Binding Time

I cut and sewed the binding strips for Friendship Stars yesterday. I did my usual pre-check to make sure no joins landed on the corners.

Today I got the label prepared and sewn in the corner.

I used a strip of the selvage to make the octopus and now there’s nothing left but to get to sewing!

Happy sewing! Cherie

I Win!

I played backing chicken and I won! Yippee!!

I did lose at bobbin chicken, running out of thread about 15” from completing the last row of quilting but better that than not having enough backing!

This quilt is huge and it’s heavy. I’m definitely going to sew the binding on by machine using glue basting. I’ve been sewing on my featherweight in a featherweight table but it is the size of a card table…..just not enough real estate to manage this size of quilt. So I got to thinking.  We have a large desk that isn’t used much since I’m no longer working. Also we both use iPads and no longer have a desktop computer…so I asked about moving our desk into the quilt studio. 

I’m not certain if I’ll rearrange things or not but this will work for now! It will be so much better for sewing on borders and bindings!

Cheers, Cherie 

Quilting

I am a little over half way done quilting Friendship Stars. Sophie had a little hiccup after I loaded a new bobbin….its like the tension discs weren’t engaged and what took 2 minutes to put in stitches took 20 minutes to take out. I got the tension straightened out but still don’t understand what caused the problem. In any case Sophie has been fine ever since. 

I spent about 4 1/2 hours with Sophie and expect I’ll need another 3-4 hours, barring any hiccups. I’m quilting my standard free motion swirl from the Quilters Apothecary (here’s the YouTube link). I can tell when I need a break as I start to “lose” my way but it’s going pretty well.

I’m pretty happy with the grey thread although using white in the bobbin might have made it blend in more on the back. 

Soon I’ll find out if I run out of backing fabric 😬😬😬😬!

Cherie 

Ritter Retreat

What a wonderful group of women we have had at retreat. I was able to sit and hand sew while joining in on fun conversations and see wonderful projects growing on the design walls. After getting the hand sewing finished, I was able to come up with a design from the HST’s from cut off triangles from Jan & Lisa. The group thinks the project should be called “With a Little Help From My Friends”. More HST’s are needed so I didn’t sew any of them together.

Just after Christmas I posted here about a partially started project I was giving away. Linda, who organizes the Ritter Retreat, accepted the challenge and blew me away by finishing all but the border!! I expect she’ll have this Jaqueline De Jonge quilt finished before next July’s retreat.

I brought the stack of neutral 6 1/2” crumb blocks I had….turns out there were 101 blocks. I used 99 blocks and got them sewed together.

This will be the background for a great big red appliquéd flower on a big bendy green stem. I bought this red for the flower.

I also bought some other fabrics because there’s the cutest fabric shop at the retreat 😁.

Lastly, I sewed and trimmed 177 HST’s from even more cut off triangles from Jan. We asked ChatGPT (thanks Nancy!) how much fabric it takes of light and dark to make 177 HST’s and the answer was 7/8 of a yard of each, so 2 yards of fabric total!!!

We leave the retreat tomorrow and I fly home on Tuesday. It has been an amazing retreat.

Cheers, Cherie 

Off and On Sophie

I quilted Quadrangle and got the binding and label made so when I get home from retreat, I can sew on the binding. 

I ironed the wide backing for the Friendship Stars quilt.

And got it loaded on Sophie at which point I realized there is only a little over an inch margin of backing at the bottom 😬. See how closely I’ve placed the top of the quilt to the leader? I know I should have taken the backing off and added a strip of fabric…….but I didn’t!

So as soon as I get home from retreat, I’ll get it quilted….if you hear any loud wailing you’ll know the backing came up short 😩.

Cherie 

In the Mail

I received a squishy in the mail yesterday from Wanda at Exuberant Color and it was my favorite kind - SCRAPS!!

I believe I’ve mentioned a few times (ha!) how much I love scraps and other quilter’s scraps are the best! Naturally I got to sorting and petting them right away 😉. Wanda sent a lovely note card with her Sparkling Stars quilt which is now owned by Lynne of the Patchery Menagerie and you can get a peak at it in this post here.

Included in the bunch are some batiks and I’m going to incorporate them into the ovals project. I LOVE all the quilt-y connections. Thank you, Wanda, for making my day 😃

Happy Quilting,

Cherie

It’s a Top!

I finished sewing the rows together and Friendship Stars is a top!

