quilt." The red is just felt I used for my design wall. I took the class from Nancy Brenan Daniel. What an inspiring teacher! Of course, I wound up doing something a little different than everybody else. Why? Because I'm special. Then I took "Power Cutting and Power Cutting, Too" from Debbie Caffrey. Oh, my goodness. My cutting efforts before now look like so much flailing around! And now I have banished one of my quilting fears: sewing on the bias. I have learned that not only is it possible, it's actually faster and even desirable in many cases. Woop-woop!

I made some sample blocks (churn dash and delectable mountains) but the fabrics clash so badly I'm afraid that trying to post them on the 'net would bring the whole thing down. (I just thought I'd be cutting, not sewing stuff together...)

Scooore!

Oh, boy! I went to the International Quilt Festival in Long Beach and had myself quite a time! I had a nice room to myself with my sewing machine set up on the bed and my knitting in the closet, took two classes, and shopped!

Books I couldn't live without.

Tools I couldn't quilt without.

My beautiful needle-case and my prize for being teacher's pet.

What I just couldn't resist.

Bunnies! Bunnies! It Must Be Bunnies! *

Oh, my goodness! I just saw the funniest online video: Dr. Horrible! I laughed so hard... and I finished my bunny. The bunny body, excepting ears and tail is made from a simple square of knitting. Cool, huh? Here's a link to the pattern. Tiny got "Eastern Lights" quilt today. She was so happy, she threw it over her head, stuck her arms out and hugged it. Yay!
*"Once More With Feeling"

The Flip Side

As you can see, the second side of Tiny's dress is moving right along. I had to pull out the straps a couple of times, but I think I'm on the right track now. I may even get the straps all sewn together by next Saturday and be ready to sew up the sides! Can I get a ya-hoo?I was at my knitter's group in Point Loma today. Gosh, there must have been eight or nine of us: what a nice bunch of women! Knitting in company really helps. There were three women (including me) working on the same project. Bev's working in burgundy, Maura in khaki.
Funny movie: Fido. It's a zombie movie in the style of a 1950's Lassie film. Both The Man of The House and Tiny enjoyed it.

Doing the Happy Dance!

Happy dance! Eastern Lights has been:

1. Pieced
2. Assembled
3. Bordered
4. Quilted
5. Bound
6. Labeled

I win! Tiny's turning fourteen in two weeks. She knows this quilt is hers, but I think she can wait until then to receive it. Happy day!

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