Time for binding...

Continuing the momentum, I'm on to binding this week.

I don't know if this is a unique approach or not, but I roll my binding up on an empty cardboard spool after it's ironed. It keeps it nice and tidy, and besides, I like taking pictures of it all wound up like that.

(By the way, this is the backing I found in my stash for the Wiggly Horror top. I have no idea where or when I bought this, or why. But it's PERFECT. No spitup stains here! Or at least none you can see!)

Anyway, while it's a great way to keep the binding neat and wrinkle-free, it can be a challenge to keep it from running away. I got really tired of the roll dropping off my lap or the sewing table and having to chase it across the kitchen floor, so came up with a couple different ways to contain it. This was by far the best solution:

I put the spool on my machine's knee lift, and put a pin in it to keep it from unfurling. Feed a comfortable length out, put the pin back, and keep going until it's done.

Works like a charm!

Step 5: An illustration...

This is what happens when I leave the lids off my fabric bins.  Every time.

 

For love of Photoshop...

I made this quilt top eons ago -- 2003 or 2004, maybe?

Bright, isn't it? And this picture doesn't really do it justice. If I look at it from the right angle in full sun, the orange and the green do a little dance. Really. 

Very early in my quilting career I was enamored with loud kid prints. This was made from a bunch of "Wiggly Garden" fat quarters (Cheri Strole, Moda). It made me dizzy to look at it, so it never made it to fruition; it went into the famed "Duffle of Doom," the bag in my closet from which flimsies rarely return.

Fast-forward to yesterday, and the announcement that my step-nephew and his wife are expecting a boy in a few months. Rather than start something completely new (which is TOTALLY my preference, but I'm fighting it), I dug first into the UFO Ziploc pile (yes, I know I'm still procrastinating, but in a good, productive kind of way). Finding nothing too terribly inspirational, I went for the Doom Duffle and rediscovered the Wiggly Horror.

It has potential, but not in its current state. I won't be held responsible for blinding the infant with offensive color choices!

The orange stripes were initially added to make it wider, I think, and obviously have to go. I'm just not sure if I want to replace the orange, or take those strips out all together. Before I reach for the seam ripper, I thought I'd best weigh my options first. And for that, there's Photoshop.

A little messing with some adjustment layers, and I have a few alternatives:

Meh. The light blue, even if I match it to what's in there, doesn't do anything for me.

Neither does dark green, though it's a slight improvement.

This one's the front runner so far.  I like how the purple pops, and if I get it dark enough, it won't do the tango with the other colors like the orange did.

Or I could remove the strips all together, which changes the proportions a little. I'm not sure I like it skinnier -- this option may take some other adjustments, like removing a column and adding it as a row, which would mean a hunt for scraps, as it's shy one 9-patch block.

So Step 1: Rip out the orange strips.

Step 2:  Audition new strip fabrics, or decide if it looks OK without any.

Step 3:  (maybe) Look for some scraps to make up a new 9-patch block.

Step 4:  Find three or four fabrics I'd forgotten about while I'm searching for scraps and (Oh! Don't these look good together!) pull them out just to look at. Pile them on the sewing table and make a cup of coffee. Drink it while looking at the pretty pile and think about what I could make with them. Get excited about the possibilities for a new project, and find sketchbook and colored pencils. After ten minutes or so of sketching, decide the design would look so much better if I did it on the computer. Fire up the desktop; read some new quilty blog posts before getting started, check in with Fresh Modern Quilts for some inspiration, answer a couple work-related e-mails, and consult Facebook to catch up on the day's happenings. Play with quilt designs in Illustrator, decide PowerPoint is easier for what I'm trying to do and start over. Realize my coffee is cold, and when I walk back into the kitchen to warm it up, find the floor littered with fabric I hadn't put away two...no, three hours ago.

Step 5:  Remove sleeping cat from open bin of fat quarters.

Step 6:  Regretfully return pretty pile of forgotten fabrics to their respective bins.