Fresh from ironing the last seam.

Still huge, 😂. Linking up with the Quilty Girl for Finished (or not) Friday.

Now to quilt the Quadrangle quilt so I can get the Friendship Stars quilt on Sophie and get ‘r done ✅.

Then I’ll load up one of the quilts below to get it quilted and the binding sewn so I can hand sew it in the car.

You never know, it could happen, but maybe not since I’ll be gone a week to join The Colorful Fabriholic at retreat 😄. 

Cherie 

The Stars are Aligned

I’ve gotten all the rows of stars sewn together and have sewn pairs of rows to each other. I have to iron the long seem between rows 7 & 8 and row nine blocks as seen in the foreground below but it is sooooo close to being a top!

I also managed to make the July BOM via leader/enders.

And, while showing our company my quilting studio, I noticed a box that contained a bunch more ovals appliquéd by my late friend Darlene. I have no idea why I didn’t remember them but here are all the ones we have done.

It will be a challenge to come up with something for these….maybe a top with nothing but ovals……guess we’ll see as I have a lot more prepared. We are taking a 2 month car trip in August-Sept so I’ll need loads to keep me busy. I’ll have at least one quilt binding to work on during the trip and maybe two, fingers crossed. 

Cheers, Cherie

The Star are Coming Together

This is what 108” long looks like when sewing row 1 to row 2….a puddle on the floor 😏

And this is what the rows look like ironed and laid out 😃. Two ninths of the way there……

We have company for the weekend so there won’t be any more sewing until next week. Hope everyone has a safe and fun 4th of July.

Cherie 

Friendship Stars

I finally finished the friendship star blocks for the king sized quilt. Phew!

Then I cleared a space on the floor and laid out the blocks. I have since moved a few blocks around and oriented them so all seems will nest. They are now clipped together by rows and ready to sew the 108” x 108” beast together. I did purchase a wide backing and a king sized batting.

This quilt was requested by my husband for a friend’s son & partner and will be going to England when I get it finished. It’s a good thing Sophie has a 14” table. Did I mention there will be 432 inches of binding?!?! 😳

Cheers, Cherie

This and That

Since finishing the graduation quilt last weekend I’ve made a birdhouse, 

…..caught up on the Sweet Potato BOM April & May blocks, 

……and sewed a few more ovals which are all hanging out on the design wall.

Today I’m linking up with Finished (or not) Friday.

Cheers, Cherie

Graduation Quilt is Finally Finished

I worked on the binding on our day trip Friday…….

…….where we ended our day watching The Michael Weber Show in Lakewood, OH and I got to visit with The Quilt Lady, who is Michael’s Aunt Patty and my friend. 

Patty and I exchanged bags and I totally got the best end of the exchange……

See how well my scissors fit in the scissors pouch? I have a thing for pears 😆 She also gave me one of her thread beds and muffins 😋.

On Saturday I finished the graduation quilt.

And prepared it for gifting today, yay!

The end, Cherie

Finishing!

I finished quilting and machine sewing the binding to the front of the quilt as well as finishing hand sewing one corner and 1 1/2 sides. We are taking off on a day trip soon so I expect I’ll be close to finishing by the time we return. Yay!!

Linking up with the Quiltygirl for Finished (or not) Friday 😀.

Cherie

Binding & More

We had a wonderful time on our weekend away. The trip was planned specifically to visit the Corning Museum of Glass which didn’t disappoint. The museum is a mixture of history, chemistry, uses and art. As a birthday gift, my DH had purchased glass making sessions for us and it was a fabulous experience.

My piece is the one on the left 😄. The Rockwell Museum (not that Rockwell) is close to the Corning museum and was well worth the visit. There is a lovely path through a park that you can walk to get to the Rockwell. It’s an easy walk between the two museums and only takes about 10-15 minutes.

We stayed at Seneca lake and the region is beautiful with many waterfalls and wineries. I was able to finish all four corners of the binding during our drive and finished Fall Mountains completely on Monday.

Because I used glue to hold the pieces of backing when pattern matching and because I wanted to see how my quilting would turn out, I washed it. I’m very happy with the quilting mostly because I didn’t quilt it densely and was hoping it would look good. 

And, most importantly, I started right in on quilting the graduation quilt!

Sophie and I worked together well and the quilting is now complete. I’ll trim the quilt and sew the binding on today!

Cheers, Cherie