Preparing to quilt!!

This past weekend, I showed you the finishing steps for the Star Explosion Quilt Top……

Now it was time to make the back and get it basted.

For the back, I decided to throw in a row of rectangles from the front fabrics…..

The problem with doing this is that it is too easy to get the front on at a different angle so that the back looks lopsided!! Ask me how I know this???

The method that I use to fix this problem (or at least make it less visible), is to mark both sides of the quilt with masking tape that extends beyond the edges….

Then, when I lay the top onto the back and batting, I can still see those markings and line my quilt up appropriately…..

As I spray-basted this top, I kept finding snippets of thread and corners that needed to be trimmed so that they wouldn’t shadow thru to the top. Although I ended up with this pile of Smutz…..

….I obviously missed a bunch because I ended up having to fish out two orange threads and there are a bunch of orange and navy points that are showing thru…..VERY.BIG.SIGH!!!

Once I had laid out the top and trimmed the bits, I folded the top in half…..

…..and spray the batting….

I can then work from the center and carefully position the top in place.

Then, I repeat with the other side.

The final step for me is to add a few safety pins to the edge to hold them in place….

Now is the big question…..

HOW WILL I QUILT IT????

How do you make a hanging sleeve?

I am the chairman of our guild’s upcoming quilt show and several people have asked how to make a sleeve for their quilt.

Most quilt shows request that the hanging sleeve be more than just a piece of fabric attached to the back of the quilt. They want the sleeve to have some play in it so that the pole can hang inside the sleeve without distorting the quilt.

The finished sleeve should look like this……

….with the quilt side being narrower than the outside.

I decided that the best way to show the guild was to make a video and I thought that I would share that with you today…..

I hope that this will be a good reference for the next time that you need to make a sleeve!!

Happy Fourth of July!!

Celebrating the United States of America today….quilt style!!…..

You can read the story of this quilt HERE…..

Woodpile Inspirations…..

Back in December, I shared a photo of a Cord of Wood and the quilt design that had spring from that photo…..

Then earlier this month, I described an amazing set of hand-dyed fabrics that I bought.

Now it was time to merge these two!!

As I was ironing all of the hand-dyed fabrics, I kept thinking about this pattern and decided that it might be gorgeous to do in blues with touches of yellow!!

I started out by cutting a LOT of 1.5-inch strips…..

Have you ever used a barbell to keep your ruler from sliding?? Try it some time….it really works and you get some exercise at the same time!!

Next I did a lot of sewing, sub-cutting and re-sewing to get it to this stage…..

WOW… I REALLY like those colors!!

Next was making the accent blocks, using paper piecing…..

….and then laying the whole thing out……

I tried flipping some of the triangle sets around……

But all I could see here were Gator mouths!!

I added an orange-ish border…..the only fabric that is not hand-dyed……

…..and voila….this idea has moved from paper to fabric!!!

I am contemplating what type of quilting to add and can’t wait to see it finished.

I am also debating about turning this into a pattern but haven’t made that decision for sure. What do you think…..is this pattern worthy???

Picture Perfect Day

For the last year or so I have wanted to photograph ALL of the quilts that I own, including ones made by my Granny, my Mom, my friends, and by me!! I knew that this was going to be a HUGE undertaking and kept putting it off.

My sweet husband, Michael, pushed me to go ahead and get this task off of my list and said that he would be happy to help me with the project.

Yesterday was the day!!!

The first step was to get all of the quilts out of the closets, off the walls and down the stairs. Well that part was fairly easy….I stood at the top of the landing and dropped quilt bundles onto the floor below….

They were then stuffed into the car…..

We laughed that, if we were involved in an accident, we would be WELL padded!!

We arrived at our local art center (Lyndon House Arts Center) and while Michael unloaded the car, I set up the photography area. We were in the Fiber Room which is where our guild charity bee meets. I had to move some storage shelves and tables but was soon able to get the area ready for quilts. This large design wall was already in place, but I covered it with black felt to provide a better background for the photos…..

After the initial setup, the process was the same for each quilt……

Pin the quilt in place….

Straighten and fluff…..

Take the actual photos…..

Take a few detail shots….

I also measured many of the larger quilts and noted the sizes

AND REPEAT……135 times!!!! It got easier as the quilts got smaller and smaller and, at the end of the photo session, we were doing a quilt every minute or so.

Next came the re-folding process……