Darling Doll Quilts Duo

So, it's snowing again here and that's all I'm going to say about that.

Love Nest - Little Liberated Medallion Quilt 22 x 24.

I made these two workshop sample blocks a couple of weeks ago.

Last week I just felt like playing in my sewing room.   You ever do that?  Just want to make something for no reason?  

 I raided my two miscellaneous block drawers.

and composed this fun little piece.  I used leftover stars, the black and red pieced section on the right was from Jill's sewing room.  I added pretty bird and floral fabrics, one little nine patch and
Voile'

I quilted it by machine with my Newest Baptist Fan stencil using 

Invisafil 100 wt thread.   I LOVED using  this tread.  It blended across all areas of the quilt.

I even used left over binding pieces.  See?  It was like a public service project, right?

I just love this texture

The backing is a cheater print - still needs a label.

Darling Doll Quilt #2

I received this sweet Doll Quilt from blog reader/friend, Rondi.  She lives in KY and has sent me very nice notes from time to time and a few little quilts.  How cute is this one?  It is a Gwen Marston pattern.

Hand quilted with little fans - squeal.  So cute.   It has Little House on the Prairie fabric for the backing which I have never seen before.

It fits perfectly on one of my little beds.  So charming.  Thank you Rondi for this wonderful gift.

In other news:  I'm working on this Medallion Quilt (again).  Talk about over cautious pinning...wow.

I've been working on this top for so long.  It first appeared in spring 2016......that is 2 years ago!  how did that happen?

Wish me luck with the last 2 borders.  

Hope you're having fun with whatever you are working on.

xo

barb

p.s. thank you for all the nice comments and appreciation of the swap this year.  I'm so glad that everyone had fun and likes the Churn Dash blocks.

Binding.....What and How to?

First let me say thank you so much for your nice comments about my Jubilee Quilt.  It was very rewarding to hear such nice comments. Often in the modern quilt world, this kind of old fashioned hand quilted quilt goes a bit unnoticed, so I can't tell you how much it meant to hear from you.

Here is my new little dolly quilt:  Baby Bow Ties (I see the camera focussed on Mr. Starbuck)

It measures 17 inches square and I used this pretty fabric on the back.

It was made with the little bow ties I received from the bow tie angel in the civil war swap.  I only had to make a few of my own.

At the recent quilt show I was penalized points because I used 4 separate pieces of binding and made "straight corners" (it's not here to photograph).  Since when is the mitered binding THE ONLY binding that is considered good?.  I was also criticized for not using more and smaller stitches on my Jubilee binding.  what?  seriously?  seriously?

So on this new quilt I worked very hard to make good corners.  They are straight and square and secure.  I think on an old fashioned quilt it actually looks more right to me; more appropriate somehow.

The other thing the judges criticized was when the print on the binding was not fussy cut (this was on someone else's quilt).  Wow.  I don't think I've ever really considered it before.  I do pay attention when using a stripe on the bias for that barber poll look we all love, but on small prints?

So here I attempted to "fussy cut" my binding.   The left side turned out great.

The one below, not so much.  Sometimes the print was not printed straight, so how to cut it I wonder?

How do you handle and approach your bindings?  I'd love to hear about it.  Let me also say this is the first time I had heard these comments.  I also don't want it to discourage anyone from entering quilting into shows.  I like to share my quilts,  which is why I have this free sharing blog.

I'm working out my quilting plan for the Alice Payne quilt.  I definitely want to start quilting by January 1st.

The Constant Quilter hosted a scrap give away and I won!  Thank you, Wendy, for the wonderful package of scraps and also for your wonderful blog posts.

I've decided to pay it forward.  If you would like to win a box of scrap pieces just leave a message and I'll pick a winner on Friday.  Who knows maybe we can keep the sharing going.  Based on the weight and postage US shipping only this time.

I'm keeping Paris and all of France in my thoughts this week.