First TWO Finishes of 2020

While I was waiting for the gingham binding to arrive, I sewed the binding on a UFO I finished quilting a couple weeks ago, before the longarm disaster.

It's nice to have a UFO finish be my first of the year. 

My binding arrived, and I'm so glad I held out for pink gingham.

Since it's hard to see in this photo, here are a couple close-ups of the binding.

It looks good with the front and the minky backing. I'm really happy with how this quilt came out.

Sewing has been pretty sporadic lately, there's a lot going on in my life right now. Still, I'm surprised at how short sewing sessions add up. I've made 80 scrap blocks in the last week, sewing in just short spurts here and there. Most of the blocks are the yellow and orange concentric squares I've already shown. Some blocks are kind of blah, but every once in a while one comes out really cute like this one...

When I make scrap quilts I don't fussy cut anything, it just comes out however it comes out. The hula cow is fairly centered in that middle, and it's just so cute. I bought a fat quarter of that fabric in Kona, Hawaii, when DH and I went there for our 25th wedding anniversary almost 11 years ago. That's one of the few bits left from that fat quarter.  The other blocks I've been working on are some really scrappy black/neutral log cabin blocks.

Most of these fabrics are novelty prints, so it's pretty busy, but after putting few blocks up on the design wall, I think it will work in the end. If scrap quilts stress you out, maybe it's because you are looking at one block at a time. Sometimes you need to look at the big picture to see if you can pull it off. 

It's funny, I've been helping several people house hunt lately. I've looked at hundreds of houses online in the last few months. DH and I had debated moving to northern AZ this year, decided against it, and decided we'd likely stay here in this house until DH retires. Well...while looking at a new housing development floor plan selection to help someone else, I found my dream floor plan. I liked it so well, DH and I went to a different development where they had that floor plan as a model home. I am absolutely enamored with that house, and it's in our price range! It so early in the housing development location we want, they aren't even selling lots for it yet, but we signed up for the interest list and are seriously considering buying. It has almost everything we like about our current house, and two things this house doesn't have, but we really want. This house is a tri-level, and the new house is single story. This house has no garage, and we've checked city codes and we can't build one. The new house has a two car garage, so plenty of space for DH's motorcycles and scooters.

We had planned to wait until DH retires to move, but now, when faced with my dream house in my price range, I just can't find a decent reason to not move, besides the fact moving is a lot of work. When we had looked at houses for us before, having adequate quilting space was a big issue. I really had never found anything that shouted at me that this would be perfect until we saw this floor plan. Not only would I have a great quilting space, if I should ever decide to buy one, I would have space for a longarm on a frame... We'll see what happens, but we are seriously considering it. 

More news on the house-hunting front, we found a place for my sister this week too, she'll be moving nearby, which I'm really happy about. The new house we are considering is even closer to her new place than our current house is, and it's not far from here either. The new location would be closer to my MIL too. When we bought this house 17 years ago, we never planned on retiring here. This other house, I could see living the rest of my life in. Staying put is easier, but is it better??? Hmmm....lots to think about.

Quilt Police Not Welcome

This was not a very productive quilting week for me. I did get the flamingo quilt basted and quilted, but when I went to look for binding I hit a snag.

I quilted fans on the quilt, and I'm quite happy with the texture they add. I had a variegated thread in pink/green/blue that was a good match, so I used that on the top, with a pale pink in the bobbin. The backing fabric is mostly white, so I wanted something pale in the bobbin, but not white which might clash of the tension wasn't perfect on top. 

Now, I am a longstanding cheater on binding. I like to use double fold bias tape, and I machine sew it on with a serpentine stitch. I do know how to traditionally bind a quilt, I just choose not to do it that way. I thought I had some hot pink bias tape in stash, that would match the inner border well enough. I looked, and came up empty. I must have finished that roll of bias tape (it was a seasonal color and is no longer offered). I don't have enough of the hot pink fabric to make a traditional binding. I do have some turquoise, but didn't like that option when put up against the center, and I have some of the light pink, but I thought it made the border blocks look weird since only half of those are framed with light pink. As I was considering options, I flipped the quilt to the backside, and decided hot pink would likely be pretty stark against the backing fabric, so I came up with the idea of pink and white gingham! Yes, that was perfect. I thought I had a roll of pink gingham bias tape, nope, I have mint green, black, and red. I looked at my fabric, any pink and white gingham? Nope. 

Guess who ordered a roll of pink gingham bias tape? While I was at it I ordered a roll of blue as well. Home Sew already shipped my order, and it will be here next Wednesday, so next week this quilt can be finished. 

