At quilt class Monday night, the teacher brought some of her quilts to show the different methods of binding, or finishing. These are beauties!
I especially liked the hexagon one, the maker placed black triangles at each point of the hexagon "flower", and it was a great design call.
The Double Wedding Ring was very creative in its design, too. Each solid color of the ring has an appearance in the print next to it. That took some planning!
I was sharing with friends my method of binding. Life is too short for me to do hand stitching. Come on, "Pokey" is a well earned name, I tell ya. :-}
Today was Little Zoe's first birthday. Here's some final pictures of her quilt, and the binding is machine finished.
Even at machine stitched, sewing the binding took about 3 hours to complete. I attach mine like you hand stitch-ers do, but I attach onto the back so that my finished top seams are spot on.
If it gets off a bit in the back, I'm okay. I'm pretty picky, so I make considerations on thread color and the contrast, but usually after the wash and draw up of the quilt it is all good. I only pin at the corners, because I want those neat mitered corners!
But, I've found if I don't pin the long sides I'm able to get my seams on the binding on the back by trying to match the seam line the bobbin shows. Is that clear?
You know, I deeply appreciate the fine hand stitching of others, it just isn't reality for me. I joke that if our ancestor quilting mothers had the wonderful sewing machines we have, we probably wouldn't see the quilting done by hand.
I know, I have friends in class that say I'd get marked down in competition, but hey, most of my work is love driven, not competitive. BTW, I have won two blue ribbons and a third place in county fairs, in machine quilting...just saying it is possible....
Now, I'm only sharing this for those of you who want to try, I am not criticizing anyone else's practices! I find it a joy to sew, but I always have. I hope you keep creating and enjoying it, too.
Oh, and I'm happy to add, the "Our America" quilt raised $275 at auction! Amen!!
Happy Quilting!
Pokey
Your binding looks awesome...just love the quilt and the antiques quilts as well.
ReplyDeleteYour quilts are beautiful, happy quilts. I am all for machine binding, too. My old hands cannot handle the hand sewing of bindings anymore. I use a zillion pins. Pain! Please elaborate on your pinless method. Do, please!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing about the binding. I especially like the grandmother's flower garden one. It is a question I get asked a lot on the road about how to bind these hexagon quilts, seeing I demo the hexagon mylar templates.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful quilts all the way around.
I just bought Country Inn by Blackbird Designs, and they have a star quilt in that book. I am so tempted to sew one; I need about 10 more hours in my day!
ReplyDeleteYour wonderful Zoe quilt will someday be an antique and someone will say, I wish I had one like it...or...I wish someone had made me one like that! :)
ReplyDeleteLooks good to me!! :)
ReplyDeleteWhat beautiful quilts! Thanks for sharing! :0)
ReplyDeleteGreat job on your bindings. Love the antique quilts. My Mom made a Dresden Plate and a Grandmothers flower Garden for my daughters many, many years ago (guess they are almost antiques now). These quilts reminded me of her and how much we used to enjoy quilting together. Enjoyed learning more about you on the Versatile quilter.
ReplyDeleteYour quilts are beautiful, and I love that your star quilt brought a good price!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing the binding finishes you saw at the class. The one with the teeny black triangles is very impressive. As for your own binding method, you go girl! I'm very happy for you to be able to machine sew yours as you do. While I prefer to do mine by hand, I DO cherish that the beauty of quiltmaking is in its versatility. Everyone can make a quilt however they wish, and it's all AOK. Your Zoe quilt is gorgeous. Great colors! Lots of fun! (BTW, my grandson's first birthday was last Tuesday. How cool that our grandies are the same age!)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful quilts. Congratulations on your America Quilt. Great job!
ReplyDeleteSewCalGal
www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com
I'm with you on the machine quilting....it had to be hard on the older ladys that had to hand sew and I do beleive they would have liked our machines. God Bless Trish
ReplyDeleteThe sashing on the Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt is simply fascinating. Both quilts are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI know Zoe is going to love her quilt.
Congrats on the money raised from the auction quilt.
Oh, that Zoe quilt looks so yummy ! Beautiful job, Pokey !
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your techniques.......it makes us all realize that whatever way we use, it's RIGHT for us. After all, if we want them all to be the same, we can go to WalMart !
Congrats on the auction price, too !
You are awesome girl... and I don't even know a thing about quilting! =]
ReplyDeleteYee Haw!! Congrats on the quilt raising so much money! The new owner is surely fortunate!
Beautiful quilts. I have never tried machine stitching a binding before. Yours looks perfect!
ReplyDeleteYou are a recipient of the Sunshine Award. Please read about it on my blog entry for today.
ReplyDeleteOh Pokey, what a fabulous blog today. I know I'm late commenting, but I've been a bit busy.
ReplyDeleteI think what we just LOVE about the old quilts are the colours they used. Those 30s prints are my favourites!
I see you won a Sunshine Award...well deserved this day for sure.
I think the little quilt you've made will one day be..."and this old quilt.... story.
I'm a true believer that the machine quilting would have been done if our grandmothers had had them. My grandmother machine sewed, but hand quilted her quilts because she didn't know about any fancy stuff such as machine quilting in her rural environment.
She was also able to have ladies in to work on the quilting she did and vica verca. We don't have all that time these days, but the work is no less admired...not by me anyway.
I think Zoe's quilt is awesome! And your binding is great...I cannot imagine doing it on the machine...it would not look that good! The flowergarden quilt is beautiful. I am fortunate to have one that was made by my first husband's grandmother, out scraps from her dresses. My mother-in-law gave it to me after my husband died, she knew how much it would be appreciated.
ReplyDeleteI do the same on my binding, sew it to the back and bring it to the front, particularly on quilts like this one where it will be washed an awful lot. I use a three step zig zag to stitch it down and give a decorative effect at the same time.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on your quilt earning so much money!