I got it done Monday. My alternate border for the Bonnie Hunter Grassy Creek mystery quilt that is. Nine hundred and sixty pieces, I was thinking about it and I probably ended up making more work for myself than if I had stayed with the string blocks of the pattern. 960 is only about a yard and an half of fabric, so not much of a dent in the scrap pile from this border. Oh well, I like it though.

I have a couple of other finished projects to post about too. The hydrangea quilt is quilted and bound, the circle table top cover is cut and bound, the Hungry Animal quilt is quilted and the Jungle Postcard is on the frame.

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The circular quilt is made with a digital Hoffman print, it starts as a big square. After I quilted it, the person for whom I am making it, asked for me to cut it to fit a 45″ table top. I serged the edges and machine washed/dried it, I thought if I did the cutting and binding first and then washed it, that 8 to 10 % shrinkage would be noticeable once it was on the table. To cut it, I put it on the carpet floor and stuck a sturdy pin through the center. Then I positioned my tape measure at the 22 ½ mark aligned with the pin, using a disappearing marker made a small mark. I did this every 3 or four inches around the circumference of the circle. Then I remeasured across the diameter making sure the marks were 45 inches apart. Took a deep breath and slowly cut from mark to mark curving around the circle. Phew. I am trying to remember if I have made any other circular quilts, a Christmas tree skirt, but that was a pre-printed panel. There was the Weeks-Ringle quilt that had large circular appliqués on it, but that pattern came with templates. Of course the binding had to be cut on the bias, so that was more “fun” than my regular binding. I had enough backing left over to cut long bias strips. I cut my (with the grain) double fold bindings 2 1/4 inches wide, fold/iron them in half widthwise and sew them to the back of the quilt. Then pull the binding to the front, and machine stitch it down with a straight stitch about 1/8 inch from the folded edge. I think the bias binding, with its stretching, turned out a bit narrower, as when I flipped the top to sew it to the front it was too narrow to cover the stitches holding it on to the back. There was no way I was going to hand sew 140 inches around the circumference of it. I had an idea, when I pulled the binding over it created a small corded edge from the batting and fabric in there. I do have a cording foot, so I replaced the 1/4 inch foot, and moved the needle position over to catch the edge of the binding. It worked out nicely, as long as I went fairly slowly, there were no skipped or missed stitches and it is a nice neat edge ( first picture above).

I am almost done with the Cat stitchery. I may finish it today, I really want to be done with it and all those single stitches. I like the resulting shading and definition it gives, but what a pita. Looking forward to starting “Pet All the Dogs” by Teresa Kogut. simple one color sections where the hand dyed floss does all the work.

Be Kind