Binding

I sewed the binding onto my Fly Away Home quilt tonight. I thought that I had made lots of binding, but in the end, I had to cut a little bit more out of the scraps that were leftover from the border of the quilt. These two small pieces are all that are left now that I have the binding on! Thank goodness I had enough!








I also hand sewed the binding on two more table toppers tonight. Only 3 to go now! I will be sewing binding again tomorrow night on the sampler quilt. Then, I will have to do the hanging sleeve...the hand sewing just goes on and on and on... I will be glad when it is finished!

7 Table Runners/Toppers...just about done.

I have been sewing every moment I get, trying to finish off these table runners/toppers which are slated to be gifts for family members that I have not seen in a long time. I have all of them quilted now and two of them have the binding sewn on by machine and by hand.













The other 5 have the binding sewn on my machine but still need the binding rolled over to the back and hand sewn down. Here are the two purple batik toppers that you have not seen yet.


Here are the other three that still need binding hand sewn on the back:


I have the binding made for the Fly Away Home quilt, but it is not sewn onto the quilt yet. I am going to try to finish that off tonight so I can sit and hand sew tomorrow night when my MIL is here for a visit. The label of this quilt was pieced into the back of the quilt so I don't have to worry about that! I still need to do the hanging sleeve after I get the binding done. A quilter's sewing is never done!

Fly Away Home is back!

I went to pick up my sampler quilt from the longarm quilter's house tonight. She had it all laid out in her living room when I arrived. She stitched in the ditch in the body of the quilt and on the flying geese border. The outer border has a pattern called "Chantilly Lace". The pink border has a wiggly line quilted onto it. I just love this quilt! I took my time to make each block and I have learned so much piecing this quilt. I have enjoyed every minute of putting it together, except maybe adding the borders! Here is a close up of the house block. The door needs a doorknob. Any ideas on how to add one???
Tonight, when I got home, I pieced another table runner. I used hour glass blocks made from a charm pack for this runner. I bought some fabric to use for backings for all of the table runners today. It is being washed as I type.
I have a quilt guild meeting tomorrow night and I have lots to bring for show and tell--all of the table runners and the Fly Away Home quilt will be coming with me, even though they are not all done yet.

I just found some leftover blocks from my "Off My Beaten Path" quilt that I made a couple of years ago. I think I will use them to make a couple of table toppers and then I will be caught up with the gifts I need to make.

This weekend, I am going to a quilt show in St. Mary's, Ontario, Canada with a couple of quilting friends. I went to this show with Karen a couple of years ago and was very impressed with the quilts, the food in the lunch room and the antique quilt bed turning that they did at the show. I am looking forward to a fun Saturday with friends! The rest of the weekend, I will be quilting my table runners and adding the binding to my Fly Away Home quilt. Sounds like a perfect weekend!

Two Table Toppers Pieced

Nancy and I got together tonight and while she trimmed blocks for her "Virginia Bound" scrappy quilt, I pieced two more gifts--Table toppers this time, from a charm pack by Moda "Simplicity". It had 50 charms in it--enough for two table toppers. I purchased the charm pack a couple of years ago in the Old Country Store in Intercourse, PA. I would love to go back to PA again someday and see more of the quilt shops. We only had time for one store on our way through town. We also went to the quilt museum which is in the same building.
One day soon, I am going to have to put my walking foot on the machine and get all of these runners/toppers quilted! I still need to make at least two more to catch up on all my gift making.

I'm back!

I have been trying to do a blog post for a few days now, but could not get Blogger to co-operate with me. Today, it finally seems to be working so I can finally do another post.

While waiting to get my "Fly Away Home" (Grateful Heart) Sampler back from the longarm quilters, I have been working on some table runners for gifts. I am using bright Spring and Summer charm packs for these runners. The first one was made for a talent auction at my church.
Here are the other two runners which I have pieced but not quilted yet.
I still have a few more gifts to make. Tonight, Nancy and I are getting together for a little QNIC (Quilting Night in Canada) so I hope to piece another couple of runners. Check back later for more pictures.

Carolina Christmas: Step #1 done!

Christine and I got together tonight to finish off Step #1 of Carolina Christmas. Here are my HST's--104 of them! They are all trimmed up and ready to go for step #2.








Christine is using the same gold fabric throughout this quilt. Here is a picture of her twosies:













Christine sewed her 104 HST's. Here they are in a pile behind her sewing machine as she chain pieced....

I love all of the different green fabrics she used! She has some special daisy fabric which she used for one of these units. It reminds her of her dog, Daisy!

Due to other commitments, we will not be able to get together to sew again until June. Our homework this time is to cut out all of the pieces needed for Step #2. When we get together in June, we will sew them together!

My Carolina Christmas Homework and some more flower pics!