I'm not a quilt police kind of person. If you enjoy making traditional binding, I think that's great, and you should continue doing things in methods you enjoy. I don't enjoy doing binding in a traditional method, so there's nothing traditional in the way I do binding. I use 1/2" (not 1/4") double fold bias tape. I start on the bottom of the quilt leaving about a 6" tail of bias tape , wrap the edges of the bias tape around the edge of the quilt, set my Bernina on the widest serpentine stitch, and start sewing. I stop at corners and break thread, miter the corner, then continue. When I get all the way around the quilt, I simply overlap the ends about 1/2", cut and sew a butt join. No complicated diagonal joins, no sewing each side down separately, when I've finished quilting a quilt, I simply want it finished! A lot of quilters wouldn't be happy with this type of binding, and I'm ok with that. The thing is, I'm not a show quilter. I don't plan on any of my quilts hanging in a show. I don't care if any of my quilts lasts for generations. I want my quilts used, I make utility quilts, and bindings done this way hold up through lots of washes, lots of blanket forts, lots of picnics. 

Am I suggesting you switch to my method? No. It breaks all the quilting "rules" out there. That said, if you've got a huge stack of quilts that need binding, and you're having problems getting them finished, maybe hand sewing isn't easy for you any more, this method might be worth a shot. I've been binding quilts like this for years, and I have NEVER had to repair a binding done by this method. I have had to resew several bindings that were hand sewn. So there it is, I'm not pushing this method, I'm just giving you food for thought if binding isn't your thing. 

If you are interested in where I get my binding, I buy 100 yard rolls from here. If you are interested in patterned bias tape, use this link. These are cotton/poly blends, which doesn't bother me, especially for a binding. If you want to try it, you can buy 10 yard lengths, which would likely do one quilt. It's a quick way to decide if this would work for you. I've been doing binding like this for years, so I pretty much have one roll of each color of bias tape in stash. Sometimes Home Sew offers seasonal colors or patterns, so I actually have a couple options in stash that they don't currently offer. They also offer double fold 1/4" bias tape, but personally I find that harder to sew on in one step. 

I still haven't fixed my longarm, I think I'm just going to bring it in for servicing. Unfortunately, my Bernina dealer won't repair it, so I need to bring the two machines to two different places. I'm not sure we'll be able to get either machine dropped off in the next week, so it may be a couple weeks. The Bernina is still sewing fine, and I have vintage machines to use anyway, so I can still sew in any time I find to sew. Life is pretty busy right now, so we'll see what I choose to work on. 

On the non-quilty front, we had a clogged drain this week, and after moving everything so the plumber could get things fixed, I'm going on a reorganizing tangent in the kitchen and laundry area. Of course, now I'm moving stuff in the pantry as well! When I get in an organizing mood there's no telling where I'l stop! 

Are there any things you do as a quilter that would leave the quilt police in a tizzy? Surely I'm not the only rebel out there?

Completed Quilt Top, New Blocks from Old Units, and a Longarm Disaster!

I just finished the grandbaby quilt top less than an hour ago.

I'm really happy with the quilt top, I think I like my improvised border better than the original, and it all went together like a breeze! I had to purchase a minky backing for it, because that's what DS the Younger and DDIL wanted, and I don't keep minky in stash. I bought that back in December, so I've still only purchased one piece of fabric in 2020. I just had to run around like a fiend looking for the backing, because I've moved so much in the last six weeks, I wasn't sure where I put it! I found it though, and I'll see about basting it tomorrow. 

I've been using some bonus HST's to make Lady of the Lake blocks.

See, thousands of bonus HST's, well over 2,000 here!

I cut the large center HST at a size so I could use 20 bonus HST's in every Lady of the Lake block. Sometimes I like to keep one block right in front of me, so I keep the orientation of the HST's correct. A 3M hook on my shelf and a bulldog clip on the block work nicely for that. 

I stuck a few blocks up on the design wall. I don't want to deal with all those seams coming together, so I think I will use a straight setting with sashing and cornerstones. I've got just over 20 blocks made now, and I sorted the black, purple, and green HST's for over 80 more blocks. Once I get some of those sewn up, I'll start sorting the blue HST's. Most fabrics I don't have 20 HST's of the same fabric, so I'm just sorting into similar shades. The large HST's don't always match either, I was just using up some leftover jewel toned fabrics I've already used in several quilts. Besides the silver Kona background on all the HST's, this is really just a quilt to use up a bunch of leftovers, whether they be leftover fabrics I use in the large HST's, or leftover bonus HST's. I'm thinking I will end up with at least a queen sized quilt. I'm in no hurry to get this quilt done, I'll likely finish the blocks and set them aside for a while. 

Are you ready for my longarm disaster story? I decided to start quilting another UFO, figuring I could finish quilting it before I was finished piecing the baby quilt. I was quilting away, when I had a thread break. No big deal, right? Thread breaks happen. Well......it was a really big deal. The broken thread had wrapped all the way around the bobbin race, and the machine was completely stuck with the needle all the way down! I googled it and saw that sometimes you can run the handwheel backwards and get it loose. Tried that, nope! I couldn't get the thread out, and my quilt was stuck on there, since the needle was all the way down. 

