Orange Crush Revisited

At long last, my Orange Crush quilt is completely finished--quilted, bound, and yes, it's labeled. The top has been done since last October, almost a year now. I guess I was putting off quilting it until I got more proficient at quilting from a pantograph, but I decided it was past time to get it done, good or bad. I quilted the bubbles I wanted on it, and I'm really pleased with the way it turned out. I'd forgotten how big this quilt was, nearly queen sized. I love this quilt!

It's A Wrap!

That's the name of this quilt, and today it also signifies that the quilt is finished--quilted, bound, and labeled! I quilted Christmas trees on it using the Tannenbaum pantograph from Willow Leaf Studio.

That's another one completed from my Power of Ten list, so I cleaned up the list, removed the projects that have been completed, and added the Orange Crush quilt. I finished quilting that one a couple of days ago. Now I just have to bind--and label--it. That makes eight projects on my list, but five of them were added in June, so they're old, and I'll wait until I make some progress with those before I add anything else.



















I've completed several Christmas projects this year in different mediums, and I guess this will be the last one for a while. Stephanie D has got me all fired up about Halloween, and now I feel a Halloween quilt coming on!


Credit where credit is due: "It's a Wrap quilt" design by Mary Ann Meador, Quiltmaker Nov/Dec 08

Do You Label?

Not everyone does, but most quilt experts and historians agree that we should label our quilts--for future generations, for documentation, and for security. Signed quilts are also more valuable than unsigned quilts. Most importantly, labels can reflect the thought, care, and emotion that go into the making of a quilt.

I inherited this beautiful hexagon baby quilt when my mother passed away a few years ago. It is hand pieced and hand quilted, and in beautiful condition. And I have no idea who made it or how it came to be in my mother's possession, which is a real shame.

I am as guilty as anyone else of not labeling my quilts. I used to do it religiously, but a few years ago I began testing patterns and often didn't take the time to make the label. I have some catching up to do, but I'm also going to make a dedicated effort not to get further behind.

I am almost finished binding my Christmas quilt, and here is the label I made for it, a triangular label that is sewn to two edges of the quilt and only one edge to turn under. I love it! I first saw this idea on Pat's blog, Bell Creek Quilts, and thought it was brilliant. Last week or the week before I discovered Coleen's blog, Colleen's Quilting Journey, and she took the idea one step further and embroidered the text. You can see a couple of her labels here and here. I embroidered my label too and added a small Christmas motif as well.

Next time I make one of these, I'll make that trim at the top of the label about the same width as the binding. I think that might look better. Or I might finish that top edge and not stitch it down so I can use it as a pocket for a photo or something.

I have the same assortment of quilts with muslin labels and pigma pen writing that everyone else has, but sometimes I like to have a little more fun with my labels. My favorite method is to piece a smaller version of one or more blocks in the quilt and sew a row of them together with a plain block for the text. Sometimes the edges are too hard to turn under, so I'll add a little binding to the edge of the label before I sew it down.

The idea for this label came from Jinny Beyer's Soft Edge Piecing book. The background fabric was a piece of hand dyed fabric I'd made years ago, then I fussy cut eight pieces of fabric from a Jinny Beyer border print, stitched the pieces together, and appliqued the curved edges to the background fabric. It's one of my favorites.

For this label, I took a photograph of the front of the quilt, then printed the image on fabric and sewed it to the quilt back.

These two labels haven't made it onto the back of a quilt yet. The yellow one with the sun rays was a gift from a fellow quilter, and I never found the right quilt for it. The one on the right was a block gone wrong, so I cut it on the diagonal twice and used the pieces for the corners of this piece of muslin. I'll probably add some binding to the edges to stabilize the bias.

There are as many ways to make quilt labels as there are people on the planet. Consider adding a label to your quilts.

End to the Sunday Stash Report

It is a sunny, cool, breezy day here in Maine--perfect weather for working in the garden or sitting on the porch with a little handpiecing. Some of the leaves on my trees have already turned brown and fallen to the ground. It won't be long before Autumn is here.

I've decided to end my Sunday Stash Manager's Reports. After purchasing a bolt of 42 yards of muslin recently, I thought there probably wasn't much point in continuing to report it since the idea was to encourage us to reduce the stash. I am really pleased with the amount of stash I've busted the last year and a half, but I've been way more successful enhancing it. I also have to admit that my interest in reading others' stash reports is waning.

Funny thing about that, a couple of days after I came to my decision, I happened to see that the author of the website that originally hosted the Sunday Stash Reports posed the same question to its readers, whether or not to continue the Stash Reports. I have no idea what the outcome was, but I guess sometimes these things run their course, and then we move on.

For my own gratification, I plan to continue recording all Stash Events. I've really enjoyed keeping track, and I think anyone who stuck with it would agree it's an eye opener. I imagine there will be some discussion about stash busting in future posts, and I may even do an end-of-the-year Stash Report, provided the results are somewhat respectable!

Sunday Stash Report

I was busy all week working on my mini log cabin blocks, but I'm not reporting that stash until they're all finished, and I have six left to make for my little 36-block quilt. I also finished quilting my Christmas quilt, It's a Wrap, this evening, which makes me very happy!

I'll be loading another quilt on the frame this week, binding the Christmas quilt, making the rest of the log cabin blocks, and spending some time working on the projects on my Power of Ten list.

For the Stash Manager's Report, nothing in, nothing out!

Giveaway for Machine Embroiderers

Serena Smith at Embroidery Treasures is hosting a giveaway for machine embroidery enthusiasts. The offer is for these four magazines. Plus she has an interesting site! You have until August 31 to enter the giveaway.

Carolee's Tea

This morning I worked some more on the binding for the snowman quilt and finished it this evening. This is the third flannel quilt I've made, and I really like the flannel, but it's a bit more challenging to do the quilting and binding because of the thickness of the layers. This pattern, called "Under the Stars", is by The Rabbit Factory.

This afternoon was our tea at Carolee's house. Tables were set up in the garage with this lovely collection of china tea cups and treats for the tea.


















We had some time before the presentation to see Carolee's extensive gardens. A tour through her gardens is a lot like a trip to a Botanical Garden--there are just so many varieties of plants. Her sun garden extends clear across the front of her house and around to the side. In the back are two shade gardens, and two more shade gardens on the other side of her driveway. Of course Carolee devotes quite a bit of time every day working in her gardens, so it's a wonder she still finds time to quilt.



































The presentation by Sandra L. Hatch, editor of Quilter's World magazine, was an insightful look into her career as an editor and quilter that has spanned 28 years so far. She has an impressive list of magazines and books to her credit, as well as a large body of work as a quilter. Behind her, there were stacks of quilts on the tables, many of which were quilts she's made over the years for magazines and books she's edited. She had a large number of Christmas quilts and charming gift bags. She mentioned that she has 29 people in her family, and each family member has their own gift bag, which she fills every year at Christmas. I believe Sandra said she has recently resigned as editor of Quilter's World due to creative differences, but she will retain her position as technical editor.