I finally finished this long overdue quilt this weekend ... of course, it didn't take as long to finish as I thought it would. In fact, I quilted it and bound it in one evening. But I am glad to have it done and will be turning it over to its owner very soon and know it will be well-loved. :-)
The pattern for this quilt is my "Tifton Tiles" quilt. You can find the free tutorial for turning a stack of 9 FQs into a quick and easy to piece (and generously sized - approx 49" x 59") lap quilt here. The original was a quilt that I whipped out for a Christmas present for my mother-in-law on a short time frame.
Like the original, I quilted this one with a meandering stitch all over. This goes pretty fast and is easy to do. :)
I did try something new on this one ... machine binding! Ack! I followed the tutorial from Rita at Red Pepper Quilts. The tutorial is really good, but its definitely something I need to practice more. I did cut my strips 2.5" wide and used a slightly wider seam allowance than 1/4", which I usually do.
I will definitely try this again ... but I will use a LOT more pins. I felt like I did a really good job of stitching in the ditch on the front - almost all my stitches were fairly unnoticeable. But I definitely missed some spots (as seen on IG) that I had to go back and restitch. It's not horrible, but its not perfect. But about 90% was caught in the stitching the first time so I feel pretty good about that for about 225" of binding! I think more pins might help or using some Clover clips between (or instead of) pins. Going slow, lots of pins, using an increased stitch length and a walking foot are my best tips for you. I might quilt up some scraps sometime to practice the corners. With all that said, there are some quilts I will likely still hand stitch the binding on, but if I get a little closer to perfect on this technique, I could definitely see myself becoming a convert. :-)
In other news, I did take this quilt to my guild meeting yesterday and then wimped out of show-and-tell after several people shared much more intricately pieced and quilted projects. Totally silly of me I am sure. But after the one woman who appliqued a tree and all sorts of animals native to Australia all over the BACK of her quilt, I felt a little simple with my kid-friendly, utilitarian quilt. After thinking about that more today, I feel even sillier. This quilt will be no less loved (and likely more used) than those "better" quilts. I'm promising myself not to wimp out in the future. :-)
Happy Sewing! :-)
Quilt Stats:
Pattern: Tifton Tiles by me (Chrissy Lux) (free pattern tutorial here)
Fabric: Scoot by Deena Rutter for Riley Blake
Size: 49" x 59"
It looks lovely Chrissy! I enjoyed your pattern, when I made a quilt and I think that it will definitely be loved. Your binding looks perfect from the view I see. Thanks for sharing. =)
ReplyDeleteLove this! I've been wanting to try machine stitched binding, so thanks for the tute link and your tips!
ReplyDeleteI am in a guild and I love seeing all quilts, simple or intricate because they inspire me. I also get ideas for my own quilts. So next guild meeting you show all the quilts you want. :0)
ReplyDeleteIt's a great quilt! Although I would probably feel the same, as where we are theoretically moving back to only has an... older guild, shall we say. And I've seen some of their quilts at shows... But hey, we make quilts for lovin', right?! And I hear ya on machine binding, eep!
ReplyDeleteLove, love, love this!! This will be well loved and well used...and it is super special because Aunt Chrissy made it! :-)
ReplyDeleteI am an experienced quilter and I just pinned your tutorial and sent it to my friend who is also experience. We both love your quilt and pattern!! Why?
ReplyDelete1) Big stash buster!
2) Its beautiful!
3) Its fast!
4) Its a good size!
5) Its totally adaptable to any color wat
6) Its has lots of space for quilting!
7) Not silly. Smart, pretty, easy, fast, and efficient with NO waste!