Underground

I'm thinking spring and planting and dirt and gardening and blue sky.....so I painted this with acrylics then thread-painted it.

(FYI....It's a beet...not a radish,Chuck)

Iron Quilter

Here's what happens when teams of 4 quilters are given fabrics and embellishments they must use to create a bound quilt whose dimensions are at least 15". In 2 hours. We had some very ..shall I say....interesting results;) The quilt in the lower right corner was the big winner.

 The quilt I helped with is below.

It actually was really fun and you got to bond with quilters you may not have bonded with in the past. This would be a good icebreaker for newer quilting groups.

CMQG....OMG ...we are so cool!

We're so cool, you can get our logo printed on T-shirts, mugs, apron and a whole lot of other fun stuff. Check out Cafe Press to see more. Plus, 25% of what is purchased goes to our guild. Like I said...COOL! Here's a few pics of what can be purchased.

I'm thinking I must have this canvas bag....

Binding.....my nemesis.

So I got a BIG problem with my art quilts. I hate to bind them. Why? 'Cause they always looks like crap when I'm finished, that's why.I know that if I hand-stitched them, they probably would look okay, but I DO NOT like to hand-stitch. I've tried lots of different binding methods, but none were even closely up to par.....

'TIL NOW!!!!!

I've put together a few things I learned at the quilt retreat, at the last PAQA meeting and from the internet. I mashed them all together and came up with the following. First, I'll show you the crappy bindings I did....then I'll show you the AWESOME bindings I did...then I'll tell you how I did it ;)

....and now for the big reveal...!!!!! NICE, FLAT binding!!!

So here's what I did.

At the retreat, folks were using steam irons. Oh my. Those are quite the invention. I've never used a steam iron and I really liked how it pressed most of the wrinkles out without starch....duh. Also, I learned that you could block a quilt by using a steam iron.

So, I just happened to have a new in box steam iron that has been kicking around the house for a few years.( it took me awhile to find it) I filled 'er up with water and BANG! I gently pressed/steamed some of the art quilts I've wanted to bind and when I was done, they were laying VERY flat. YIPPEE!

Okay, onto the binding. I cut the binding 2.25 inches, ironed it half and when I sewed it onto the quilt like usual...but, I sewed it very close to the edge...less then an eighth of an inch. After it was sewn on, I steam-pressed it over from the front to make it really flat. I then folded it to the backside and then instead of stitching it down (I HATE hand-stitching,remember), I glued it down with a glue stick.HA!

Now, of course I realize you can't do this with a regular quilt and I don't know if the glue will hold. Time will tell,I guess...but for now, I'm really happy with the results.

Update:The amazing Maria Elkins said...

Since you have your iron out, you could always use fusible webbing to fuse down the binding on the back instead of glue stick.


Great idea, Maria....and omg, thanks for visiting my blog! I love your work!!

 Which leads to thinking of stich witch...the stuff used to 'hem'pants. That stuff would work great...it comes in one inch rolls. I could just tuck it in the binding flap and press. Ting ;)

Good doggy :)

Toasty warm.

Spring Retreat 2011

Well, a grand time was had by all. Our first quilting retreat was a smashing success! Here are some pics.

There were 15 of us in this room. Some folks thought it was a bit cramped, so I think we'll try and arrange the tables a little differently next time. We made it work,tho and everyone seemed quite happy;)

We had A LOT of snacks. In between snacks, we were served full meals down in the cafeteria which were delightful. Plenty of salad and fruit among other things.

We blew a fuse....I don't know how ;) One of the sisters said,"...hhmmmm....That's never happened before. I wonder where the fuse box is."  Fortunatly, after a 10-15 minute search it was found and the power was restored.

Sorry,Sister....we'll try and behave next time;)

Everyone had a private little room. I really appreciated having my own tiny space. The bathrooms and showers were right down the hall. My window looked out onto the lake and I could here the waves crashing at night. It was really nice.

The Sienna Center.

Here's a charity quilt we all worked on. It was a really fun challenge and we plan to do this challenge next time as its really quick to throw these baby quilts together. This retreat we have 3 quilts that are almost finished.

And, here we all are. Don't we look happy? We were. So fun;) We already have the next 2 retreats tentatively planned .

Here's the projects I worked on. I made another panel for my ticker tape quilt, I thread painted on the flowers I had acrylic-painted at home and I started a funky flower piece. I also sewed together all the squares we made for one of the charity quilts as well as started peicing a back with the leftover scraps.Whew...that was a lot....so fun.

Happy Birthday,Kyle!!!

Happy Birthday, big boy!!! Love you!!!