The Stash - Adding Stripes - Binding and More

Got a bunch of stripes today - pictured below from www.fabric.com.

An assortment of colorful stripes from the mail today.

I LOVE stripe fabrics - even before I started quilting. Haha I never really found that many uses for stripes before quilting. There's the occasional pillow top or fringe for a clothing item. But QUILTING has been my lots of reasons for getting stripes - more stripes.  I really like the look of stripes (and polka dots) for the binding of quilts.  It could help create a fun and unexpected finish to any quilt.  Sometimes the stripes serve to tie all the fabrics together on a quilt - having stripes that are similar and goes with each of the fabrics on a quilt.  Sometimes the stripes serve to completely contrast the piece - like an unexpected design to keep the quilt interesting.  Or sometimes it's just a nice fabric that goes with the overall design of the quilt.

Here's a quilt that I used a from polka dotted fabric for the binding.  I didn't want the binding to be the same color as the quilt - but I wanted it to go with the earthy feel of the quilt.  I opted for a olive colored fabric with small white polka dots.

The small white polka dots on olive fabric added a nice contrast from the floral designs of the fabrics on the quilt top.  However at the same time, the color went very well with the earth tones of the quilt top.

For the Boxed In quilt that I'm making for my sister (still in progress :P), I went with a fabric that matches the quilt top - it's  dark red that is almost the same shade as the reds on the quilt top.  The fabric is striped with a very subtle gold/brown design.  I like the look of the slight stripes with this quilt because it gives it a fun finish without distracting from the overall quilt.  It is still subtle enough to maintain the more 'adult' look of the quilt.

It's not pictured too well here, but you could see that the red of the binding matches the red on the quilt top.  The binding also has a stripe design on it.

Can't wait till I get a chance to cut up these new stripes fabrics - probably more binding? BUT maybe I'll use some for the quilt top??? We'll see...

Modded Quilt Preview

Here's a preview of the next quilt I'm working on. I'm going back to more earth tones. This next one has a lot of browns and reds. I've cut up all the pieces and now ready to piece it all together. *SIGH* and more ironing/pressing :P.


The pre-cutting phrase.

The feel that I want to achieve from this quilt is simplicity, modern, and earthy.  I don't have anyone in mind to give this quilt to.  It may be my first one that I'll put on my new Etsy site.  Most of the quilts I make I plan to put on Etsy, but it always get ear-marked or taken by family/friend even before it's finished :). 

Quilt for Sis Update (Boxed In Quilt)

A few posts ago I mentioned that I was making a quilt for my sister.  Well I am STILL making a quilt for my sister - or rather the same quilt.  It's been a busy week - work, taking son to doctors, and DISNEYLAND (what a blast that was - maybe I'll get around to posting a quick summary of the trip later on...)!!!

Well I finally got a chance to make a little more progress on the Boxed In quilt for Sis.  I finished free motion quilting the top.  The free quilting gave the quilt a very nice feel because the color screen and design was making the quilt feel a little too ... boxy after the quilt top was done.  But the free-motion quilting softened the look of the quilt and gave it a very nice complete feel.

Here's a picture of the quilting in progress:


I use my Juki TL-98E for free motion quilting.  Notice the safety pin in the right side of the picture.  I use a lot of safety pins to keep the quilt sandwich in place while I quilt by machine.  I pin about 3-5 inches apart all over the quilt through all the layers of the quilt - top, batting, and quilt bottom.

After all the quilting was complete I machine sew on the binding (my FAVE) to the top of the top and proceeded to hand sew the binding.

Here's a few pictures of how I hand sew on the binding after it's been machine sewn on from the top.  (A lot of quilting blogs go over this in detail so I'm not going to go over in great detail - visit sites like "Oh, Franson!" for more details.)

1) After the loose side of the binding is machine sewn onto to the top of the quilt, flip the bottom over to the back and push your threaded needle just at the edge of the binding - push it through until you get a little big of the batting.  Make sure you don't push through to the quilt top.

Needle through the binding, catch a little bit of the batting and start turning the needle back up.

2) After catching a little of the batting, start pushing the needle back up through the binding - about 1/8" from where the needle went down.  This will create stitches about 1/8" apart.  You may decide to space it out further or closer base on your quilt.

Needle push back up through the binding - creating a stitch about 1/8" apart.  

3) Continue stop (1) right next to where the needle was pushed up from.  You may choose to space this apart a little to exaggerate the stitch on the binding or you may choose to barely put any spacing to minimize or even hide the stitch.  I like to hide or minimize as much as possible.

And the results?

Awesome, professional, clean looking binding.  A great finish to any quilt. I'm still working on finishing up the binding - about half away through.  After the binding, then a quick wash/dry and the quilt will be ready to go - I guess I can't claim a finished quilt that stop is done huh?  Will update in another posting - the finished Boxed In for Sister.

Shipment In - *New* Fabric (The Stash)

I usually use small prints, but I'm going to try something new - BIG prints. Here's the fabric I'm trying out:

Bryant Park Fabrics.  Two with sage tones, one with natural, and one with Rain (blue).  The two on top has big prints and the two on the bottom has slightly smaller prints but has a running border pattern on the length of the fabric.

It's from Bryant Park called Floral Sage Rain, Drop Dots Sage, Floral Stripe Natural, and Park Dottie Olive.
 
I'm not quite sure what I'm going to be with these fabrics yet, but I really like the big, colorful, flowers. There are 2 designs with long bordering strips. These will probably be cut length-wise to maximize the design of the long borders. I've never done this before but I'm looking forward to trying something different.

In this shipment I also got a bunch of Moda Bella and Kona solid colors. Pictured below are the solids I got. Some I got in anticipation of needed colors I MAY need down the line - like the black and dark brown. Some I got to match the print fabric I just got - green or dark pinks. Others -light pink, light blues, greens - are for some more baby quilts I want make - getting to the age when a lot of my friends are having kids. But whatever the use, I’m pretty sure it’ll get used up very quickly.


A stack of solid cotton fabric from Moda Bella and Kona.

I get a lot of my fabrics online from various sources and some I get from small neighborhood fabric stores. I usually don’t have a design in mind. When I see a fabric I like I usually get it – not much, just a yard or two. If it’s a pretty basic fabric, like solids, I usually get a few yards because there’s more use for it. There are some many great designers and prints to choose from that I don’t want to commit myself to a lot of the same one. I’m sure one of these days I’ll find the need to bulk up with a particular fabric – like if I need to make a bunch of quilts that are similar. But for now I’m enjoying the variety.

I also don't usually keep track of the fabric name or even designer after it's been put into my fabric shelf.  I vow - though probably a vow that I'll break - to organize my fabric in a way that I could pull up designers and names of each fabric.  For now I make sure all my fabric are from reputable sources and for those that are not 100% cotton, it is labeled and organized as such.  The latter half is pretty simple - ALL my quilting fabrics and threads are all 100% cotton.  I do keep fabrics for other purposes - ie: curtains, patching up my children clothing, etc - in a separate area just so I don't get it tossed in with the quilting fabric.