About a year ago, at the height of my Farm Girl Vintage frenzy, I was doing projects left and right. It was around this time that I realized my "style" or quilting, so I took advantage and made project after project. No harm there! However, I have a few unfinished projects here and there in my sewing room as a result fo the FGV mania. This weekend, I finally finished one of them.
First up was getting the batting ready. I have so many 6" or 7" wide scraps of batting, most of them leftover from quilts taken to the longer-armer. I can't say it was a real joy to piece them all together, but it did yield enough batting to finish the project.
I butted the pieces up against each other and sewed them together with a wide zig-zag stitch then flipped them over and did the same on the other side. Stitching a second time may not have been necessary but I wanted to be sure they wouldn't come apart. A good pressing with the iron flattened them out nicely.
The main aim was to "git 'er done!" so I opted for a quick straight line quilting job. Easy peasy! Typically, I'm a fan of attaching the binding by machine and then hand-turning it. I love the look of a binding with no visible stitches, but lately I've gotten a lot better at doing the binding completely by machine. That's now my go-to binding method for some projects, mostly quilts that aren't going to end up on a bed or a lap. Within four hours, I had four of these little cuties quilted and bound...
The design was inspired by the Blue Plate Special pattern. This particular placemat is mine; I'm a lefty, so the cutlery pocket is on the left. ;) Although I have a couple projects that I've yet to finish from when I first learned to sew and quilt three years ago (don't judge!), I was happy to tick this year-old project off the list! Not only did I get satisfaction from that, but the patchwork pumpkin design also somewhat sated my desire for autumn. I am not a summer lover, and I'm looking forward to cooler temperatures, shorter days and those comforting foods of fall. These will be on our dining room table for a while.
Lastly, I finished my aunt's quilt - the Jinny Beyer project that scared me half to death and ending up being not so terrible - and mailed it off to her, but I completely forgot to take a photograph of the finished quilt! Ugh. She was kind enough to share a photo of it with me.
I'm happy that she is so happy with it!
I'm linking up again with Sew Fresh Quilts this week. Lorna is so creative and makes beautiful patterns...go give her a visit. Now if you'll pardon me, I have to make a torturous decision - start a fun, new project or tackle a long-idling one. Decisions! Decisions!
It looks to me like you have a Janome!! I've pieced batting together as well, for small projects I don't see a problem with it, nor have I ever had a problem with it! I love your place mat! I admire people who can machine bind, but I'm old school and love the hand stitching part. It's like the cherry on top!
ReplyDeleteI DO have a Janome. Good eye! ;) Thank you so much. I occasionally do machine binding, but I too prefer hand binding. It's very meditative, and I can catch up on movie watching.
DeleteI try to use what I have, too, and regularly piece batting together. I have to be frugal like that because I don't live near any shopping opportunities! And postage is outrageous, especially for something big like batting. Actually, when Connecting Threads has a sale, I put in a big order because they have a good shipping rate over a certain dollar amount. It feels good to tackle a few UFOs! But it feels good to start something new, too! Your Jinny Beyer quilt came out great! You're aunt is pretty lucky! XO
ReplyDeleteThank you! I think frugality is part of being a quilter in general, but most especially in your case when shopping opportunities are rare.
DeleteThat quilt for your aunt looks gorgeous! I bet she loves it. Using up batting scraps for placemats is a great idea! I usually use them for mini quilts and mug rugs.
ReplyDeleteUsing them that way is a great idea. I plan to do more of that in the future! Thank you. :)
DeleteJust checking in, Dan. Hope all is well.
ReplyDeleteThank you for thinking of me! All is well. My nieces have been visiting for the last couple of weeks, so I haven't had time for quilting. ✂️ Hipefully in the next couple of days I will.
DeleteHopefully lol
Delete