Harley Davidson ~~ finish!

The Harley Davidson memory quilt is complete! Binding and label done and dusted! The only thing left to do is to deliver it to the client. There were 30 or so tee shirts in the container, and I tried to use at least a small part from all of them. On many both the front and back had nice designs, so I sewed them together and created one panel. It was helpful in creating the puzzle design that the couple wanted. 

We were barbecuing on Monday when I finished the binding, so I  asked a couple of the kids to hold it up. Two "volunteered" but one of the guys was a bit short and had to stand on a small table. 

The other kiddo acted like he'd never held up a quilt, so someone had to get in the mix. Getting a straight line was impossible once I asked them to turn the quilt around. I had to choose how much of the boys to crop out but decided that I'll leave in however much is there. This way you can check out their happy faces. Everyone wants to be a quilt model in this family. At least they liked that it's a Harley Davidson quilt. 

My client mentioned using a black backing, but black is such a shocking color on the back of a quilt. I found some Kona charcoal, which is almost as dark and decided to go with it instead. I debated about the binding until I realized that I didn't have enough of the charcoal fabric. So black binding it is. I actually like the little contrast on the back, and the black works better on the front since many of the tees are black.

I put one full strip of tees on the back and the bottom-most tee has a nice open area above the design--perfect for the label. I included the information that I always include on a label and still have space for the family to add a note for dad. It's to be a Father's Day gift, so  that will be especially nice.

 Ready for its trip to Baton Rouge in the next few weeks, this quilt may be one of my favorite memory quilts. I'm quite surprised at that realization since I'm not a motorcycle fan but happy that I like it so much.

		Quilt Stats
	Name:	Ainsworth Harley Davidson Memory Quilt
	Size:	74 x 96
	Fabrics:	Tee shirts from client
	Backing:	Kona charcoal
	Binding:	Kona black
	Pattern:	Puzzle design
	Quilting:	custom design based on tee-shirts
	Completed:	February 2018

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Crazy Mom Quilts (Finish It Up Friday)

My Quilt Infatuation (Needle & Thread)

Busy Hands Quilts (Finished or Not Friday)

Confessions of a Fabric Addict (Can I get a Whoop! Whoop!) 

Harley Davidson Memory Quilt ~~ Quilting Finish

 And so the Harley Davidson memory quilt is quilted. I still need to sew on the binding, but if all goes well, that will happen tomorrow. I was thinking that I’d use the charcoal Kona for binding, but tonight I’m thinking that a black Kona would be a better idea. Harley Davidson colors are orange and black but I like the frame of a black binding.

I took these pictures very quickly after I pulled the quilt off the long-arm and trimmed the rough edges off. So typical of the way I do things, I misjudged the amount of backing I would need. 

Actually, what I did was to use one strip of tee-shirts on the back so that the quilt would not be so large and heavy. Thank goodness I did! This quilt took five days to quilt. Of course, I did much more babysitting than quilting, and I do have a sinus infection that has me sleeping late every morning. Oh, and I should not forget that I visited the in-laws which always takes a couple of hours.  Nevertheless, I spent a couple of hours every day this week quilting.

Every tee shirt got its own custom quilting design. One has stippling with a small Harley Davidson logo stitched in. Another has palm leaves; the Florida shirt has tiki huts, Texas (maybe) has stars. Memphis has music staffs stippled in. And so on.

There are several advantages to quilting a memory quilt this way. First, it adds to the depth of energy in the quilt and, second, gives the viewer something to look for. Third, it’s great practice for the quilter. Fourth, (my favorite) it’s an opportunity to create new motifs.

For the Alexandria, Louisiana, tee, I created a new motif. The focus of the quilt is the Indian motorcycle logo, so I attempted to recreate the Indian headdress. The first couple are okay but by the time I got to the end of the tee, I’d figured out a few problems and improved the design. 

So why didn’t I rip out the first ones, you ask? Well, it’s too much work but, also, I avoid ripping out because it so easily damages the fabric. Remember, these are old tee-shirts that have been worn and washed many times. They come apart easily if pulled on or poked with the seam ripper. What do you like most about quilt a tee-shirt memory quilt? 

Link Ups!

Crazy Mom Quilts (Finish It Up Friday)

Busy Hands Quilts (Finished or Not Friday)

Confessions of a Fabric Addict (Can I get a Whoop! Whoop!) 

Something for Jake

Back in November I wrote about a family in our little town who lost their son, Jake, when his friend accidentally shot Jake with an assault rifle. Steve and Mike (Richard's brother and Jake's dad, respectively) have been best friends since they were young men. Steve and his wife, Shannon, were Jake's godfather and godmother, babysat him when his parents worked, and hired him to work in their lawn business. They are taking his death very hard. 

