It's the last day of April, and I'm crossing my big One Monthly Goal off my list in the nick of time. I feel like that player in Sports Ball who slides into Home Plate right before whatever happens that makes him Struck Out instead of Safe. That other dude who is dressed like a cross between a skunk and a raccoon yells SAFE -- and the crowd goes wild!! 🙌 See? I do sort of somewhat pay attention to the Sports Ball games. But mostly, I'm just shopping for fabric on my iPad...
Giverny Teleidoscope is a Completed Flimsy
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| 77 x 99 Giverny Teleidoscope is a Completed Flimsy |
My Major Goal for April was to get my younger son's high school graduation quilt top, Giverny Teleidoscope, completely assembled, and I just finished that up about an hour ago. (Those are my husband's naked toes sticking out on the right side of the photo, and my soon-to-be-graduate son Anders' gray sock clad toes sticking out on the other side). I pressed it flat as a pancake with Mary Ellen's Best Press, and even remembered to stay stitch 1/8" from the raw edges all the way around the quilt top so it's ready to load and quilt.
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| Stay Stitching an Eighth of an Inch From Raw Edges |
Which Quilt Tops Benefit from Stay Stitching Before Long Arm Quilting?
Not every quilt top needs to be stay stitched prior to long arm quilting. If a quilt has solid, unpieced borders cut on the straight grain, stay stitching along the edges isn't necessary. However, if a quit top has pieced borders, bias fabric edges that fall along the edges of the quilt top, or borderless quilts like this mine that have tons of piecing seams all along the edges of the quilt, stay stitching is really important in preventing those seams from popping open when the quilt top is under tension from the quilt rollers throughout the quilting process. Stay stitching also prevents the edges of the quilt from "growing" while it's being quilted as bias fabric edges stretch and the ends of those seams open up ever so slightly, which could cause a relatively flat quilt top to end up with wavy edges after quilting.
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| Bias Fabric Edges and Piecing Seams Along Outer Edge Benefit From Stay Stitching |
That last step of stay stitching around all four sides of a quilt like this only takes a few minutes, and it doesn't need to be super precise and beautiful because those stitches are going to be hidden inside the binding once the quilting is complete. Trust me; it's worth spending that little bit of additional time after so much effort has been put into your quilt along the way.
...and Color Outside the Lines is Totally Ta-Done!
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| My 63 x 63 Color Outside the Lines UFO from 2014, Also Completed This Month |
My Minor Goal for April was completed on schedule as well -- labeling and binding my Color Outside the Lines quilt, which you can read about here if you missed my earlier post. That was a UFO (UnFinished Object) that goes way back to 2014, so it feels good to cross that one off as well.
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| I Love This Ombre Teal Binding Fabric from V and Co. |
What's Next for May?
So, with all of my goals crossed off for April, what's next on my agenda? I have one more big client quilt that needs to get loaded and quilted before my kaleidoscope, but that still gives me plenty of time to get Anders' quilt quilted, labeled and bound by the end of May. That is my one and ONLY personal quilting goal for the month of May, by the way. Since I've already seamed my backing and made the embroidered label for this one, the only other prep work is making the binding so it's ready to go as soon as the quilting is complete.
PSST!! I'd Love to Quilt for YOU!
By the way, if you or any of your quilty friends has a quilt top or two that needs quilting, I'd be delighted to quilt for you! My turnaround for edge-to-edge quilting is currently running about 2 weeks, and you can click here to find out how to book your quilt with me.
Alright, I think I've rambled on long enough for today. That kaleidoscope quilt isn't going to finish piecing itself, now, is it?! I'm linking up today's post with the following linky parties:
One Monthly Goal at Elm Street Quilts
SATURDAY
UFO Busting at Tish in Wonderland
SUNDAY
Frédérique at Quilting Patchwork Appliqué
Oh Scrap! at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework
MONDAY
Design Wall Monday at Small Quilts and Doll Quilts
Monday Making at Love Laugh Quilt
BOMs Away at What a Hoot Quilts
WEDNESDAY
Midweek Makers at Quilt Fabrication
Wednesday Wait Loss at The Inquiring Quilter
THURSDAY
Needle and Thread Thursday at My Quilt Infatuation
Free Motion Mavericks with Muv and Andree
FRIDAY
Whoop Whoop Fridays at Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Peacock Party at Wendy’s Quilts and More
Finished or Not Friday at Alycia Quilts
Off the Wall Friday at Nina Marie Sayre
TGIFF Thank Goodness It’s Finished Friday, rotates, schedule found here: TGIF Friday
27 comments:
Teleidoscope looks lovely. And the quilting on outside the lines is amazing!
so glad you have Anders quilt ready to load - what a relief for you I'm sure and now you have the month to quilt it!! looks great
Congratulations on meeting your goal! Your flimsy is a show stopper!
