Perfect Bindings by Machine

I'm tired of having to sew bindings down by hand. If I'm going to spend time stitching by hand, I want it to show!
A few months ago the search for the perfect machine binding began. Is there such a thing? If so, I haven't found it yet. I've tried several types, the quilts below are the best ones to date. Both are pretty good; but not quite good enough. Is it possible that my standards are too high? Maybe I just haven't done enough of either to be really good. I think I need to try a few more before I give up and sew the bindings on by hand. The quilt above doesn't actually have a separate binding. The back of the fabric was brought to the front, folded and mitered at the corners and sewn on with a straight stitch. It was pretty fast but it doesn't give the finished appearance I want.

This binding technique is the one that Ricky Timms uses on his quilts. I watched his Grande Finale video and decided to give it a try. I watched it two times, took notes, purchased a special foot, Pearle cotton and set to work. There is definitely a learning curve on this one. Mitering the corners are the hardest part.

I like the two colors on the binding. I think it adds a wonderful spark to the edge. Hopefully, the next one will be much quicker!

New Charms & Postcard Received

I am still receiving charms from the Surface Design trade. This beautiful postcard was made by SuZ, it came with a charm attached (it's the fuzzy one in the photo below).

This 1" charm trade has been really fun. They are all so colorful and unique. If you are interested in trading (mostly postcards) check out the Surface Design group on Yahoo.

Once Upon a Time

Several members of my Blockhead group exchanged 4" novelty square fabrics. Monti showed us a quilt she was making called "Once Upon a Time". It was really cute and a great way to entertain and teach a child many things.

I decided that I too would make a "Once Upon a Time" quilt for Marcy, who is expecting twin boys. I will incorporate all the picture blocks above. The alternate blocks are either diagonal or X pathways. As you wind your way through the pathways, you compose a story incorporating new bits as you encounter a new picture block.

My co-worker, Margaret, is making an "I Spy" quilt for the 2nd baby. Marcy isn't due until July, but the baby shower is in April. We are both hoping to be done in time for the shower!

Finished Quilts

I love it when I finish one quilt; three quilts in a couple of weeks is amazing! OK, they're all pretty small, but still they're done. The best part is I really like them all.

"Branching Out" was made using my hand-painted fabric in the large central square and the yellow stripe. The turquoise rectangle is discharged and the turquoise square is stamped. The rest is commercial fabric.

"Winter Wonderland" is made using all commercial fabrics. It was inspired by a black and white photo of trees covered in snow.

"Spring Has Sprung III" was made using using all hand-painted fabric that I created. The background is sun-printed, the trees are discharged and the flowers are painted.

Goleta Beach

The weather was glorious Saturday, so Mike and I went for a walk at Goleta Beach. The tide was really low, so we walked to the point of the UCSB campus to explore the tide pools. I'm glad we went out when we did because it rained the next day. The temperature dropped 15 degrees in one day!

Textile Gifts

My boss just came back from a trip to Vietnam. She brought back some really special textiles for me. Their outfits are so elaborate and colorful. Very exciting! The long piece is used as a belt or wrapped around their legs, it is hand embroidered. The background piece is used as a skirt over other clothing. It has a multitude of trims and rickrack sewed down. The indigo pieces would probably be used as insets of a blouse. They are hand embroidered.

My friend, Isabel, lived in Guatemala for several years and collected a lot of hand woven fabric. It is hand dyed on the side of the road and then woven by the same woman on a loom that is attached to her body. It is so perfectly done, it is difficult to believe it is hand made!

Fiber Postcards

Here are some of the postcards that I have created. They are a lot of fun to create because you can try many different techniques in a short period of time.



This background is sun-painted and stamped with metallic paint. The foreground has silk flowers foil centers and silk leaves.

This was painted with dyna-flow and lumiere paint. the center spots are foil.

The background is hand painted. The foreground has free-motion lace, yarn and a piece of avocado bag sewn down.

The beige design has been discharged using a bleach pen. Red foil dots were applied.

Several Charms Received

Below are the first arrivals of the 1 inch charm swap. When all have made their journey, I will be the happy recipient of 24 unique handcrafted charms from around the world. It is so much fun checking the mail now. Every few day a new treasure arrives. I'll post more photos in groups.
Which one is your favorite?

Fibervision Meeting

I met with my Fibervision Group (or as my husband calls us, The Like Minded Thinkers). Although we are all quite different, there is a fair amount of truth to that statement. We are all interested in educating the public and promoting quilting as an art form. We enjoy exploring, and experimenting with new products and techniques. It's an extremely talented group of artists and I am honored to be part of this group.


Our newest challenge is titled "Regurgitation". We each put a UFO into a paper bag along with a photo of the UFO and traded bags. We can do anything we want to the UFO; cut, paint, burn, add other pieces, etc.

We will return with the finished product in October. Here are photos of a few of the UFO's. Stay tuned for the exciting finale!

Play Day #2

Day 2 of Rayna's workshop was very fun and productive. All the design exercises were fairly quick, which meant you couldn't over analyze any of your choices. She also wanted you to use fabric that we painted the first day. Here are the four pieces that I designed. It was a great class, I would highly recommend it to anyone that wants to make original designs.

Play Day #1

Had a wonderful workshop today with Rayna Gillman. Rayna is a very warm and funny fiber artist from New Jersey. Her teaching style if very relaxed. She really doesn't have any rules and stresses the need to experiment. My kind of lady.



We painted fabric using items like bubble wrap and construction fence and learned how to use a silk screen. The bottom piece of fabric was made using tissue paper that bleeds. The fun continues tomorrow in a design class where we use our painted fabric.

Photography

One of my hobbies is photography. My newest camera is a Canon, Rebel XT. I love the quality of the photos and the camera is easy to use and fairly lightweight. Here are some recent photos.