Quilt Prep

I have the first baby quilt all pieced. Woo hoo! I've watched Elizabeth Hartman talk about putting the quilt sandwich together. So, since this quilt is small, I thought I'd give it a shot.

I measured the quilt top (36"x36") and added two inches on each side. So I cut the batting 38"x38". The cute fabric I bought for the quilt back wasn't quite wide enough, so I had the opportunity to put a couple strips down the back (which made me happy; love that look!). Now I cut the back 40"x40".
 
I pressed everything including the batting so that it was very smooth. Next I put the backing down wrong side up and used painters tape to keep it stable. I like 505 spray adhesive  so I gave the backing a quick spray then put down the batting.

Elizabeth rolls the batting and lays it down two inches from the bottom and sides. Then it's carefully unrolled.

 Now another quick spray of 505 and lay down the rolled up quilt top.

 Here's the end result which was very nice to work with.

 

Jacquie Gehring suggests the quilt sandwich be pressed. This does make the adhesive more permanent. Now I'm happy to say that I was able to quilt the top and didn't have one of those darned wrinkles stitched into the back which I'm so used to seeing. If you don't use this method, you might want to give it a try; it makes for a neat and tidy quilt top which is great as I move forward with my work on precision. 
 

Thought You'd Like to Know

This week I'd like to share some creative things that different people out there are doing...

The first is one of my favorite sewing accessories: it's a pincushion ring.

I bought it in December from Bee Wise Bags on Etsy. It's just so handy to stick a pin in as I'm stitching. And as I move from my machine to the ironing board; it's right there with me. I don't have to look around to see where I left my pin cushion. There are a lot of different styles out there so I encourage you to go out and take a look.

The other thing I wanted to share is a tutorial I found through Pinterest. It's called a Selvage Bag and was designed by Heather Louise. You can see it on her blog How Do You Do That Again but the really clever part is how the snap closure works. You know the kind; you pull the sides to open it then when you push the  sides together it snaps closed. Heather uses a couple of pieces from a metal measuring tape for the closure. Brilliant! I had hoped to stitch one up for this post, but that just isn't going to happen, so I wanted to be sure to share. Take a look and give it a try!

Embroidery Con't.!

I'm still working on my grande Stupendous Stitching. I'm at the stage where I'm embellishing with hand embroidery and beading and enjoying every stitch.

I thought in this post I'd show some of my favorite sections of my wall hanging and show you how to do a favorite stitch.

The one thing I'd like to say I've learned; even if you do the stitch differently than a book or web site shows, it doesn't matter. It's a great opportunity to turn the lemons into lemonade! That's kinda what happened here...I struggled a bit with the stitch but enjoyed how it turned out and add a few beads; what's not to like?!

 
I like this yellow stitch too. I wanted to just go wherever my fingers led me and I came up with this fun wandering stitch that goes from east to west on my piece..

Here's the Double Knot Stitch that I wanted to show. I found it in Mary Thomas's Dictionary of Embroidery Stitches New Edition by Jan Eaton. Once again, I have this one going the entire width of my piece.

Here's how you do it:  Take a stitch and bring the needle  right up next to where you entered.

Loop the threads underneath the initial stitch. Bring it around and hold the loop down with your thumb. Now slide the needle underneath the initial stitch and then over where you came up the second time. Whew! Thank goodness it's easier to do it than to write! Take a look:

Give it a tug and you have a lovely little knotted stitch.

Give this stitch a try, you'll get the hang of it in no time. Enjoy!

Design Wall Workout

Still working on those baby quilts. I have the half square triangles all cut (woo hoo!). So I spread them out on the floor like I am used to doing. Then out of the corner of my eye, I saw my design wall. I've been using it to hang up unfinished projects (so it was kinda full). I decided to suck it up and take them all down making room for my first baby quilt.

I am happy to say that it did help tremendously. I was able to actually move the blocks around spreading out the pale pinks and aqua in a pleasing format that I was sure I couldn't do on the floor.

Then I was ready to start sewing the blocks together. Thinking back to past projects, I remembered how easy it is for me to sew the wrong two blocks together even though I carefully stack them all up.

I decided to use blue painters tape and label each piece: rows were numbers and columns were letters.

 

Here's a close up:

 

I'm happy to say it worked beautifully.  

 

By taking a little time to use the tape, I saved time which would have been spent ripping out. Win win!