Just a few weeks ago, they celebrated what would have been Jake's 21st birthday. Steve and Shannon wanted to do something symbolic for the occasion and asked me to make a small quilt with his name on it. Jake was an avid hunter, so they wanted a camouflage background with his name in purple. Both his mom and his godmother love purple. 

I knew I couldn't get the quilt finished in time but Steve and Shannon preferred that I make it even if it would be late. I finished turned it over to Steve this afternoon. Gratefully, he seemed very satisfied. 

I supposed I should call it a bed runner since it's too small to be even a lap quilt. It's meant to lay on his bed as a reminder of Steve and Shannon's love for Jake. I can only hope it will serve them well. 

Rather than just stipple or use some edge-to-edge quilting, I decided to follow the tree and limb edges. It was relatively easy, except in keeping track of where I was in the woods. Really, the camo effect is so good that even though I'd step back and look at the design repeat, I got lost a couple of times. I've decided that's the way I added character to the piece. 

Because the purple letters seemed a bit out of place against the grays, greens, browns and black of the camouflage, I decided to add a small piping at the binding. I like this much more than the original idea of using just the camo. 

Link Ups!

Crazy Mom Quilts (Finish It Up Friday)

My Quilt Infatuation (Needle & Thread)

Busy Hands Quilts (Finished or Not Friday)

Confessions of a Fabric Addict (Can I get a Whoop! Whoop!) 

Cotton Robin round 3

Round 3 of the Cotton Robin bee came some time before school let out, and I had plenty of time to finish it and get it out to it's happy owner. This is how it started:

Photo credit to Cotton Robin blog

But it went through two rounds before arriving at my doorstep, so there were some pretty awesome quilters feeding ideas to me through their work. Of course, no one told me what to do in words. Let's just not open that squirmy can.

The first border is the colorful balloon one with a black background. The second border is the HSTs in yellow and white. First I tried a black binding, thinking it would frame the piece, but I didn't like the additional darkness. In the end I had to go with the yellow for an extra punch of brightness. Plus, I had a yellow that came from the same line...sort of the fabrics making the decision there. But whatever. I liked it. 

Quilting is all custom quilting: SITD around the bird with some weird feathery lines that mimic the print on the body, clouds in the blue background, bubbles in the balloon border, and curvy lines in the HSTs. 

The bird needed only one more detail: an eye. You can see in the pictures above that a little beady eye really brings it to life. Strange how a beady eye on one creature is perfect, on another not so much. Take an alligator--when the only thing sticking out of that murky water are those beady eyes, it's creepy.

So this guy got a beady eye (literally a brown bead). I took all kinds of close ups of the bird's face with that eye, but not one the whole quilt. I have no idea why but it's likely the same reason I didn't snap the back of the quilt. Yea, yea, goofy again. You're probably tired of that story, but it's the truest one and I'm sticking to it.  

That wrapped up my work on the Cotton Robin. The only thing left for me was to wait for my own quilt to arrive. It has, so there's a round 4 coming your way in a day or so. How's that for a tease? Are you curious?

Quilted Scrap Basket ~~ Tutorial

I got a couple of emails asking me to expand on the idea I wrote about in the "Scraps into Buckets" post on Friday. So I thought about writing a tutorial. Be warned this tutorial is picture heavy and rather long. But I think I've included every detail. If you're a seasoned sewist, you may want to read through and then go do your own thing. 

I still have baskets to make, but the problem is that I've already pieced and quilted the scraps. So we'll begin this tutorial with the idea that you've made a quilt sandwich of at least 16 inches square. I should mention that all of my basket fabrics were densely quilted using many motifs as this is a great way to practice your quilting.

At the cutting table. Cut your quilted fabric to 15 X 15 (photo 1).  I used a Frixion pen to draw lines in each corner indicating where I will cut (photo 2). The yellow ovals indicate where quilting pins are to stabilize the pieces since I cut two baskets at a time using my large titanium scissors. (Rotary cutters are difficult to control in corners.) The lines in step two above are 4½ " long for a medium size basket. (Please ignore what I see now looks like appears to be a bad cut on the bottom, that's a photo manipulation error.)  Photo 3 shows you what the piece looks like after cutting. 

On to the machine. Fold the cut piece on the diagonal so that you can match the two edges of one corner (photo A). When sewing these baskets, I make a straight seam ¼" from the edge, then add a zigzag seam on the inside (see my crazy drawing in photo B). This is to strengthen the seam in case the basket is used to hold heavy, bulky items. Once both sides of the basket are stitched, you can refold the basket to sew the other two sides. This is a little difficult because the basket does not want to fold flat (photo C); use a couple of pins and avoid pushing the center of the basket since that may warp the seam. Again sew a straight line and a zigzag line against the edge.

