Tylers Quilt

It's finished! I was beginning to think I wasn't going to have it done in time for Christmas. I have worked really hard on this. I should have taken a better picture of the border and binding. I added my own special touch to the binding. Originally when the binding was cut it was also cut from the same fabric as the border and therefore wouldn't would show up very well. I just happen to have some extra fabric leftover from the backing so I cut it up and used it kind of like putting piping on but without the cording. I hand stitched the binding.

I had quite a bit of extra fabric and squares leftover that I decided to make two pillow case covers to match the quilt.

If I have to say so myself, I do believe I did a pretty good job for my first big quilt.

I have other projects in the works. Time to get them finished in time to send out for Christmas. I also got a new toy that I will blog about next time.

Busy Busy Busy

I've been really busy the last few days working on Tyler's quilt and getting ready for Christmas. I have actually finished quilting the quilt and the borders. I decided to stipple the borders. Now all I have to do is trim the quilt and put the border on. I am thinking of doing a dual colored binding. I saw it on a board in pinterest and I think it will solve my dilemma of the border and the binding being the same fabric.  I have enough of the backing left to put between the border and the binding, kind of like an edge or flat piping.

This is a close up of the stippling on the front

You can see the stippling better here on the back

I dont think I did half bad quilting.  I'm really excited about getting the binding put on and sending this off to my grandson. Since I will have it ready in time it will be a Christmas present for him.

These really werent that hard to make

I am in the process of making Christmas presents for both of my granddaughters. I also saw these Fabric Alphabet Letters on pinterest and went to Etsy to see about buying some. After looking at the price that some people are charging I decided just to make them myself. It only took me a little over a half a day to make the first set.  I think the girls will like them.

Quilting the Quilt

This is the corner with the border sewn on

It's been over a week since logging on here. I have had some family issues to deal with. Now that that is over I am back to sewing on Tyler's quilt. I finally finished putting all the blocks together and put the borders on. I really like the border, but I'm not a real big fan of the fabric texture. It's a little more of an open weave than should be for a quilt, but I think it will work well as the borders.

It should be noted that this is my first time quilting a "quilt". I know I just finished the Princess quilt as you go quilt. But for some reason I just dont consider that being a "real quilt" at least by my standards. My husband reminded me that I have quilted before and I reminded him that those were baby blankets. I guess I just never thought of them as small quilts, but I suppose they were. I have never quilted on a project this large before. I looked at alot of sites trying to decide what type of design to do. I finally decided to do something really simple, just follow the lines of the blocks and do stippling in the border.

This picture shows a closeup of the lines so far

I still have about 3/4's of the quilt left to quilt. I should note that I laid this out on my queen size bed and spray basted it together. It was somewhat difficult to do, but I dont have any floor space in my house large enough to tape a quilt down. Plus my floors are all carpeted and I didnt want to chance getting glue on the carpet. I can wash it out of the bedspread. I did find a site about a lady who used skirt hangers and taped the quilt to her wall, but here again all my walls have something in or on them or not quite big enough to tape a quilt.

Pie Crust Pile-Up / Tyler's Quilt

I have decided to try my hand again at making another quilt. I think I will eventually try to make one for each of my four grandchildren, then one for each of my three children if they want one.

I went to my local fabric store here in town and bought a quilt book with patterns and one pattern. I have decided to try the pattern "Pie Crust Pile-Up" Thick Crust in the twin bed size. I am currently making a conscious effort to stick with making squares for now. As I found out while making Rhea's quilt top just keeping lines going straight and having the rows come out even was a task. Of course that was a queen size top rather large I think for someone to tackle their first time out making a quilt top, which she now has in her  possession and won't let me have back.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand. I went to JoAnn's on Friday to pick out fabric. I spent about an hour looking through, mixing and matching reds, and blues. The background is white. Just as I was about to leave the fabric department I saw the "bundles". Perfect. There they were three bundles of red, white and blue fabrics. After all that time hunting for the right colors and there they were all along. Next time I shop for a project I will hit the "bundles" first as I am not the best at mixing and matching colors.  I still have to purchase the fabric for the borders, binding and backing. With this being Columbus Day weekend I plan on going back to JoAnn's tomorrow and seeing what I can find and use my coupons. I used JoAnn's coupons on the fabric below and saved a pretty good bit. So with any luck I'll save good tomorrow too.