It's a Wrap

This sweet little quilt started out as a way to use Lemoyne Stars given to one of the gals who quilts at our church years ago. She decided it was finally time to give them a new life. 

They are made from pink and blue flannel, but weren't sewn into a block, just the stars were made.

So Helgard attached them to a white backing with a black stitching line and left the raw edges. At first I wasn't convinced as to how it was going to look, but it has turned out very nicely. Instead of a batting she used a flannel sheet and it was lovely to quilt; it has a terrific weight to it.

Thirty blocks were joined without sashing, large enough to make a small quilt. The blue floral backing came from her stash, so then the puzzle then became how to bind it.

Last time I showed you two of the three bindings we decided to use on it, and here are all three together. They are light enough to work well with the front and dark enough to work with the backing, and they play well together. 

Every component of this quilt was sourced from Helgard's stash and they have come together to create a charming quilt that will be gifted to someone in need. We've been talking about who that might be and came up with a game plan that is taking on a life of it's own. More on that next time....M

A Scrappy Binding

No sooner had I put the last stitch into the Ocean Waves binding than I started another blue binding, this time scrappy. It's for a pretty Lemoyne Star charity quilt that our gals at the church have been working on since late January and I volunteered to finish it up.

This quilt started as a way to use up the stars that had been gifted to one of our quilters years ago so it has been cobbled together with whatever would suit from her stash. I'll tell you more about it in another post but wanted to share the bindings. This is the first of three fabrics that we are using in the binding...

and I have just rounded the corner with the second. I have yet to stitch down any of the stretch made from the third piece. 

I'm not sure that any of them would have been great on their own, but by incorporating all three it takes the pressure off of having to try for that perfect match. It's a lap-sized quilt so it's not going to take as long as my Ocean Waves to stitch. In fact, I think I'm about half way through so hopefully it will be finished up in the next day or two. A lovely way to spend a sort of unappealing weather afternoon....M

Impulse Binding

There were several blue bindings already prepped so I thought that my choice for Ocean Waves was going to be fairly easy, but somehow they seemed just a little off.

Most of the backing is a pretty blue and white print so why not just wrap it around and use it? Meh. Just didn't seem to have enough weight to it compared to the prints throughout the quilt. It needed something a little more.

Then there was this one. I've got tons of it and have been looking for a good home for it. Not bad, but it just felt a little on the dark side. 

Out of nowhere, the one in the top image appeared and I really liked it. Decision made. 

And then, as I was sitting down to start attaching it, I came across another one that was hiding in the wings. Suddenly the plan changed and I was off to the races.

I didn't know if I'd have enough but I was already resolved to mix two, maybe three, bindings because of all of the blues used in the quilt so I was good with however much it gave me. No need to worry. There was enough for the entire quilt and still a little left over!

So it's clipped and the hand stitching has begun...M

A Sea of Blue

This Ocean Waves is the second 'blue' quilt that I had quilted last fall. It was one of those forever projects but now that it's close to being finished I can't wait to get it on a bed.

It's all hand stitched so it took me ages to finish the flimsy. My niece Julia was convinced that it would never be a quilt 😏.

I found a receipt for the yellow strawberry fabric showing that it was purchased in 2001, so that's a hint as to how long it's been kicking around.  Check out the price - three metres for $27! Now you pay almost that for one metre.

I'm not sure why I waited so long to get it quilted because it has been together for some time, occupying a spot on the back of the chair outside the sewing room. When I gave it a good pressing before sending it off to Roberta I noticed that there was a seam that needed a little tending to, but other than that it was ready to go.

Picking a panto for this one was a little tricky because I wanted something that would work with all of those small HSTs and I love the one that I found. There's lots of texture without overtaking the pattern; I'll show you more of it once I have it bound.

There are several blue bindings kicking around so I'm going to start with one and if I run out I will add a second. It's so scrappy that a scrappy border will work just fine....M

Cozy Country Cousin

I've been holding out on you. In the last few months of last year I had a push on to move a few more flimsies to the finish line and Country Cousin was one of them. It's been finished for so long that I almost forgot about sharing it.

It's a very traditional quilt, reminiscent of something you'd find in your grandmother's closet, and it is totally inviting.

Lots of scrappy blues and neutrals play together.

And then there's the occasional hit of either pink, green or yellow, just for a little interest.

For the border, I inserted a narrow strip of pink and white pindots and I like how it worked.

It's bound with the same fabric as the outer border so that it didn't fight with that pink strip. I had a lot of the border print left over so once the binding was made I cut the rest of it up into binding for future projects because it's been around for quite some time and I was getting tired of seeing it in the stash. The leafy panto gave it a lovely texture.

Roberta had a terrific backing fabric that finished it off beautifully - a large floral print in the softest shell colour. It's a bit tough to photograph, but the pink picks up the pinks in the border on the front so nicely.

I've got another blue quilt to share as well, this one with yellow, but it's still waiting to be bound. Maybe next time....M