Circle Dance binding dilemma

     Well, I did it. The queen size Circle Dance is all quilted. I used Glide thread on my Bailey Home Quilter. I used adapted designs from The Inbox Jaunt and Leah Day. Now, I am trying to decide the color of the binding. I have narrowed it down to three choices.
    This has to be done, under the tree (which is not cut down yet), by Christmas.

Progress was sometimes impeded by my beta tester

Why are all these machines in my way?

Multicolor hand dye

Batik colorwash

Batik print

All sewn up!

    Circle Dance is hanging by threads no more. It is all sewn together. It needs to be pressed and assessed to see if I botched any seams. Thanks to Wanda, I learned to pleat up the rows that were not being sewn with safety pins. That helped a lot to handle all the chain pieced rows. I did pin every intersection of seam and circle, right through the seam, yet many of them still moved. GRR! 
    Now to choose the backing. I looked at some wide backings, but there is not a lot of choice. I have to stick to something not real feminine as it is for my daughter and her husband. I looked online an shot a few links to Ria so she could think what she wants. Boy, queen size is big when you do mostly lap size. I could not find a place to take a decent photo so it all could show or get decent light. It is sideways in the photo, the top is to the left.

  Another finish is a kid's comfort quilt, done in the 3 dudes pattern. I only had a small number of kid strips, so I had to add lots of borders. I FMQ on the Bailey and did a slate pattern in the yellow and a sunshine in the blue border which from some reason, has a moire pattern in the photo. Both designs were from Leah Day's list. Now onto the backs from the quilts I made at QBL.

Star and Slate design

Free motion kind of follows the blocks

The back in flannel for snuggling

The Front

Work, work, work = fun, fun, fun

   Lots of different things going on. I labeled and bagged all my UFOs and put them standing up in a bin under the counter. I sewed all the blocks for the You've Got Mail quilts. One layer cake made 2 quilts, 4 blocks by 5. I tried to use all the cool color ones in one, and the mostly warm in the other. It was grey today, so I don't know how well I did. I used blue painters tape and labeled all the rows so I could stack them for sewing. One fit on the design wall, and I had to lay the other on the floor.

The warmer blocks

Cooler blocks

      All finished quilting Emma's Star! Ready to put in a tote bag and wait for someone who needs it. I have another one (Emma's Star) all cut out waiting to piece. I used patterns from Free Motion Quilting. Thank you, Leah Day. I would never be able to be the quilter I am today without your tutorials and blog! The designs I used were Bubble Wand, Flowing Lines, and Basic Chevron. I bought her book and use it to plan out what I am going to use on a quilt. Then I go to her site and watch the video to practice it out. I started using Isacord because of her, but now I also use Glide because it is USA made and works so well.
     I also want to thank Lori from The Inbox Jaunt for excellent FMQ tutorials that I have used at times.  And for sheer production of comfort quilts, Sarah is the queen to me at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Emma's Star

     I finally found fabric for my daughter's tote. It is probably not the first color choice she would take, but I think the design is and I think the color goes with her hair and being a chemistry college professor at Allegheny College (read proud mom).  The tote is going to be a challenge for me. It has a zipper (gasp) and I have to change up the pattern (yikes).

Local Quilt Store fabric comes through

     Last, I would like to show I finished the Christmas cactus watercolor. I always enjoy Wanda's photos of her cactus and I told her I would post a photo of this when done. I owe her gratitude for her knowledge and kindness to me.

Just the Binding, then it is Hot Flash!

    I have been quilting like crazy to get ready for the guild show Oct. 4th and 5th and next week I am going to the Central New York Treadle Conference, so I have been in high gear. All Hot Flash, pattern from Strip Therapy book, must be the first as there is no number on it, needs is the binding which I am making right now. I made it from a jelly roll, but I did not like all the colors, I added a few, but I should have taken out the white one. Each row has a different Leah Day kind of leaf, all Leah Day patterns from her blog. Thank you, Leah! I just love batiks, but hand dyes are getting to me now, especially multicolor ones. The binding is going to be a yellow orange. Sewn on the Singer 301s, Isacord thread for quilting.

Sans binding

Border pattern

Leaf patterns per block

Heart Bargello- it's a wrap!

     After 4 years ago buying the fabric and book, the Heart Bargello, all batik, is done. All bound, sleeve on for the quilt show. This is the first quilt for my own bed. Now, I think I would have picked another design, definitely curves, circles. Still love the colors. Pieced and quilted on a trio of Singer 301s. I have the Heart Bargello book, but will never make another. If any of you have a burning desire to make one, let me know, you can have the book for shipping if you really are going to make one. If it wasn't for the encouragement of my guild, the Kenmore Quilters Patch, I would not have finished so it is fitting that it will be in our show Oct. 4th and 5th- Only have a show every 3 years. I used the Sharon Schamber washable glue binding method, but I sewed the binding to the front, folded to the back, glued, sewed in the ditch from the front with invisible YLI thread on the front, Bottom Line on the back. No hand sewing. Sorry, I just can't make myself do it for binding. I can hear the quilt police whistles already. The designs are from Leah Day's except I kind of made up the last border.

Queen size all done

Edge of border

Inside borders

Pushing ahead, one stitch at a time

   My quilt guild is having its show Oct. 4th and 5th (once every three years) and I have a couple of quilts to finish quilting (Isacord Thread) for it. Quilting bigger quilts is hard on my neck and shoulders, so I take it in small chunks of time. I try to do other quilting things in between to keep fresh. I would love to sit and quilt these until they are done, but I would need some serious traction and medication in order to move.
  One quilt I'll show here is the Heart Bargello that is almost quilted. I am working on the outer border. I mostly use designs from Leah Day's patterns. I bought her book, page through it to find something I like, look up the video on her blog, and then quilt away. The border is something I made up. So here is the progress of the quilt. The other quilt I am working on is Hot Flash from one of the Strip Therapy books; I have to get it off the machine to photograph it. I have one Singer 301 with the Heart Bargello on it, another with Hot Flash, and another to do my piecing. I just move around like musical chairs.

All but the borders quilted

Closeup of some Hearts quilting

Closeup

Closeup