Christine and I decided we would each do a little "homework" before we get together to sew again tomorrow night. I worked on my homework tonight. I have made 192 "twosies" with neutral and brown fabric and 36 HST's. I think I have to make 104 HST's all together--I will work on those tomorrow night when Christine is here.







I took a little walk around my yard today while supper was cooking and here are a few pictures of my flowers. I just love this time of year!

A Trip to the Longarm Quilter's!

I spent my sewing time on the weekend adding borders to my Grateful Heart sampler. Last night and today after work, I finished piecing the backing. My label is pieced right into the backing and is made from one of the butterfly pictures from the panel that came with the Northern Solitudes fat quarter bundle that I used to make this quilt. I must say that I am relieved to have this quilt done and off to the longarm quilter's! Putting borders on and making the backing are my most un-favourite parts of making a quilt!

Here is a close up of the borders that I added to my quilt. There are 156 flying geese in this quilt and they inspired the name of the quilt "Fly Away Home". My SIL came up with the name after looking at some pictures of the quilt blocks on my blog while we chatted on the phone together. Some of the blocks, for example, the house block, the rail fence, the log cabin, etc., reminded her of HOME. The flying geese traveling around the outside of the quilt, reminded her of the movie "Fly Away Home" (This is an excellent movie that you should rent and watch if you have not seen it already!) so the name stuck! My SIL is not a quilter, but is a very artistic person so I value her opinions on my quilting endeavours. She calls me a "quiltaholic"--I told her she is an "enabler"--after all, she did buy me the Elvis fabric shown in a previous post as a gift from her recent vacation...



My friend, Karen, and I took the quilt to the longarm quilter's tonight. Here it is, all laid out as we discussed how to quilt it. I will post a picture of the whole quilt when it is all done. Her Gammil quilting machine is in the background. As soon as she is finished the quilt she is doing now, my quilt will go on the machine. I should have it back within a week!!!

Carolina Christmas--A Bonnie Hunter Mystery

Christine, a quilting friend from the London Friendship Quilters Guild, and I decided we would do this Bonnie Hunter Mystery quilt together. Neither of us had time when all of the Quiltville fans were doing the quilt back in December so we are going to do it together now. I made a Christmas quilt this past December so I decided to use blue (instead of green), brown (instead of gold), orange (instead of red) and neutrals for my quilt. Tonight, Christine and I cut 2 1/2" strips for the first step of the quilt. I have not cut any orange strips yet as there is no orange in this step. Keep checking back for progress. We are going to sew a bit before getting together again later this month to do some more cutting and some sewing. This is probably a long term project, but it will be fun to do it together. Christine is using traditional Christmas colours--red, green, gold and neutrals.

Grateful Heart Sampler Progress

I sewed the evening away tonight and finished putting all of the blocks together for my Grateful Heart Sampler. I just have to add the borders now. I also ironed the border fabrics. One more evening of sewing should do it!! I will be glad to get this one off to the Longarm quilters! I have other projects I would like to work on---Bonnie Hunter's Carolina Christmas Mystery Quilt for one... AND I would also like to finish my Spinning Squirrels and Maggots quilt, as well as my Fractured Squares quilt--it just needs borders and then it can be taken in for quilting. Sew much to do, just not enough time!!!

Happy Easter!

We had Easter Dinner at my sister-in-law's house yesterday. We had turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, a vegetable casserole (made by me!), salad, buns, pie, ice cream and strawberries for dinner. I have some leftover turkey in my fridge which I will use for a casserole this week sometime.
My sister-in-law's family took a March Break trip to New Orleans, Louisiana and went to Graceland, home of Elvis, in Memphis, Tennessee on the way there. Many years ago, they gave us an Elvis tea towel which we "regifted" to them one year at Christmas. It has been a "treasured" possession in our family and has always been displayed prominently on special family occasions! This year, when they were at Graceland, my sister-in-law saw the perfect gifts for my husband and I. My husband received a can of "Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich" hot chocolate mix (Elvis' favourite type of sandwich!) and I received some "lovely" fabric featuring pink silhouettes of Elvis on a green background.

I will have to find a way to use this fabric in a table runner or throw! I'm just feeling "all shook up" right now and I can't think of the perfect way to use the fabric yet!!! If anyone has any ideas, please let me know!

Grateful Heart Sampler Progress

I have been working on the flying geese border for this quilt all week. Most nights, I was cutting out squares or sewing or trimming up the 156 units I needed for the border and the main part of the quilt. This morning, I finally finished putting the flying geese together. This is a very colourful border!







This afternoon, I have been putting the blocks together in rows. This is a long slow process as I am trying to match all of the seams and keep all my points pointy! My daughter is home from university for the Easter weekend so she helped me adjust the layout of the blocks slightly before I go ahead and sew them together. It's good to have an extra set of eyes or two look at everything before finalizing the design. The first two rows are done and I am currently working on the 3rd row.