Monday, June 25, 2018

Design Wall Monday--Binding Extravaganza

Design Wall Monday is here again.-- on Small Quilts and Doll Quilts.  On my to-do list has been large quilt binding.  I have had a king sized quilt awaiting binding for many months, with an almost-enough pile of binding awaiting final measuring before applying to the quilt.  I don't know why I let these jobs linger for so long! 
Looking back in my files, I got it back from the quilter almost a year ago.  Shameful!  So yesterday the binding--all 400 inches--got stitched on. This is a Bonnie Hunter pattern, I think it's called Rick Rack Nines.

Now that the binding is on, I'm trying to decide if I am crazy enough to hand stitch it to the back, or if machine binding will be fine--I'm leaning towards machine!  It's a quilt for our bed.  

More miles of binding were cut and sewn for two donation quilts.  We are still giving quilts to victims of the Thomas Fire and Montecito mudslide disasters.  
Isn't this one pretty?  These are Perkiomen Valley blocks, which can be laid out so many ways.  I only added the green binding.  We have been stitching bindings to the back and bringing to the front to machine finish. The next Perkiomen Valley quilt I worked on looked so familiar, but it wasn't until I took a final picture that I realized why. 
It is so amazing that this one came back to me for binding, as I originally laid out all the blocks months ago at a sew-in, from a pile of  "mostly go together" disparate blocks.  You can see that the lights and darks are a bit muddy in some places but there is still enough contrast in most.  It needs a label and then is ready for our next pop-up giveaway next month.

I also ventured out over the weekend to find binding choices for the Tea Time placemats I was working on--they are all quilted now.  I had a lovely time breathing in quilt shop fabric fumes and being in the company of other makers.  A number of fabrics jumped in my basket but here are the top two binding choices:
The mini-dot is actually navy that reads purple.  The gray crackle finish looks good too.  Maybe I'll make two of each color binding since I love both, lol. The four placemats will take far less time to bind than all those huge quilts!

22 comments:

Loris said...

Your nine patch looks lovely with that quilting. And it's nice to see those quilts for the fire and mudlside area people moving along. That was such a great pattern to bring in blocks from quilters.

Joyful Quilter said...

I love hand sewing binding...put on your favorite romantic comedy movie (for a quilt that large you may need two) and it will be done in no time. ;o)

The nine patch quilt looks wonderful. I love the baptist fan and cable quilting. Every time I see one of your scrappy quilts I want to make it also.

Ramona said...

I, too, love sewing the binding down. It's so relaxing to me. But don't ask me to make a pieced backing for my quilts. I only do it when I really have to. :) The donation quilts are just beautiful and will be so appreciated. Beautiful quilt for you bed, too!

Rebecca Grace said...

You are just going to be a binding diva by the time you are done! For me personally, every time I've attempted machine binding I've been upset by how bad it looked and had to rip out that machine stitched bit and redo the finishing by hand. It's not a race to the finish by any stretch of the imagination, though. I do wish I could learn to do a decent job at machine binding for those quilts that I just want to be DONE already. Your quilt is going to look stunning on your bed!

Janet O. said...

That is a great 9-patch design, and the quilter did an excellent job!
That first donation quilt really glows with the purple, blue and green blocks.
How funny that the last quilt was one you assembled and now you get to bind it. :)
The placemats will look good with either binding, but I do lean toward the blue.

Louise said...

You know I'll always vote for the machine binding, if I have to do it myself! But that wonderful nine patch will look great on your bed, no matter how you finish it. So much scrappy goodness :)

AnnieO said...

Thanks,Loris! We had requests for more than 500 quilts and have given out probably 300 now. It is a great block to play with, agreed!

AnnieO said...

Thanks , Joy. I don’t mind hand sewing but it’s a huge quilt! I’m pretty practiced at machine binding 😁. I specifically asked for those cables and think the Cheddar fabric shows them off well.

AnnieO said...

Thanks, Ramona! I enjoy slow stitching too, but this is a daunting amount of binding! Piecing backings is pretty tiresome, I agree😁

AnnieO said...

Thanks, Rebecca! I’ve machine bound most of my quilts. In the early days I stitched the binding to the back and brought to the front, then used a decorative stitch or zigzag on the binding. It was simple and worked great, especially for quilts that would get washed a lot. I’m looking forward to seeing this one on our bed. While I’ve made lots of throws to lay at the foot of the bed, this is it’s first bed quilt!!

AnnieO said...

Thanks, Janet! The Baptist fans and cables I wanted turned out so much nicer than I imagined! The quilter is a guild member.
I’m liking the blue for the binding too.

AnnieO said...

Thanks, Louise, for your vote! I’m happy to hand bind smaller projects but this is a monster!

Janet said...

You are really on a roll. Love all your finishes. πŸ‘πŸ˜Š

Sherrill said...

What a GORGEOUS bunch of beauties!! They get finished eventually (usually..LOL!)

loulee said...

Lovely quilts. It's good to get them finished. I enjoy binding, even hand sewing the back. It's a great way to perform one last quality snuggle test.

Lori said...

I love all the scrappy quilts. Rick Rack nines has to go on the bucket list

AnnieO said...

Thanks, Sherrill! Finished quilts are sometimes elusive creatures, lol

AnnieO said...

Thanks, Lou! Yes, I do like spending more time with some projects—others seem to fly out the door way too fast.

AnnieO said...

Scrappy is best in my book, Lori! Rick Rack Nines is a great scrap eater. These were swapped blocks and even more fun as the scraps are all so different :)

Preeti said...

The quilting is lovely, Annie. Oh the earthy colors are so similar in your quilt and the Perkiomen Valley quilt. No wonder it looks familiar :-)
Binding by hand??? OMG, I do not have the patience for that. Everything I do is by machine, except hanging sleeves, but that is only for show quilts.

Kate said...

Binding extravaganza indeed! Congrats on all the progress with each of those projects.

Tanya said...

I love the Perkiomen Valley quilts!

Binding (and labeling) always gets put on the To do list and then the To do list gets lost!

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