Step 7:  Resume scrap search.

On my kitchen floor this morning...

This quilt has been a looooong time in the making.

I won this jelly roll of Moda Clermont Farms from Glenn way back in 2010. When I received it, I knew that whatever I made was going to go Sister #3 -- these were her colors, and very traditional prints. To say Sister #3 is traditional would be an understatement, so it was a perfect fit. She also had a milestone birthday coming up in a couple years, worthy of a quilt. Finishing something with that much lead time shouldn't be a problem...right?

Hah!

I don't remember when I finished the blocks, but I do remember coming up short for a twin size and readily shelving it, moving on to the next project...and another project after that, and one after that...you know the drill.

It doesn't take much for me to abandon a project, believe me.

Sister's milestone birthday came and went. Those blocks in the Ziploc got ignored until I felt the need to procrastinate further on Theo's graduation quilt and scrounged through the UFO pile.

Well, hello, Clermont Farms! Long time no see! Are you interesting enough to distract me from what I'm really supposed to be finishing? Yes? Then let's do this!

I pulled enough from my stash to make a dozen more blocks and got to work. What's pathetic is that the stash fabrics I pulled? They were here four years ago. I don't know if it's ADD, or if I'm just lazy. Either way, it's shameful. And now I feel guilty that Theo's quilt is late.

Quilt + floor = a place to nap

The initial diagonal quilting wasn't enough, so I'm going back in between the lines to add more. It's 75% done as of this morning, and close enough to finished that abandonment is out of the question.

So it's a Christmas/birthday/retirement gift. Three birds with one quilt!

Take two...

My former co-worker welcomed her first grandbaby last November. I made a quilt for him, and it sat in a gift box, patiently awaiting our next lunch, which, due to her taking a new job in the suburbs far, far away and my pretty much never leaving the city limits, didn't happen.

The box -- complete with its reminder to mail it to her stuck to the front -- got shuffled around, then put away, then forgotten...until I was invited to a baby shower for another friend this summer. Instead of breaking my neck to create another quilt in a tight time frame (because you know I love to wait until the last minute), I dug out the gift boxed quilt and wrapped it up (and yes, I remembered to take the sticky note off the front...but forgot to take a picture of it, sorry). It was a change of pace for me, not trying to stitch the binding down and dry my hair at the same time so I wouldn't be late for the event. Quite liberating, actually, though I did feel a tiny bit guilty about giving it away to someone else.

Anyway...Friday, I got an e-mail:  "Coming into the city next week! Can we still get lunch?"

Uh-oh.

I made this on Saturday from some fun half-yards, fat quarters and marbles I've had since my early days of quilting. It felt good to use them up (stash busting!), good to get something else done (in an afternoon, no less!), and even better not to be panicked about it.

"Take Two,"  40" x 48"

Miscellaneous prints + marbles + Jan Mullen handwoven backing

So "Take Two" is all wrapped up and ready to go. I just hope lunch doesn't get cancelled!

Navy and lime...

"I need another baby quilt for a shower." It was my sister on the phone. With a good many of her co-workers expecting babies, she's turning into my best customer.

"Her nursery color scheme is navy and lime. Can you do that?"

I was excited when I hung up the phone. Navy and green -- especially bright green -- is one of my favorite color combinations. But here's the issue: navy? Not much of a problem. But the lime in my stash runs the gamut from real yellowy green to just shy of kelly.

Just a few of the greens that could be called "lime."

Not knowing specifically which shade of lime we were talking about, I did the only thing that made sense:  I used them all.

 Navy & Lime, 40" x 50"

 

I also used a variegated lime thread, which really popped on the marbled navy. The wavy quilting gives it a lot of movement.

The backing was a fun, bright stripe that I've had for probably ten years. It was a perfect counterpoint to the much quieter front. It should also serve to wake the baby up if need be.

Another one that's been Archie tested, and Archie approved!