Friday, March 18, 2011

Favourite Things Friday: Stripey Bias Binding

Success isn't a result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire. –Arnold H. Glasow

I am one of those :crazy: people who like to do the binding on a quilt. It is hard to say, because I really love everything about quilting, but I think that it is my favorite part because it means that a quilt is about to be finished :clap:. And that is a fabulous thing.

My favorite kind of binding is stripey binding, cut on the bias. It just makes me happy. I do continuous bias binding {someday soon, I'm going to update that tutorial with better pictures and make a downloadable PDF version}, and it is way easier than cutting individual strips of binding and sewing them together one by one.

I am finding that another of my favorite things is free-motion quilting. After I quilted my first free-motion quilt about eight months ago, I remember really disliking it and thinking that I would probably never do it again. I just finished quilting my eighth quilt, Cozy Posies, last night :lol:. And I absolutely love how it came out. I tried feathers for the very first time. Can I get a whoop whoop :whoop:?

I'd originally planned to do an all over loops and flowers meander on this quilt. It was something a little different than quilting I've done previously, but still familiar enough to be safe. But Wednesday morning as I passed it laying on the living room floor up on my design wall, I had a flash of inspiration. I thought that feathers would be really great in the rows of coins. My motto is Go Big or Go Home, and after the last quilt I did, where I stuck with something I knew rather than branching out a bit and trying something different, I decided to go for it. I sketched out a few rows of feathers, but was anxious to move on. I stitched a few rows out on a practice quilt sandwich and then I just went for it.

For Friday Night Sew-In {which I started the minute I got home from work, just after 2:00 this afternoon}, I did the binding and then I threw this baby in the washer. I think I've been converted to the throw that quilt in the washer as soon as it is finished camp :lol:. I just pulled it out of the dryer a bit ago and there was still enough light outside to get a few good shots of it {thank you, Daylight Savings Time :rolleyes:}. Isn't that stripey binding so much fun!?!

And here's the back. I'm really in the Frolic groove, so I think I'll spend the rest of my Friday Night Sew-In working on getting my other Frolic quilt finished. Then, I ABSOLUTELY PROMISE that I'll work on Mr. Bug's T-Shirt Quilt. Cross my heart and kiss my elbow :lol:.

Today's post brought to you by:

My 2011 Finishes

15 comments:

WoolenSails said...

I love how the binding brings it all together, beautiful quilt.

Debbie

GerryART said...

I like the way you think! !
Had to go to your 'about me' to re-fresh my brain.
Random things about you: #15 you and I have in common.
And - Whoop! Whoop! your FMQ is great! You inspire me to make more of an effort to actually to FMQ rather than practice.
Way to go Elizabeth.
Hugs,
Gerry

Paulette said...

I love everything about this quilt, Elizabeth! Your feathers are wonderful. I'm trying to wrap my head around how you would manage that (top to bottom in one pass? A few at a time, shift, do again?). Anyway, a big whoop-whoop from me!

thea said...

The binding looks great -- actually the whole quilt is beautiful! How did you learn to do the free motion quilting. I'm thinking of doing it with my next quilt -- well maybe the one after that, but don't know how to begin.

Impera Magna said...

Beautiful quilt... and I, too, belong to the "throw the quilt in the wash as soon as the bindings on" camp!

I like sewing on binding... I pop in a movie and curl up on the sofa and sew away... so relaxing!

Barb said...

What a fun quilt!!!

Angie said...

Gret work. I LOVE stripey bindings. Infact, I have one of my boxes dedicated to 'bindings'. Whenever I find something striped on the 70% off table, even if I don't have a home for it, I get it, wash and finish it and put it in that box to be ready to make into binding.

Shay said...

I love the look of diagonal striped binding but have yet to screw up my courage enough to cut it on the bias.

I do love this quilt Elizabeth!

You are fearless and may inspire me yet.

Thanks for linking up to FTF.

Ann Marie @ 16 Muddy Feet said...

Love the stripey binding, and yes you do get a Whoop, Whoop!!!

Sarah Craig said...

Whoop Whoop!!! That looks great - I haven't been brave enough to try feathers yet - but yours may inspire me! Very pretty!!

Sarah Craig said...

It's a beautiful quilt, and your feathers are great! I want to try those soon, but I'm so afraid I'll mess it up.... You did great! Whoop whoop!!

Vicki @ DottyJane said...

Love the feathers! Actually I love the whole thing! Thanks for sharing:)

Karens Quilts, Crows and Cardinals said...

Elizabeth... the FMQ and the binding look great ! Thanks for the inspiration to practice, practice, practice my FMQ.

Cheers!
Karen

Anonymous said...

Love the stripes, Love the feathers, Love the colors, Love it, Love it, Love it!

Pamela said...

I love the colors you used in this quilt and the diagonal stripe on the edge. Beautiful!