Borders on...Perfection

A few weeks ago I was

a quilt judge at our local county fair.

The quilts were stacked high and between

myself and 2 other judges we critiqued 140 quilts,

looking at the design, the workmanship,

and overall visual impact.

Eventually we narrowed down the piles to

choose the Grand Champion. 

It was not an easy task.

Each participant loved their quilt
and was confident enough to enter.

We certainly enjoyed looking at each and every stitched creation.

Overall, the quilts were lovely, but

I did notice one issue in many. 

That was with the application of the borders.

I know when I get to the borders, at least in my mind, 

I'm thinking, Yay!!! I'm almost finished!

Sewing on a couple of borders, isn't that the easy part?

I'd like to think so.
But the application of the borders 

 can make the difference between a good quilt and 

a great quilt.

I guess the reason I'm bringing this up is

because I've been sewing on a lot of borders lately.

**Accurate measurements are key.**

"Summer Log Cabin Quilt"

I know, I can get sloppy, careless

and sew in a hurry.

That's when I'm always sorry.

Going around and around,

wrestling with yards of fabrics

is a challenge.

There are lots of tutorials online

to help with the right techniques, but

I think it mostly boils down to

accurate measuring, did I say accurate measuring,

 and taking your time.

This is the second quilt that I've added borders to.

"Christmas or Not Applique Quilt"

Borders don't have to be fancy, or pieced or

even have mitered corners,

but sewing them on carefully

so the quilt lays flat withougt ripples and waves

takes careful measuring, concentration and time.

I'll share more about the quilts I've shown today,
but I wanted to encourage all of us
to take care with the finishing touches.

Let's all border on perfection.

******

Until Next Time-

Kyle

It's That Time Again

It's that time again to share

my August small quilt

along with Wendy and the rest of the quilter's

participating in her monthly mini.

Earlier in August I was sitting outside

and noticed how pretty the prairie sage looked in the garden.

The dusty purple and green colors looked so soft

and luscious on that hot August day.

I decided I would use this as my color palette.

(Running Man's bees are crazy in love with the flowers.)

A while ago I was the lucky winner of 

Janet O's blog,  rogue quilter anniversary giveaway.

Besides sending some of her awesome soap,

a mini Dresden plate pincushion, fabric,

the prize included Jo Morton's newest book!

I turned to the first quilt in the book, sorted through fabrics

and started sewing.

I love sewing hourglass blocks, especially

when they are over sized and easy to trim.

Using the easy sewing method Jo

describes in her book,

the blocks came out perfect every time.

Before I knew it the quilt was finished.

Prairie Sage
20" x 22"

The colors and the simplicity of this quilt

harmonized with the Prairie Sage.

It's a lovely way to remember August.

Thanks again, Wendy, for your monthly encouragement.

Until Next Time-

Kyle

Oh, I Could Do It This Way!

How many times has a task

felt insurmountable.  

Just the idea of getting from here to there.

What if you just let your mind dance on air.

Possibly you'd find a

new idea that would work. 

That's just what I did when it 

came to tackling the next border 

of Di Ford's Sutton Grange pattern.

Can you believe this is the only photo I took of Di's quilt

when I saw it in person!!!

Oh, well.  (sigh)

Remember, I had those 320 tiny drunkard path blocks to make.

I couldn't get past the idea of prepping and then 

appliqueing each one individually.

I started thinking of each little block

as a quarter of a circle that was appliqued on a square.

I did some experimenting.

I had to figure out the size of the squares and circles 

including the extra seam allowances.

I finally did it and

it was going to work!

So rather than prepping 320 quarter circles

it was down to 80 full circles.

I decided to go with the freezer paper method

and was so happy how quickly it went especially

using Missie's Fingertip Stiletto

from Traditional Primitive from Missie Carpenter.

It works as a fingertip stylus allowing you to get

very close the iron to gently fold the seam allowance into place. 

Next I had to decide how to

applique 80 circles in a reasonable amount of time.

I recalled Angie, whose blog is

Quilting on the Crescent,

reviewed some different threads for machine appliqueing

and it reminded me of Wonderfil's Invisafil thread.

I even had a spool and gave it a try.

It's a 100 ply poly thread that is soft, comes in lots of colors

and has a matte finish.

I think I had my solution.

I ordered a few spools from 

Red Rock Threads.

They had a good prices and also had the smaller spools.

I was in business.

I used the overlock stitch flipped and crunched way down.

It's hard to even see the stitches!

Once the 80 circles were appliqued, I quartered them, 

and finally, sewed them into blocks.

I was pretty pleased.  The edges matched up

as well as if I had done it by hand.

Plus it was done in record time.

My nanny Nana duties are resuming this week

for these two Lovelies, as my daughter heads back to the classroom.

So, my sewing time will be spent in

a different way.

Finding some time efficient methods

 is essential.

Keep in mind, the

next time you're stuck on a project,

let your mind do an air dance 

and see what you come up with.

Until Next Time-

Kyle

One More Memory

It's hard to believe that it's been 

a year and half since I went to 

Den Haan & Wagenmakers

in Amsterdam.

 It was a wonderful shop to visit.

I treated myself to a kit.

and started sewing it earlier this year.

I substituted lots of other Dutch Heritage

fabrics into the pattern.

Well, I got the top finished earlier this spring

and finally had opportunity to get it quilted by

one of my favorite local machine quilters, Debi R.

All the quilting has brought it to life.

So much color and pattern.

So much texture. 

I was initially concerned that stitching over

the big chintz pattern would be distracting and

take away from the beauty of the fabric.

But I was very happy how those large squares looked.

The border was the same wonderful complicated fabric, but

even using a feather design it worked out beautifully.  

You might have noticed that I didn't add a

tradition binding, but rather finished the edge in

the traditional Dutch way.

This method involves sewing strips of fabrics together,

 then sewing them to the front of the quilt 

and bringing it the the back of the quilt

where it's hand stitched in place.

In essence, it's creating a facing to finish the edge.  

 It's a very clean and sharp finish.

There are many tutorials online to get the specifics.

I used the same backing fabric so you can barely see it.

I finally got to use this special label

that I had been saving.

It includes the names of the wonderful quilters

I traveled with and those that I had the privilege to meet

along the way.

I am so happy to have this quilt finished.

The pattern name was called Clafoutis,

 which is a classic French dessert that

combines fresh cherries in a rich dense custard.

So obviously, to celebrate

I made a cherry clafoutis.

Both the dessert and my quilt

turned out perfect. 

Hope you agree.

Until Next Time-

Kyle