It feels like a big relief to say I have “FINISHED” June’s quilt. If you have been following my blog for any length of time, you know that I was asked to finish this quilt last fall for my friend, June. There is a long story behind this project, and the label hopefully captures it. I worked on it Friday and Saturday and got it trimmed, labeled and bound. I will “deliver” on Monday afternoon. Many thanks to my sister in law – Carolyn – for her lovely long arm quilting. She was so generous!
June built the 9 patches around the center panel and handed it all off to me last September. I picked out the fuchsia and the green for the borders, and built the pieces in the side borders out of her leftover bits & pieces. Carolyn volunteered in May when she visited to do the long arm quilting, so when the top was done, I put it in the mail, and shipped it out to California. She had it back to me inside of 2 weeks. What a BLESSING! While it was “out” I got the binding prepared,
(Susies’s Magic Binding prepped for 2 quilts)
I actually purchased 4 more yards of the green fabric when I tripped over it on a bus trip in July. June wants to “recover” her fabric headboard and make some chair cushions. In order to work on the binding, I had to move my machine back over to my big table. Isn’t the backing fabric pretty?
I got the lilac in a wide (108″) backing from Marshall Dry Goods on line. Great prices and fast shipping (Less than $10 per yard for 108″ wide !!!!) I had to “stop” binding to get the label ready. I like to make sure it is stitched under the binding, as well as fused on. June will get to “hand stitch” the other 3 edges.
You can see this project has been “in the works” for quite some time.
Carolyn did a lovely job with the quilting, using a loop-d-loop style of free motion quilting. The green is part of the border, and that pop of fuschia comes from the flange you get when you make Susie’s Magic Binding. The lilac rose backing fabric was perfect for this project.
June chose an creme colored thread, because she wanted it to “show” on the dark purple.
Ready to pack up and deliver on Monday afternoon. I hope she likes the finish!
On a side note; while I was getting the specifics from June for the Rose Garden Quilt, June asked if I could prepare another label for a quilt she just finished repairing. Sorry, no photo’s of her other quilt, but here is the label, ready for her to iron on and stitch down. (It has some wrinkles from the final preparation, but I can’t iron them out, as there is fusible on the back. (Note, I use Floriani Fusible No Show Mesh Stabilizer when I finish the label and turn it right side out. )
As I was making both labels, I was wishing for a high end embroidery machine. My little Brother only has a 4×4 field, and I have to realign for each line of text. It is not always “even”, no matter how hard I tried! Best I could do, and done is better than perfect.
Time to get Addison’s quilt label made & quilt bound!
link to Susie’s Magic Binding Tutorial http://www.52quilts.com/2012/05/tuesday-tutorial-susies-magic-binding.html- Tell Marti I sent you if you pop in to view the tutorial!
Stitching Grandma 