Today is the final day of the Hands 2 Help Quilt Challenge. Visit Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict to see all of the quilts made by the 47 participants. I completed 2 of the 3 quilts I started for the Challenge. I tried 2 new to me techniques on the red, white and black quilt. It was the first time I used a flange on a quilt and my first attempt at sewing a binding on completely by machine. I was delighted with the flange which added a narrow punch of solid black to the border, but less than excited about the machine sewn binding. I actually like hand sewing the binding to the back of a quilt. I find it to be very relaxing and a great way to keep my hands busy while watching television or when I am a passenger in the car. I decided to try the machine sewn binding because it has been so hot here this summer. The week I was applying the binding, temperatures reached 100 unairconditioned degrees. The tutorial I followed recommended using a blanket stitch. Although I like the quilt, if I machine bind a quilt in the future, I will try a different method.
The back of the quilt looks washed out in the photo. The middle stripe is Kona cherry, while the 2 side stripes are from the fabric below.
The second quilt I completed was made using the fabric sent to me by my challenge partner Jamie. I really like the bright colors against the crisp white. While I was finishing up the quilting, I realized that I reversed a few of the blocks. I was disappointed that I didn't pick up the error in time to correct it, but I still love the way the quilt looks. If you find the errant blocks, please don't tell me, it will definitely burst my bubble.
I used a pretty pink floral for the backing which is actually much brighter in person.
The quilts will be taken to Romania along with food and school supplies by the husband and father-in-law of Judi of Green Fairy Quilts. If you would like to see a video of one of their mission trips visit the Green Fairy Quilts blog Thanks Sarah for hosting such a fun and worthwhile Challenge. I hope this will become an annual event.
Congratulations on finishing 2 quilts for H2H. I just love them both, but the second one is a pattern I would love to make - I won't comment on the blocks - designer's sparkle!
ReplyDeleteI love both your quilts, Katie! Such great patterns!! I may be copying that second quilt soon myself - it looks fast!!
ReplyDeleteYour machine quilting looks very good! Did you quilt them on a domestic machine?
ReplyDeleteVery pretty!
ReplyDeleteBoth quilts are very pretty. Someone will be treasuring these quilts.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on finishing both quilts. They are both really great. Love the black, white and red!
ReplyDeleteThey are great quilts! Congrats on getting 2 finished!
ReplyDeleteI too like to hand sew my binding but am starting to machine sew it for charities. I used a design stitch (sailboat) as another blog pointed out to try. It was ok. Took forever though. And hard to keep even.
Wow!! Both quilts are fabulous!! I especially love the second one, the one with invisible errors. If you hadn't said anything, I'd have never noticed. And I'm always the error finder, to most peoples displeasure. This one would not work so well with spacey prints on white. It's going to be most effective with tone-on-tones, solids or tiny prints, like you used. And it definitely would work up in a hurry! Good scrap buster, effective and fast. Good combo.
ReplyDeleteYour 'flange' is lovely. Is it just a narrow border or is there something special about a flange?
I love the way the little white squares are negative space. Most people would do them in the 'colours' (ie positive space). It's a really neat effect.
I like your blog's tone. I've subscribed...
Awesome! Both of them! Thank you so much for being my partner -- I think we made a pretty good pair after all.
ReplyDeleteI love these two quilts! Fabulous. :D
ReplyDeleteI rarely machine sew bindings down, but when I do, I do it backwards - I sew it on the backside first, then pull it around to the front and do either a plain straight stitch very close to the edge, or a decorative stitch.
Great job on both of them! And good for you for trying a couple new techniques. I usually machine stitch a binding, but on the last one, I just wasn't liking it, so I did it by hand. I think I'll probably continue to go back and forth between both ways.
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