More Finishes!

I have more completed quilts to show you. I have been churning out bindings like there's no tomorrow. Hooray for finishes! And hooray for catching up on all my bindings... now I can start machine quilting again, or even creating more tops. Too much fun!

No Book, But What About that Weather?

I'm reading a good book, but I'm not ready to discuss it yet. Come back next Friday for my book review. But, of course, I would love to have you visit every day that I post something.. not just Fridays. Pull up a chair, and let's chat!

Here is progress on my weather quilt. Three months done already! Soon we'll be in the heat of the summer. I'm going to try to enjoy it and not complain when it gets too hot and humid for my preference.

I think I'm going to like this quilt when it's done. In fact, I already do.

I am still plugging away at bindings, but I did let myself play a little. I made this improv-pieced orange/yellow little quilt. I love it! I'm hoping to get it quilted this weekend.

Have a happy and fun weekend, everyone! Keep on reading!

Itching to Create

My local guild's quilt show is coming soon. We have to turn in our quilts by early April, so I'm trying to get them all bound and attach hanging sleeves. These steps are b.o.r.i.n.g. and take forever. I'm trying to stick to it and get them all done before I reward myself with a start on something new (or even play with an old UFO which would be way more fun than bindings and sleeves).

But I am itching to play with my scraps and make a new, one-of-a-kind quilt top.. my favorite kind of quilt play.

Here are a couple of quilts I recently finished.. binding is on, and hanging sleeves attached; they even have labels. This first one I call Urban Garden. I originally made it just of the strips, in an attempt to do some stash busting. It was boring with just strips, so I added the appliqued flowers. Those took a long time to finish, because I had to stitch them down, and there were very many ins and outs. I was so pleased and proud when I finally got them done. It was quilted by my friend, Diane.

The next one I call The Ugly Man Quilt -- is it an ugly quilt, or a quilt for an ugly man? You decide. (It could be both.)

The blocks were purchased in our little store that happens during our quilt show. They looked pretty in the bag, but I didn't open the bag to realize that most of the blocks are ugly. Oh, well. It's done. I do hope some man will find this to be an acceptable quilt. This one has leaves falling down the front, very similar to the flowers I did on the previous one, except I did a much better job on sewing the flowers. This was also quilted by Diane. Please notice that there is no snow in the outdoors picture! We got 6-8 inches of snow on Wednesday. Today, Saturday, it is all gone. That's March in Minnesota.

Here's another quilt. This was made by various members of our guild and was put together by Sally. I am attaching binding to this one next. It will also hang in our show, in the Community Service category. I love how cheerful this quilt is. I would not have thought of using orange sashing, but I love it, and love the border fabric, too. Sally dressed it up nicely. It was quilted at Missouri Star Quilt Company.

One more quilt. I made this one along with Crazy Mom Quilts when she did a Scrap Vortex sew-along. I wasn't super thrilled with this, but I guess it's not bad. (It was also quilted by Missouri Star Quilt Company.) I have already sent this on its merry way to a camp in northern MN for kids who have AIDS. If you want to contribute to that quilt drive, let me know, and I'll give you the scoop.

Now I'm heading back to my sewing room to work on... bindings. Hanging sleeves. Labels. *yawn*

Bindings

I finished three quilts and have one more that another person quilted for me -- that means I have four bindings to do. Wow, I didn't know how much I dislike doing bindings. It is REALLY slowing me down. I have been avoiding stepping foot inside my sewing room because it's bindings that are waiting for me.

I did finish one binding. This is a panel I bought on sale and just bordered very simply. I feel very pleased with myself on the quilting. I free-motion quilted in the panel area, following the landscaping ups and downs, kind of an "echo quilting for dummies" method. I am happy with how it turned out.

Now... working up the gumption to go finish those last three bindings. Uffda. Send me your binding mojo, please!!

Getting More Accomplished

I didn't start yet on the quilt that got put aside yesterday. Instead I put a binding on this big one which I recently got back from the machine quilter. I had it quilted at Quilted Treasures in Rogers, MN:

Then I finished a final row and borders on this top. I am going to send this to Wrap Them in Love along with backing fabric and binding. (Second photo below shows the backing fabric.) I don't do as much for WTIL as I did in the past, so I figure sending an occasional unfinished top is OK... I know the owner of WTIL has her own long arm. Hopefully this is not a burden for her. I decided to also send that finished small-size quilt that I finished yesterday. One finished, one un-finished. I don't think that's such a bad deal.

Our crate of peaches distracted me, and I made this. Had to have a piece last night, while it was still warm. Yummmmmmmm.

Finally, I got a copy of Quilt Life in the mail on Saturday and noticed this article. On page 32 it shows (upper left corner) a quilt made by Wanda at Exuberant Colors. Coincidentally, the quilt is called "Exuberance." You can see a link to her blog in my sidebar. I love her exuberant quilts!

A year or so ago Wanda inspired me to make this quilt:

On to more sewing! I still have another day to the weekend! Yippee!

Quilt Binding Question -- Can You Help?

I made this octagon table center thingy. I'd love to make more, but I need help with the binding at the EIGHT corners! How do I turn the binding to make that 45-degree angle on these non-90 degree corners? When I get them to work well, it's always a happy accident which I don't know how to reproduce.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!! Pictures would rock, as I'm a visual learner.

The corners actually look decent in this photo, but they're bumpy and obviously done by an amateur.