Friday, August 12, 2011

putting on the brakes - what to do when the quilt back is too short...

So yesterday, I thought I was making great headway on a little scrap quilt.  I had pieced the back according to "John's diagonal method" and thought I had plenty of backing under this little quilt.
I realized just in the nick of time that the backing was going to be about 4" shy of getting to the edge of the last border...  YIKES!!! how did that happen?  I had measured so carefully - this just could not be!

I checked again... yes, for sure, it would not reach. Just a few inches.

So, what did I do you ask?  (or maybe not...)  I stopped right there in the middle of the quilt.  I took the whole thing off the frame, and cut the existing backing fabric about 6 inches away from the quilting I had just finished - in a nice straight line.... well, okay, I confess - I actually TORE that strip off.  I had a 'short' piece left in the 'backings box' that was never going to back much of anything and I cut that in half to make a piece long enough to match the piece I had already torn off the quilt back, sewed those together and then added the new piece a little into the middle of the quilt back rather than just adding it to the edge.

Now it looks like I pieced the back this way intentionally, and here is a pic of the finished quilt
 yes, the binding is on it now... I used the dark teal/turquoise for the binding.  all done.  what's next?

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Quilts for Kids day at the quilt frame

QuiltsforKids.org is going to get the one I'm quilting today - it's on the frame, I'll post a pic as soon as I have it done... before I send this one and another to Philadelphia (I will probably take them in person next week) click on the linkie to see a gallery of grateful kids.

This is not to be confused with Quilts4Kids.com which is a similar organization in Australia.  I can't afford the shipping to send them quilts, but if you're in Au, maybe you could help them out.  They have several kids on their waiting list who would appreciate your help.

Having a wonderful day, hope you are too!
I just found out I won the red/aqua fabric bundle from Michael Miller fabrics....  how lucky can I get?   I really hit the jackpot this birthday!
aren't these wonderful? 

Thank you Michael Miller!!!!
now hop on over to their blog and comment to win some Red/White/Black fabrics....good luck!

Monday, August 8, 2011

First week in August

Hello again,

My blog is suffering from summer fun - I'm just having too much of it!  Last Saturday was our annual Block Party BBQ.  The street was closed off - all two blocks of it - and the neighbors got together to catch up on family doings and who had heard from which former neighbors recently.  The weather (which was extremely wet in the morning) cooperated just in time to light up the grill and let the local littles play in the sprinkler.

Between travel, recuperating from travel, and all the other fun stuff - not to mention the exhaustive heat - it has been too hot to spend much time at the upstairs sewing machine - but I have spent enough time to get a couple of the corners done for my RRCB:
yeah, I know... still in the drawer.

... and a "Trend class" sample is quilted and bound:

The 4 x 6ers have almost all received their postcards from me for July before the middle of August:
Isabell's, Janet's, and mine
and I've received this beautiful little quiltie from my friend, Lani, all the way from California!
Lani's pc
doesn't it look like a sunrise behind a Manzanita?  I love it!  and, it's her first try at a postcard quilt.  I think she did a great job on it - she has a wonderful sense of design - and I love those bright colors!

The FATraders exchanged embellished coasters which we joined into books to celebrate our 6th anniversary on Yahoo.... it took a bit longer than expected due to the postal workers strike in Canada, but I'm loving my little book.  Here it is:



I've also been working on an embroidery block of the month - I'm keeping up pretty well with the Little Birdie Stitches by Little Miss Shabby... I'll post those pics in a day or so, along with the latest update on the Happiness Key Mystery quilt.


...and I've sewn, cut, re-sewn, rearranged, cut, sewn again on my QCE Guild fabric challenge - due in Sept. which I can't post pics of or any other details until the 'Reveal' at the next guild meeting.
 
The QCE guild has a quilt show coming up in November - and I'm trying to prep a new quilt or two for that deadline.  I'm also trying to get to Philadelphia to spend a couple of days with my one and only daughter, who has graciously kept her calendar free for the time of my visit.  Smoochies!