Sewing a binding is the final step of finishing any quilt. I recently decided to try sewing the front of the binding down by machine like I’ve seen so many people do before. I’ve never been interested, I actually like hand sewing the binding down. I’m still not sure if I want to finish a quilt myself by machine (having a long arm quilter do the binding is another story), but using a decorative stitch on something small looks nice.

I thought a decorative stitch would be fun, especially since it’s such a small size. This is the mini quilt I started at the Fat Quarter Retreat, I think it’s 16″ square, maybe it’s 20″. I also worked on a quilt between sewing the binding down on the back and finishing it, and together the binding and sewing a row of quilt blocks together took about a half an hour.

I always talk about having projects in various stages of completion and this is just one way I can complete something quickly. I was so frustrated with my computer and I just had to walk away so I went to sew instead, and a little while later I walked away with the mini being finished. It’s hanging in my daughter’s room now.

I also finished my hexagon sewing machine cover!

I wanted to do a decorative stitch to finish this as well and I also used up the mint colored thread so I had to pick one that wasn’t complicated or full of double stitch lines. After picking this wavy line, I finished the binding with maybe ten inches of thread left.

These are two trivets I finally finished – I did everything but the binding ages ago, at least a year, and I have been getting out projects that just have one or two things on them that need to be finished. It’s usually quilting something or the binding like this. I did easy stitches, and all four of the stitches are available on my sewing machine. I stitched just on the edge of the binding so it would hide stitches because I sewed the binding on the back. After the fact I realized I didn’t have to do that because the front stitching caught the binding on the back. That’ll be the next thing I try – sewing the binding on without sewing it on the back first.

How do you like to finish a small project? The last few minis that I did for swaps, I hand sewed the binding down. I don’t mind doing that, but if I had a deadline and really needed to get something done, using a decorative stitch would be a good choice.

Check out these books to make your own mini quilt and try out a decorative binding!

• Whip Up Mini Quilts: Patterns and How-to for 26 Contemporary Small Quilts
• Mini Mosaic Quilts: 30+ Block Designs – 14 Projects
• 101 Fabulous Small Quilts
• Pretty Little Mini Quilts

 

For the past few weeks I have been participating in a quilt along put on by Bloomerie Fabrics. The QA started in October and this is the last week for it. I quickly picked out my Botanica fabrics for this quilt!

I did a really good job of keeping up with the schedule and I am so excited I was able to do that! In the past I have found quilt alongs when they were already finished or maybe I wasn’t going to be home when they were happening, so participating in real time was so fun.

I like quilt alongs because seeing what other people are doing can be great motivation for you to work on your quilt, and it’s fun to sew along with others.

This serves as a big reminder to not assume that you know what you are doing! So often we read a quilt pattern and think, “awesome, I got this!” and get to sewing. But if you are like me, and you end up having multiple projects going on at once, you can forget what the next step is or what you should sew.

I only needed one print on each of the larger white squares but instead I have all four. I only did these two white squares before I realized my mistake. I am SO glad I only did two!

This is the Wallflowers pattern by Cluck Cluck Sew and for the quilt along we were to make nine blocks. These are large blocks and the quilt ends up being a lap size quilt.

After I finished I sent a picture to a friend of mine and she loved it. I decided to give it to her for Christmas, but I want it to be a larger quilt. I had to add borders and this is when stashing half yards of fabric isn’t the best because a half yard just isn’t enough to give you a bigger border. I did the first border in two separate colors (but from the same fabric line) and the second border in the same fabric (also from the same line). I like to buy half yard bundles of fabric collections sometimes, then I’ll buy yardage of my favorites later (but before it’s gone!).

The quilt ended up with two and a half borders because I only did the final border on the top and bottom so it would be long and not square. I used one of the Chicopee fabrics for that final border. This made the quilt 73 X 81 – which is not really a “normal” size for a quilt, but it works for me. It is nearest to a twin size quilt I think.

I haven’t decided how to quilt this, and I don’t have a backing fabric yet! I am working on the backing over the weekend and next week though because I do want to finish this soon. Oh and I’m calling it Tic Tac Toe, for obvious to me reasons which are usually not that obvious to anyone else. 🙂

This may be the fastest quilt ever! We stopped at the Liberty of London store during our vacation this summer, and we just wandered around the store. It was so fun to look at the clothing, scarves, and kitchen items. So many of the stores in London were stunning, four, five, six, seven stories high packed with so many things and people waiting to help you find the perfect something for whoever you are shopping for, even for yourself. Of course not every store is this way, but the large (and okay maybe also slightly touristy since these are the places the tourists be sure to stop by) stores seem to be set up this way.

I grabbed this roll of Liberty fabrics and the label had a suggestion of sewing the fabrics together for a quick quilt that would be good for the couch. I have a few pieces of Liberty but didn’t want to cut into it and try to figure out a good way to sew them, so I figured what the heck and went with the suggestion – especially after coming back from our vacation with the news that our closest friends here will be moving within just a couple of weeks. It didn’t take long to sew the strips together, and I had the kids me baste it because I use the floor since it’s the largest space (I really want to try the basting w/ 2 x 4s, I watched a video and it looks really easy).

I did the quilting over a couple of days, and the binding (I always hand sew the binding, I just don’t love how machine binding looks) while I watched tv. The quilting was good practice for me as I usually do straight lines and/or stitch in the ditch. Each strip has something different quilted in it, and there is only one strip that I don’t love, I just like it. Like any free motion quilting, I got better as I went along.

And so we have to say our first ‘see you later’ to friends here. I am sad because we were frequent guests for dinner with each other, JW and their children went to school together, they have a baby for us to fuss over, and for so many other reasons. It is never fun to leave the friends you make, and regardless of what anyone else says, it is never easy nor does it get easier.