When I got the urge to start this quilt, the fabric had been sitting on my sewing table for quite a while and I really had no plans for it, so a quilt seemed like a good choice.  I wanted something simple and mindless.  I wasn’t in the mood to think too hard about measurements and fabric placement.  I just wanted to sew.  I came up with a VERY simple quilt top, which I figured I’d try free motion quilting on.  I wasn’t too excited about the free motion quilting part of that idea, so when I finished, the quilt tops sat there for about half of the year.  Finally, I decided it was time to get these quilts out of the craft room and into the family room.  While I was at it, I took pictures of the quilt binding process.

If you’ve ever wanted to learn to bind a quilt, here’s the step by step tutorial.  If you really don’t care, please don’t waste your time reading this, because it’s very picture heavy.

I use 2 1/2 inch strips when I make quilt bindings.  I use a cutting mat, rotary cutter, and quilting ruler to make sure my strips are perfect.

 

Once the strips are cut, it’s time to join them together.  I place two pieces (right sides together) and sew from corner to corner.  I overlapped a little on the ends of each piece because I knew I’d cut that part off.  You can draw a line to follow if you’d like, but I just eyeball it.

Cut off the extra fabric.

When you open in up, it looks like this.  Press the seams to one side and then keep adding more strips in the same way.

Next, you need to iron your fabric.  In the past I would fold my fabric, wrong sides together, finger press it down, and then iron it.  It’s not hard and it’s not too time consuming, but then I spotted this cool contraption on a quilting show on PBS. (There I go again, admitting that I spend my spare time watching sewing shows on public television. Nerd alert!)  This is a binding maker from Singer.  It is so cool! It folds, presses, and spits out perfect quilt binding in about 2 minutes. 

It comes out of the machine perfectly pressed.  That little piece on the end is the iron. It has a little roller in it so everything is automatic.  If you sew, you know how cool this is!  It even makes piping, although I haven’t tried that yet.  Ok, so if you don’t have this cool machine, just fold the fabric in half and iron.  That’s the way I have made it for the past 15 years and it works just fine. 

Just one more picture of my fun new toy doing its thing.

Ok, maybe just one more.  See how it fold the fabric for you before going into the iron.  You can get that tip in other sizes too.  It’s “sew” much fun!

When you’re done pressing, you’ll have a pile of quilt binding.  Get ready to sew.

The first thing I do is trim my starting edge at an angle.

Then I open it up and fold it back.

When you close the fabric back up, it gives you a clean edge.

To start binding my quilts, I usually don’t start at a corner.  I just pick somewhere in the middle, at the bottom, and line my binding fabric up.  You’ll notice that I have the raw edge of my quilt lined up with the raw edge of my binding fabric. The over hanging fabric is my quilt batting, and you can’t see it but the backing fabric is there too.

Line the presser foot up along the edge of the fabric, backtack a few stitches and then start sewing a straight line.

 

When you get just about to the end, maybe a quarter of an inch away, backstitch about an inch.

Pull the binding fabric back on top of itself, so it folds into a 45 degree angle.

Then, fold it back on top of itself, lining the edge up with the next side you need to sew.

I know that’s kind of tricky.  Let’s try that one more time.  I’m close to the edge.

Backstitch an inch.

Fold.

Fold and line up with the new side.

Then, you can lift your presser foot, turn your quilt, and get ready to sew the next side.

 

When you get to the end, turn the fabric under again, like you did at the beginning.  That gives it a nice clean edge.

Finish sewing the binding down. 

Hey, look at that!  Someone got a pretty new cutting mat!  I really needed a new cutting mat and found this one in red.  I’ve never seen a red cutting mat before, but I’m loving it!

I use my ruler and rotary cutter to remove the extra batting and backing fabric.  I line the quilt ruler up along the edge of the binding fabric and cut.  This still leaves that 1/4 inch seam allowance.  Don’t cut that off, because it’s what makes the binding fluffly.

When you’re done trimming, the quilt will look like this.

Flip the quilt to the back side, roll the fabric around the edge and pin.  I really hate pinning, so I only do it when I really have to.  The first couple of times you bind a quilt, you’ll want to pin.  After that, just hold it with your fingers and go for it.

When you are sewing the binding down, you want to get REALLY close to the edge.  See how my needle is right next to the edge of the binding fabric.  I want to go right along that edge.  It takes some practice.

 

When you get to a corner, you’ll need to fold the fabric.

It makes a nice mitered corner. When you get to the point, put the needle down into the fabric, and turn the quilt so you can keep sewing.

Keep going all the way around the quilt.

Here’s my finished quilt.  I can’t say I’m in love with it.  I love the fabrics, but I’m a little bored with the finished product.  

I did get to try my hand at machine quilting.  I made the swirly patterns in the big squares, which is something I’ve never done before.

I made two of these quilts and put them over the chairs in my family room.  They add a little color and I’m happy about that.  If you’re working on a quilt of your own, I’d love to see it.  You can email me a picture at homeiswheremystorybegins@gmail.com.