Yay you for hitting your April goals!! They are both beautiful!
Congrats on your two fabulous goals, both are beauties.
Wonderful quilt. Thanks for linking up with Elm Street Quilts One Monthly goal and congrats on your finish!
Color Between the Lines is gorgeous! And thank you for the stay-stitching tip.
Michelle
https://mybijoulifeonline.com
And I pressed send before I was ready..., (not enough coffee) that kaleidoscope is fabulous! I really love the color scheme. Gorgeous!
Michelle
https://mybijoulifeonline.com
Congrats on finishing up son-the-younger's graduation quilt top, Rebecca. It's fabulous!!
Beautiful job, Rebecca! Don't you just love Best Press? I'm working on a Sarah Vedeler quilt and use Best Press to starch all my appliques. Recently I started adding just a little bit of Terial Magic to my spritzer bottle also. It works great!
There is nothing more satisfying than meeting a goal. Giverny is such a dynamic quilt! Yay for finishing Color Outside the Lines too! Go you!!
Wow, two wonderful finishes. The top is perfect, and your quilt is fabulous. Bravo pour les objectifs atteints ;)
The outdoor photo really enhances the vibrancy of the colors in Giverny. Have you decided on a quilting plan for it? And congratulations on finishing Color Outside the Lines. Good have have an old UFO in the done pile.
Pat
beautiful work! Great job, Rebecca!
Two beautiful quilts in one post! Congrats on your finishes, and thanks for the reminder about stay stitching.
Fabulous! Both of them. I have a weak spot for your son's grad quilt. Great job! ;^)
Your son's graduation quilt is just gorgeous, Rebecca! I had that "Oh look!" reaction just from the thumbnail! I hope loves it!
Do you starch all your completed quilt tops? I always wondered about your super flat quilt top photos from the longarm. When I load my quilt tops on the longarm, they do not look as flat as your do in the photos. I wondered how you got them so flat! I have learned numerous little tips from reading your blog. Keep up the good work, love to read your posts.
I hope you'll check back to see this, Linda, because your privacy settings won't allow me to respond to you directly by email (NoReplyBlogger strikes again). I don't starch my quilt tops after they are completed -- I just lightly starch every seam as I press them open throughout construction of the quilt. I find that crisply starched and flat fabric units and blocks don't wriggle around on me as much and I'm able to achieve better accuracy by pressing and starching as I go. That's why my quilt tops look so smooth and flat when I load them on my long arm frame. I do not starch client's quilt tops before loading them, however. I just touch up any creases along fold lines with the iron and load them the way they come to me.
Wow! The kaleidoscope quilt is stunning! That design has been on my "someday" list. I love the colors you used.
Thank you for responding to my question about starch. I never knew what no-reply blogger meant. I did check the box for follow-up comments, so your reply did show up in my email inbox. I went to my profile and hopefully made the correct change. Thanks again for everything I am learning from your blog.
I KNEW it was going to be gorgeous!! LOOK AT THIS! Anders is going to love his quilt!! And Color Between the Lines is beautiful - the ombre binding is perfect.
Such a lovely color combination!
The colors are just lovely on this - they play so well together!
Such beauties!! Gorgeous colors, and congratulations to the lucky graduate. I don't often send my quilts out, but when I do, I never seem to remember to stay-stitch despite my best intentions. Thanks for the reminder, and thanks for linking up to TGIFF!
WOW! Giverny turned out amazing!!! And right on time!!
Congratulations on finishing Ander's quilt top. Wow that must feel so good. I feel like I've been on this journey with you and it's been fascinating. Thanks for taking me along, and for sharing your quilt on Wednesday Wait Loss.
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