Baby Quilt- Finished!

I finally finished applying the binding to a baby quilt, and it is ready to go to little Carter over the holidays!

I made a label and colored it with Tsukineko inks.  I like to add fabric strips to the cotton label to coordinate with the quilt fabrics.

It is from a book of quilt label designs that I have had since the mid-90's.

This quilt was last seen in my post of July 16, before we left for Canada and later Florida.  It was all quilted, but needed some kind of binding.  The quilt top is a whole-cloth "cheater" quilt that looks like patchwork.  It is soft as a cloud!  To make it even more cuddly, I used Minky dot fabric on the back.  

How to bind it became an issue.  I wanted the edges to be just as soft as the rest of the quilt, so I used leftover strips from trimming the backing.  

Oh, my!  It looked like a fluff war had taken place in my sewing room!  The fabric shredded like crazy when I cut the backing strips.  Can you see all the little dots on the cutting mat?  My clothes were covered with even more!

My usual procedure of making a double-fold French binding would not work with the thick Minky fabric, and mitered corners were out of the question.  I decided to sew strips to each side and turn them over to the back.

After sewing each strip to the front, I zigzag-stitched the seam allowance.  Then I turned under the unseen edge of the strip and zigzagged it as well.

Finally, I turned the strip to the back and straight-stitched it down.

The edging is rather thick, but I don't think it will unravel or shred.  That little boy is going to have one soft blankie when he gets this quilt!  I ordered both the top and backing fabric from Hancock Fabrics several years ago.

Finishings

Love finishing quilts...sometimes by the time I get to the label, I am out of time and it is nothing special. Ever since taking an embellishing workshop with Melody Crust, I have been trying to make prettier labels. When she signed my copy of her book Quilt Toppings, she wrote, "Never be ordinary." A good goal to strive for.

Anyway, here is the label for my great-niece Lacy's quilt. Added a little lace ruffle and some simple embroidery.

I did make and apply the binding to the little girl quilt from yesterday. After auditioning several fabrics, I chose this colorful stripe which I cut on the bias. I love striped bindings! I only had fat quarters of this fabric, but it made plenty of strips. It looks good on the front

and on the back.

I also framed some of the flower pictures that granddaughter Lily and I colored with watercolor pencils, painted, and added "igloo" (the word she kept using instead of "glitter.") Bryson said she would pick off all the glitter, but now it is under glass.

This will look nice in her room with her flowery wall quilt

and bed quilt.Today we are leaving for our place in the mountains. It is a holiday weekend here in the US, with Labor Day celebrated on Monday, so my husband is off work. Tomorrow I will spend the day with my father, who is undergoing sinus surgery today. This is when being from a large family is so helpful...we are taking turns staying with him. I will get to see my sister, aunt and several brothers this weekend. And I still should have time to enjoy the lovely cool sunny weather North Carolina is experiencing this week. This is how my little cabin flower garden looked last weekend. It is beginning to look and feel a bit like autumn.

Emily gets her quilt, and two more postcards

After the quilt enjoyed an outing at the Capital Quilters Guild show, I finished up the label for Dave and Emily's wedding quilt. Ever since I took the embellishment workshop with Melody Crust, I have been spending a little more time making special labels. I used a crazy-quilt format with a wedding picture of the couple in the center. I also used the photo transfer fabric in my computer printer to add a poem from their wedding program and the text of the label. I also found a picture of a full-blown rose, made it smaller, and changed the color to match the roses in their wedding flowers. A little embroidery, some beads, lace, and crystals, and it was done. We were heading south to visit our other son and his family, so stopped off in Cary at Emily's office to deliver the finished product. I have to admit it is gratifying to hear oohs and aahs when people see my work!

In my previous post, I mentioned having to make more fabric postcards for the guild since they sold two of mine twice...so while I had all that stuff out in my studio, I made two St. Patrick's Day cards. I sent one to my dad, and the other to my uncle, Jerry Donovan, who celebrates our Irish heritage and is currently recovering from cardiac bypass surgery.

Silk shamrock, Angelina fibers, Tsukineko inks, Swarovski crystals, metallic silver and green threads