Happy quilting!

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Well, those vintage sheets sat in my cupboard for quite a long time.  I didn’t really know what I was going to do with them and it was a ton of fabric.  I was a bit overwhelmed.  Then, one day, I decided that doing something (anything) was better than nothing, so I started cutting them up.  (More on that later.  I definitely learned a few things about how to tackle the cutting phase.)  I decided to cut the sheets in fat quarters and then use the fabric to make a little quilt.

What do you think?  Not bad for a bunch of old sheets!  I used a combination of 5 inch squares from sheets and 5 inch plain white fabric squares. I wanted to make a small quilt because I think it’s a good example of a simple quilt that even a beginner could do.  I did my own quilting on this one. I’ve always enjoyed taking my quilts to my quilt lady to finish up for me.  I know how to do my own quilting, but it’s my least favorite part of the whole process.  I figured if I made a quilt that was small enough, I could tackle quilting it myself.  Surprisingly, I didn’t hate the process and I didn’t even hate the finished product.  (Usually, when I try to do it on my own, I end up cringing every time I look at it.)  This time, I think it turned out ok!  I think the quilting pattern adds to the overall look too.

My daughter’s eyes lit up when she saw the finished quilt.  I think she almost had a bit of panic when she asked who this was for, probably afraid I was going to give it away.  I told her I was going to use it as a sample, but that she could have it when I was done taking pictures of it.  In her very calm voice she sighed and said, “I really love that one.”

So, friends, I have several of these vintage sheet fat quarter bundles all packaged up. I have also written up the pattern for this quilt with super-easy instructions.  This is a great beginner quilt.  The vintage sheet bundles are available for purchase.  Feel free to email me and I can hook you up.  (homeiswheremystorybegins@gmail.com)  The bundles will be selling for $12 per pack of 7 fat quarters. For those of you who are unfamiliar with fat quarters, it is an 18″x22″ rectangle.

I’m kind of in love with vintage sheets now.

Happy quilting!

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It’s Spring cleaning time and I’m thinking about rotating my seasonal decor.  Quilts are my favorite things to change out.  I usually leave a big basket filled with almost all of my quilts in my family room, in case of a chilly night on the deck when we have company over.  In addition, I have one or two draped over the back of a chair or hanging off the side of the couch.  I rotate those, seasonally, along with my floor pillow covers.  This is one of my Winter quilts.  There’s really no reason that I call it a Winter quilt.  The colors are pretty neutral and the fabrics are not season-specific.  For some reason, it just says Winter to me.

This quilt was my first jellyroll project.  I fell in love with the colors of this jellyroll, the minute I saw it.  I had no idea what I would make, but I just loved this fabric.

When I ran across this book, I knew my problems were solved.  I bought the book and picked out a pattern.  The pattern I chose was not something I would normally pick.  It was very random, and I tend to like a more predictable pattern.

What do you think?  Is this a Winter quilt, or can it stay out a bit longer?
 

  It’s cozy, just the right colors, and looks great in my family room.  Maybe just a few more months.

Happy Spring decorating… unless you’re not quite ready yet.

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http://www.motherearthnews.com/nature-and-environment/organic-cotton-benefits.aspx

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-dietz/organic-cotton-sustainable-fashion_b_3562788.html

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I think I may even take these quilts to the beach with us, and snap a few pictures.  How can you resist taking pictures of projects made with Salt Air, when you’re at the beach.  (Ok, that just shows how incredibly dorky I am.)
 

Happy fabric shopping!

By the way, if you’re a quilter but have not ventured into a quilt shop, it’s time.  Go in, browse around, and pick a line that jumps out to you.  Moda is my favorite brand.  I love the Moda fabrics designed by French General, V and Co., Fig Tree, and Camille Roskelley.  Ask the nice ladies in the shop to show you where those are.  You may just find your happy place too!

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And now back to your regularly scheduled post on fabric patterns:
(I just had to add that since Suzy’s blog is kind of like watching tv.)

I’ve never been very good at mixing fabrics. I love the look of multiple prints, together in one room. I’m just not very good at putting those fabrics together. When I’m at the fabric store, I tend to gravitate toward fabrics that are displayed together already. Usually they are from the same line and are already placed together for people just like me, who are afraid to mix fabrics.

When I was starting to redo my living room, I knew the look I wanted, but didn’t know how to get it. My Calico Corners ladies helped me choose fabrics I love and made sure they all looked great together.

 

 

 

 

I love the way the Calico Corners Website shows you what looks good together. This would be a fun French Country look for my family room and kitchen.

I’m loving this combination too. It’s also from Calico, called Town and Country.

Ahhh, now if only that money tree would start to grow, I would be able to fund these sewing projects.

For now, I’ll just keeping thinking about how to mix my fabrics, the color scheme I’m looking for for my family room and kitchen, and what I have that’s already working.

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