Sunday, September 9, 2012

UFO Sunday


I decided to link up with Leah at "The Free Motion Quilting Project"'s blog today for her "UFO Sunday".  Since my husband and kids are always home on Sundays, I normally don't do a lot of sewing, but I've really been trying to get my UFO/WIP's done, so this will be my week's plan.

Above is my most pressing UFO, a small wall hanging quilt that a friend asked me to make for her.  Luckily she's been very patient :-).  I got all of the quilting done Friday, and just need to make up the binding and get that put on.  I had planned on attaching a hanging sleeve to the back, like I do to quilts, to use to hang in on the wall, but if anyone else has a suggestion for a small mini quilt like this, I'd LOVE to hear alternatives.

Here are 2 other quilts that need binding to be finished (why is binding so hard to finish up?).  The cat quilt was a splurge for me, and was done on Marlene of Kissed Quilts' long arm!!  For all 3 quilts, I need to cut out, sew, iron and attach binding, so that will keep me quite busy for the week.

The next quilt on my list to work on is my "Modern Granny" quilt.  It's been pinned together for almost 3 months, but it's been too hot to work on it.  Leah takes questions from blog posts so,

I'd love to ask Leah for any suggestions on how to quilt this large amount of "negative" space.  Do you ever do straight line quilting?  I'm leaning towards a straight line quilting, or something that echos the "color slashes".  If anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them too!!  It's really got me stumped!

9 comments:

  1. I LOVE the little house quilt! Instead of a hanging sleeve, try the triangle method. I use it for all of my small wall hangings. Here is a tutorial http://www.embtreasures.com/articles/QuiltSleeveTriangles.htm or here http://mamalovequilts.blogspot.com/2012/06/tutorial-how-to-hang-mini.html

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  2. I love your house quilt. I love the binding process, it always amazes me how different the quilt looks with the binding on. I can only suggest Leah's machine binding. As she says if it isn't a show quilt then there is no reason really not to do it. It is so fast and easy and looks great if you use a different coloured thread to the binding. I can do a large double bed sized quilt in an hour using her method. Bless her cotton socks.

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    1. Yep, I've been doing binding by machine for a while now, but I guess binding is just my least favorite part of quilting, except for the fact that it's the final step, and it's DONE!

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  3. I forgot to comment on your modern block. I do like the idea of straight line quilting and echoing the triangles you have in your negative space. I love the modern quilts in http://themodernquiltguild.com/ and often people quilt to the opposite of the piecing, quilt curves for angular piecing lines and the other way around. Another way is to look at Leah's modern quilt that she divided up into sections and quilted each section differently which adds a huge amount of texture and interest. I have a lot of negative space to quilt so will be interested to see how you go. Now get back to that binding!

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    1. Thanks, and I did see Leah's modern quilt, and love that technique! Thanks!

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  4. The triangle method should work. Also, I use a split hanging sleeve for wall hangings; just one (hidden) hanging nail or hook does the trick (as should be the case for the triangle method). I wrote a tutorial on my blog: http://chunkyboy.com/fireballquilts/hanging-a-quilt-split-sleeve/ so you can see what this is and what it looks like.

    It love the house wall hanging; it's really sweet, and it's a great idea. Now I'm thinking, I could make one of my house, one for my sister, one for my nephew who just bought his first house!

    Also, check out Leah's blog entries on quilting a modern quilt. You could do her procedure over the whole top or the areas above and below the blocks, and I think it would look great: http://freemotionquilting.blogspot.com/2012/07/quilt-along-21-filling-modern-quilt.html

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    1. Very clever! Thanks! House quilts for family would be so neat! And I'll have to try to print out and sketch the modern quilt concept to see how it'd look...

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  5. If you are set on the straight line idea.... do like a herringbone.... one line this way and the other meets up with it.

    For the sleeve alternative, do the corners. Use a 3 or 4 inch square, fold in half. Place in upper corners (one on each side). Set in the corner and stitch in place while putting the binding on.

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