My longarm weighs 45 pounds, and the idea of carrying it with my quilt attached to be serviced was more than I could handle. I was determined to get the quilt out. I used a set of wire cutters, and cut the needle in half. Since the needle bar was stuck all the way down, I still couldn't maneuver the needle out. I wiggled the bobbin out eventually, the bottom half the needle fell out, and by pushing the top half through the quilt, I got the quilt loose. I haven't looked to see if pushing the needle through the quilt damaged the quilt. I'm hoping the larger hole will fix itself in the wash. That's a problem for another day. 

I wanted to try to get the needle out, and after cutting a machine needle in half, I was feeling pretty brave. You can't break what's already broken, right? That's always been my motto, and I knew as long as I didn't lose any parts, worse case scenario was still taking it in to be serviced. I moved the machine and competely removed the bobbin assembly. I still couldn't get the thread out, the bobbin wouldn't spin in the race at all. DH had to go pick up our vacuum from a sew and vac place anyway, so I had him take the bobbin assembly with him and for $10 the guy disassembled and reassembled the bobbin assembly removing the offending thread. I hadn't been able to get those screws to budge at all, otherwise I would have done that myself. 

So today I put the machine mostly back together. I've watched a couple YouTube videos about setting the timing, and so far it's beyond me. I'll try a couple more times tomorrow (I can only handle so much frustration in one day). If I can't figure it out, I'll have DH bring it in to be serviced. 

Looks like I'll be quilting the baby quilt on my Bernina, which is fine, except for the fact that the maintenance indicator symbol came on yesterday! The Bernina is sewing just fine, it just goes on every so many stitches. Right now my plan is to quilt the baby quilt and make some burp rags on the Bernina for the new grandbaby. Once those are done, I'll bring the Bernina and likely the longam in for servicing. While I'm without those, I can try to get caught up on some of the cutting I need to do, as well as get some sewing time in on my vintage machines. I do most of my piecing on vintage machines anyway, it's just both the machines I actually quilt on will be at the shop at the same time, which kind of stinks. It's things like this that make me very thankful I have multiple machines!

Working on a Grandbaby Quilt

I finally got myself going on the grandbaby quilt I need to make. I had a flamingo fabric in stash, that matched the quilt center quite well. I had enough of it to make a backing, but they wanted a minky backing, so I bought fabric for the back (in December) and I decided to change up the border to use the fabric I had in stash. 

The fabric is directional, and I like the idea of square in a square units (which the original pattern used) The thing is, to keep the fabric in the correct orientation when traditionally making the block, I would have had to cut the center squares on the bias, and I'd have wasted quite a bit of fabric. What I decided to do instead was use sew and flip corners to make the square in a square units. I drew a 2nd line and sewed on it to get a bonus HST, and since I had a bonus HST from each corner, I could make pinwheels with those, and I could keep all the fabric right side up! My square in a square blocks will finish at 6", but the pinwheels only finish at 4" so I framed them to bring them up to size. I'll use these blocks alternately to border the quilt. No wasted fabric and no extra units lying around!

I've got the center of the quilt up on the design wall. The HST's and QST's are already pieced, so it's ready to assemble now. I've been trying to use the smallest pieces I have that are large enough to get the job done. Both the light pink and dark pink (after reserving enough of the dark pink for an inner border) only have a strip or two left going into my scrap user system. I actually misjudged the white, and the last two border blocks use a different white. The greens and blues came out of the scrap user system, and pretty much wiped out those shades in my 2.5" strip drawers. 

I went all of January without buying any fabric. I'm not no-buy, I just didn't want to buy any fabric until I needed it. Today I bought fabric, because when I was cutting out some units to finish a UFO, I ran out of the Kona silver I was using for the background. I have a ton of bonus HST's leftover from another UFO, and I decided to use them in a Lady of the Lake quilt. All the bonus HST's use Kona Silver as the neutral, so now that I'm making large HST's for the center of the Lady of the Lake blocks, I wanted to use Kona Silver again. After cutting what I had, I realized it wasn't enough, and I hadn't cut out setting triangles yet either, so I ordered more today, and that was ALL I ordered, nothing else was added to cart, just Kona silver. I am out of most of the colored fabrics I used in the original bonus HST's, but since it's scrappy anyway, I'll just pull some fabrics from stash in the same colors. The background was all the same, so I don't feel the least bit bad about buying more background fabric. After all, I literally have thousands of bonus HST's with Kona silver as the background, and I can make a really nice quilt with them with more background fabric. No one need know it was a "leftover unit" quilt.

If you think it's amazing I only bought one fabric, I can do one better than that! I went to Target the other day to buy a replacement slow cooker. The one I was replacing had a broken lid. It was also 30 years old and the plug was getting hot so I figured it was time to replace it anyway. I went to the kitchen section of Target, grabbed the slow cooker I wanted, looked around the store a bit, and went to check out with only the slow cooker! I only bought one item at Target, and it was the one I went there for, that might be the first time that's ever happened to me!