Quilt Binding Buddy

 Happy Valentine's Day Quilty Friends!  Wishing you a day filled with love and laughter and of course lots of time doing whatever makes your little ole heart go pitter pat. 

For me that means finishing up the Bow-Ties quilt.  She was taken off the quilting frame on Wednesday.  Trimming the backing fabric away from this 90 x 90 quilt was a real chore.  In my younger years it would have been tossed on the floor for trimming.  These days my knees tell me it's a better to wrestle with her on the cutting table, and I agree!

I won the wrestling match and promptly started auditioning binding fabrics.  That meant pulling my favorite ginghams and striped fabrics.  Surely one of them will tickle my fancy.

A few striped fabrics also made into the auditioning line up.  

While all of them were beautiful, they didn't make the cut.  Instead, I opted to go with plain ole white.  The blocks of this quilt are the stars of the show and they want to be ogled.  A colorful whimsy binding would draw the eye to the edge of the quilt and steal the show.  I wanted the binding to be a bodyguard not a part of the dance.  

The idea of a true quarter inch binding was also scrapped, simply because I didn't feel like a wrestling match with the bodyguard.  A compromise was made.  Two inches wide will give the look I want and avoid the hours of wrestling it into place.

Yesterday was a relaxing day cuddled up on the couch with all my favorite things...quilts, coffee and my sidekick Khaleesi.  Binding a quilt has always been my favorite part of quilting.  I think it's Khaleesi's favorite part as well. 🩷 It's nice having a binding buddy to remind me to get up and move (play with her).  We had a fun day and will get to do it again today.  I can't think of any other way I would want to spend my Valentine's Day.

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Halloween Quilt Binding

Hi Quilty Friends!  Today's plan: Machine bind 3 quilts.

All three quilts will be bound with the same black striped fabric so I pieced all the binding needed for the three quilts in one long strip.

 

I've tried every trick or tool out there to help keep the binding off the floor.  But it just seems to go quicker and smoother with the original way of just tossing it on floor between my legs.  Most quilters will press the binding in half on the long edge.  Not me, I fold as I go.  For me it's quicker and I really don't see any benefit to pressing it half.

After the quilts are bound I think I'll use these scraps to make pillows.  I could just sew them together as is or make a simple charm pillow.  Any suggestions for Halloween pillow patterns? 

Until next time...

I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet!

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~ Sneak Peek, Binding and Prayers ~

Hi-diddly-O!  Happy Quilters!  Excitement doesn't even start to describe how I'm feeling about being close to a quilt finish.  It's been a long year of health issues and lack of mojo.  In the last two weeks I feel like I'M BACK!  The quilt designs ideas are starting to flow like a waterfall once again.  I can't get them into EQ8 fast enough.  Before I can finish designing a quilt there's another idea being scribbled onto paper.  After finishing the binding on this quilt my plan is to get 3 more quilts finished by Christmas.  Patterns for them will need to wait until the quilts are complete.   

These three new quilts are going to test my productivity and dedication to the project.  I'm up for a good challenge after a year of almost no quilting. 

I have a few tricks for how I do machine binding quickly.  Binding by machine is not my favorite method but hand work right now is out of the question.  Machine binding can give a nice finish if done correctly.  I like for the front and the back of the binding to look the same, ALL the stitching needs to be on the binding not on the quilt.  Keep an eye out later in the week/month for a binding tutorial.

No fancy gadgets needed.  Gadgets sometimes can slow me down.  Example...binding clips...UGG.  I don't care for them at all.  I know many of you do but for me they are too time consuming. Click here for my product review on them.   Another example would be the binding buddy.  I don't like them either.  It's quicker and easier for me to just throw the binding between my legs on the floor.  It's worked for me for over 30 years.  After trying several different ideas for neat and tiding binding on a roll of some sort I've found this old method of dangle on the floor to be the most efficient for me.

Here's a sneak peek at the quilt for this scrappy binding.  I'm using the leftovers from the fat quarters used in making the quilt top.  When I put this girl on the frame I had every intention of quilting it lightly and quick.  However me, myself and I had other plans.  We compromised with somewhere between quick and easy and quilted to death.  I LOVE how it turned out and can't wait for you to see the finished quilt.

 The topic of this post is Sneak Peek, Binding and Prayers.  I've covered the first two topics so now I would like to ask you for your prayers.

Recently, I was contacted by Karen a fellow quilter and follower of my blog.  She stated I had been on her mind and how she loved my work.  And then she started telling me her recent breast cancer diagnosis and how overwhelming the process of treatment can be.  Cancer has touched so many people in my life.  Either they're fighting the battle or they are helping someone who is fighting the battle.  As many of you know I cared for my mom during her battle. And over the last three years I've had moments when I thought I might have cancer.  Karen didn't ask anything of me she simply wanted me to know how my blog and story has inspired and touched her life.    Please put and keep Karen in your prayers.  Leave her a message below in the comments letting her know that we are all here and praying for healing and a speedy recovery.

#quiltbinding

#scrappyquiltbinding

#quiltersgonnaquilt

#cancersucks

#podunkpretties

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~ Binding Tip and Dancing Pinwheels Sneak Peek ~

Hey sweet quilting friends! Let's just get right to the good stuff.  Who doesn't love a newly finished quilt, so here's the sneak peek of my newest quilt pattern Dancing Pinwheels.  It's bright and happy with lots of color.  Sometime this week I'll let you see the entire quilt with more details.  

Dancing Pinwheels is a scrappy quilt designed with the beginner quilter in mind.  While attaching the binding it reminded me of cute tip to help with those 45 degree seams.  Sewing the binding together with a 45 degree seam isn't necessary but it does help to reduce the bulk.  As a beginner quilter I could remember to put right sides together and have a little fabric extending past the edges as shown below but I couldn't remember where to start sewing. I ripped out several seams and would often just sew them straight, end to end.

Then one day I found a handy tip.  I can't remember who or where I first heard of this but it changed my bindings forever.  The tip: with right sides together and layered as shown below, imagine you are sewing a waistband on a pair of pants with the legs sticking out.  Then place your needle in the "V" created by the fabric overhang.  Stitch from "V" to "V".  That's all there is to it! A waistband!  Quilters have such creative minds.  Now every time I'm making bindings this image pops into my head.

To add the next strip all you need to do fold the previous strip so the right is facing up.  Now you can add the next strip and use the waistband trick again.

Trim 1/4" away from the stitched line.  Can you see my little waistband?   In my mind I always envision me wearing the pants of the fabric of the current binding.  How cute would these pants be!  A sweet little spring outfit perfect for casual Easter dinner. 

Pressing the seams open and trimming the little bit of fabric excess and I'm ready to attach the binding to my quilt.

Normally I would attach the binding to the front of the quilt by machine and hand stitch it to the back.  But I don't have the time to sit for hours and hand stitch this one. 

 This binding was done 100% by machine.  Sewing to the back of the quilt first and then flipping to the front and machine stitched it into place. Does anyone else love to hand sew binding?  I love it for a couple of reasons.  First, I just like the look of hand stitched binding.  Second, it gives me a chance to watch hours of TV with no guilt.

I can't wait to show the finished quilt and the details on how you can get this new quilt pattern for FREE.  

#quiltbindingtip #quiltbinding

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