Binding. You should now have a box shape (well, sort of anyway) and are ready to finish off the top. I have tried a couple of ways to do this, and believe me, I have some messy baskets to prove it. I've finally settled on one technique that works well for me. 

Cut a strip of binding 1½"  X 16". Turn the basket so that the seams are on the inside and pin the binding around the top edge (photo A). TIP: Now is a good time to add your label. Double check your binding to connect the ends: there should be a 1½" overlap. Anything over needs to be cut off. Fold and pin as in photo C. Cut the excess and finger-press the seam open (photo D).  You can now sew the binding completely around the basket. TIP: Take your time, stop often and readjust. Otherwise, the basket will catch on everything in its path and derail your stitching. 

Once the first part of the binding is sewn, turn the basket so that the seam side is out. Flip the binding up (photo A); then fold it in half (photo B) and in half again (photo C). Pin well and edge stitch (photo D). TIP: Take your time and try to make a neat seam as this one will show. All Done!

Squaring up. I spent a great deal of time trying to get my basket into square shapes. It was one of those things that I had to prove to myself. So I pressed. Then I sprayed water and pressed. I used steam. I tried sizing. Finally, I had an idea! 

My secret: weight. (No, not mine but I considered...) I digress. 

First you have to press with the iron to set the lines. Use the seams to figure out where the fold lines are at the bottom of the basket. Fold and press from the bottom end  of one seam across to the seam on it's side (corner to corner). Do all four bottom lines; then do the side seams. 

Now you can fold the basket into a box shape. Think of a paper bag fold. First push the sides inward (photo A); as the sides fold, the bag will collapse in on itself (photo B). That's a good thing, so hold it if possible. Check that the edges are straight and pin (photo C). Then put something with weight on top of the basket (photo D). 

I leave the weight on the bags for a day or so. I also stack several bags on top or beside each other and use the same weight. Of course, heavy books will work, but I've been using a plastic container of fabric (really anything heavy but clean) and I'm quite satisfied with the result. 

This nesting stack shows the difference between the two that have been weighted (as opposed to pressing with an iron) and the top one which has not been weighted.

Nest your baskets. I used an easy formula to create my nesting baskets. I cut all of my quilted fabric the same 15" square. The corners are where I made the changes. I started with the 4½" and then cut the next one 4" and the last one 5½".  The changes are very subtle but it's just enough to do the job. 

Thanks for visiting and making it to the end! I hope you enjoyed the tutorial and that it answers all of your questions. If not, please let me know in the comments. Do you plan to make a few quilted baskets or have you? I'd love to know how they turned out!

Linking Up with the Party Queens

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Brag About It @ My Husband Has Too Many Hobbies

Closer and closer to a finish!

I may get this one finished. This big, huge king-sized quilt. The one I've been working on for such a long time. Since July 23rd, in fact. Over a month. That's a long time for a quilt made entirely by machine. Especially for me. 

And it's not even finished. Yet. But I'm getting closer.  I took this picture to before pulling it off the machine so that I could show you just how big the quilt is. My machine is 120 inches wide, the quilt backing has a wingspan that stretches from one end of the machine to the other. It should end up about 105-110 inches.  And it's just as long. 

Oh wow, I just had a hint of the amount of binding I'll need. I may as well shoot for 450 inches--12 yards?! That just can't be right. I double checked my math. Then I had Richard do the math. Yes, 12 yards of binding! 

Each of the chevrons has a different quilting motif which really stretched my brain and forced me to work with a few motifs that I'm not entirely comfortable with. 

But somehow I managed to get through the entire quilt and took it off the machine. I hope to begin cutting out the binding tomorrow and perhaps sew it on over the weekend. 

Weekend work

Our first week of school is behind us.  Which means that I am again living for the weekend.  I'm fairly sure that the students are doing the same.  I'm also fairly sure that my weekends are, in general, a little more productive.  That's assuming that making binding is what we consider production.

That's what I accomplished yesterday.  Binding.  At least it was binding for two quilts.  First this pink mix of fabrics that I'd cut off the quilt to square it up.  

The second pile is of this gray and white stripe that I plan to use on a quilt that's been waiting on the work table for months.  Seriously. I finished the top and it waited.  Then eventually I got the quilting done and it waited even longer.  

But this gray quilt is getting closer to completion now. I'm hopeful, at least, that eventually it will see the inside of the storage trunk. It's a generous 50 X 70 that will make a nice lap quilt for just about anyone.


The pink binding will go onto "Old Ohio Rose," one of the quilt kits that I made to take on vacation in June and started sewing while we were in Ohio.   

Here are a few pictures of the gray quilt before quilting and while on the long-arm.  I haven't taken pictures since I pulled the quilt off the machine.  

I think the binding will go well with the quilt because the stripe is so pretty and just close enough in color to coordinate but still give a little surprise.

What are you living for or working on this week?