Playing Catch Up, Bindings and Bamboo

Well, I’ve been down with the flu this week, I hope everyone else out there is either avoiding others or has gotten their flu shot.  Me, I’m allergic to the preservative in the shot and I’m averse to live, even though attenuated, viruses going up my nose.  So, I’ve never gotten a vaccination, but I will next year.  I lost 3 days of work and I’m still fighting this bug.

Before I got sick, though, I’d been working on trying to finish up some samples to show customers how different battings will work up.  It seems that even though I’ve used Winline’s 100% bamboo batting in a lot of my projects, I don’t have anything to show anyone!  How can I explain why I like it so much if I don’t have any samples?  So, I started with a panel, some flannel, and some bamboo batting, then started experimenting with some quilt designs using Superior’s King Tut on the top and So Fine! in the bobbin, and voilá, a sample is born.

I think that’s my all time favorite quilting combination for variegated thread.  Aurifil is my all time favorite piecing thread, but I’ve used it for quilting, too, and it’s absolutely beautiful.  I only have one weight of it, so it’s not a fair comparison between King Tut, though.  For some reason I tend to “save” the Aurifil because I regard it as special.  There I go again, “saving” the special stuff!  But, I digress!

I also wanted to experiment with my left-homed Kenmore to see if I could use it as my go-to binding machine.  I really dislike binding quilts, I want to get back to the fun part!  So, I thought that if I can come up with a no-brainer method that will  make the process more fun, like using a vintage sewing machine, I would stop dreading that step.  No, I don’t hand sew my bindings unless it’s a very special quilt.

I tend to use 2 1/2” binding because it’s easy to cut.  I’ve recently read that skinny binding, being somewhat desirable, is cut at 2 1/4”, but then, the quilt police don’t live at my house.  The default setting on the Kenmore is a 3/8'” seam so I just sewed away.  You know, going for that no-brainer method.  It worked pretty well, too, hiding most of the seam on the back in the ditch, which is the best looking, or on the binding itself, but I don’t think I sewed my best seam (or something) because I got a lot of seam showing on the back.  I was probably rushing, and no, I didn’t do any pre-testing.  Hey, it’s binding, after all!

The quilt is now all washed and it’s very soft and cuddly!  And no one is really looking at the back of the binding, either.  That was also part of my experiment.  How much of it would disappear from sight once I stop inspecting it so closely?

I have another sample ready for binding, too, but it will have to wait until I have more time…March, maybe?

Happy Friday!

Have I mentioned how much I love piecing with Aurifil thread?  It always amazes me how long a spool will last, it's almost shocking when it's finally gone!

I stayed up way too late last night trying to get a block done for a comfort quilt.  Of course, I’m not making just one block, I have to do some production piecing!  Now I’m wondering what I’ll do with the extra blocks!  Hmmm…  Anyway,  I’ve got to pick one more strip of fabric to add to it and then I’ll post the finished block.  It's really cute!

Part of what took so long is that I'm also making this into a tutorial so I can post it on my website as a free download.  I’m inspired by people like Bonnie Hunter and Mary from MaryQuilts.com, they do such wonderful work and are so giving with their patterns, talent, and time.

I took today off work to get some chores done, but the Quilt Guardians need a walk first.  So, on with my day!