EZ Quilters in March

Monday I got to visit with my EZQ group.  I love the inspiration I get from these meetings.  Mardell gets the prize this week for inspiring a new way to look at things.  This small wall hanging has a simple background and the quilting just adds to it.  Hand quilted by the way, Mardell does such exquisite work!












She reminded us that you have to put a binding on every quilt.   "In the simplest terms, "birthing" a quilt refers to a quilt that is "bound" pillowcase style." 

It works best with smaller quilts.  You lay the back on the quilt top right sides together.  Lay on top of the batting.  Then sew 3 sides and all but about a foot of 4th side.  Trim the edges so you have a 1/4 seam and turn inside out.  Finish by applique or whipstitch closed.


Here is the finished double pineapple quilt that was made last year by my group.  We put our names in a hat and had an innocent bystander draw for it.  Sherrillee won the drawing and of course had to have it quilted and put the binding on it.  It is just gorgeous!







Been doing a lot of quilting and knitting, nothing to share just yet, but its coming soon!

Thanks for stopping by.
Love Aunti Nicole

Double Piped Binding Tutorial

Three months ago, I got this quilt back from machine quilter Jan Dalkey.  I knew I wanted to do a special binding but had trouble finding instructions.  So..... I created my own.  It took some patience and a lot of ripping, but I finally finished it January 1st, 2011.

So I am posting a free tutorial for anyone who wants to try it.  I recommend doing this on a smaller quilt to see if you enjoy doing it.  Tutorial - Double Piped Binding

I hope you can put these instructions to use.  Maybe not today, but keep it in mind for a future project.  Feel free to contact me yelling and screaming if you find any problems with the instructions or need help with it.

I wish you all a wonderful and prosperous New Year!  

Love Aunti  Nicole

Betty's Baskets

My neighbor Betty Preston just finished this beautiful quilt and brought it over for me too see.  She and her two daughters have a special retreat every year.  The daughters fly in and they rent a beach house and work on a similar project.   Last year, prior to the retreat, they picked a similar theme.  They did a block exchange throughout the year and put the quilts together at the retreat.  Each had different arrangements that they did with the similar theme and blocks.  So here is Betty's.

This quilt was hand appliqued, hand embroidered and hand quilted.  It is just gorgeous, so I had to share it with you all.

This is one of Betty's blocks that she designed and the border arrangement to match.  Sew creative!

I looooove the way she finished the outer border.  I am so proud to have a friend like her.

Thanks Betty for sharing!

Love

Aunti

Two Sided Binding w/ Tutorial

I found this great dot fabric for the back of Patience's quilt and had plenty left for the binding.  But I don't really like to bind with the same fabric as the back...boring, even if it is big colorful dots.  So I came up with a simple way to create a two sided binding. 

This binding is made similar to a standard binding with a few extra steps.

Two Sided Binding Tutorial, click below
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0BzIhh09L_PINZTk2ZjczN2MtZDVmMy00NGZkLWEwZTctM2VjMzExMTFkMjgw&hl=en

I would love to hear feedback on these instructions.  You may want to try it out on a sample before binding a large quilt.

This tutorial assumes you have done a standard 3/8” binding before. If you have not, a great reference for a standard binding can be found on http://www.jaybirdquilts.com/  specifically http://www.jaybirdquilts.com/2010/01/perfect-binding-tutorial.html

Here is the finished quilt. I used www.jaybirdquilts.com Circle Around pattern and added a fun hawaiin print border I picked up from Beyond the Reef Fabrics.  I machine quilted with brightly colored variegated thread.

Happy Quilting

Aunti Nicole