Autumn Jubilee 2020 DONE!

I don’t know about you, but I feel great when I finish a project. My Autumn Jubilee 2020 quilt (pattern by Carole Carter – https://frommycarolinahome.com/2020/10/30/autumn-jubilee-quilt-along-assembly-and-finish/ ) is officially finished!

If you are looking at the link for the pattern above, you have to look at several posts on Carole’s blog to get the entire pattern. I did add my own spin on the final border which I shared on my post here – https://stitchinggrandma.wordpress.com/2020/11/15/autumn-jubilee-2020-quilt-along-update/

I started this quilt as a weekly sew along in October 2020. If you have been following my blog you will remember that I got Stuck in the Middle while quilting this in November. Just yesterday, I reported on my progress. The quilt has been languishing on the frame, unrolled since then. This week my good friend, Nancy, came over and I asked her to help me “re-roll” it. It really takes two sets of hands, and she is SO patient, doing exactly what I was asking as we rolled it back to the starting position. I did find another “row” of quilting that needed to come out, and that took me about an hour. I was able to “get my groove going” and re-quilt the areas where I had the tension problem from the disaster of November. I have a little mantra going in my head…..“tighten the roller…..side clips…pull the bobbin thread to the top….PRESSURE FOOT DOWN…..and glide….”. That seemed to help me remember what I need to do. I was able to get the quilting done and get it off the machine and trimmed up to take for “show & tell” at my quilt bee on Tuesday.

Next came the binding! I had the stripe fabric set aside for this quilt and pulled my bin of green fabric to find the “right shade” to go with the stripe. As I mentioned in my post previously I make my binding using the Susie’s Magic Binding technique.

Binding ready to attach

Before I could attach the binding I wanted to make the label for the back of the quilt. I like to catch two edges of the label in the binding to save me some hand sewing time.

Label made on my Janome 11000 embroidery machine

I used Embrilliance Express (free program) to type out the wording for the label. I also used the built in block lettering, and added a slant, in the 8″x8″ hoop.( Do you remember my angst with the embroidery on yesterday’s blog post about puckers?….this one came out perfectly)! I think it had to do with the “weight” of the fabric, as the one with the verse was rather light weight, and this green fabric was good quilting cotton. I did make a point of “pinning” my stabilizer around the hoop, a trick I learned from videos on Kreative Kiwi. If you are interested, take a look at this video, around the 1:27 point. Pinning around the hoop makes a HUGE difference with heavy designs that might pull and pucker.

Once the label was finished at the embroidery machine, I added the yellow border fabric. My method I use for having a nice label edge is to use a lightweight fusible pellon. I put the “glue side” of the pellon against the “pretty side” of the label, and stitch all around the outside edges. Then I cut an opening (a big X) in the pellon, and turn the pellon to the back, smoothing along the sewn edges, and clipping the corners. I roll & finger press that seam to get a nice sharp edge. Then the label is ready to FUSE to the back of the quilt. It takes a lot of heat from the iron to get through the thickness of the label/stabilizer for the glue on the pellon to stick. I move the iron around quite a bit so it doesn’t scorch the fabric, but I spend a few minutes working it. I do this for 2 reasons. I want to not fight with the label and a lot of pins while putting the binding on and I don’t want my label to be too easy to remove. I learned this method from a Pat Sloan video when she was making circles for applique.

Binding going on

I use the TQM Binding tool to join my tails. It can be a challenge with the two color binding, and I tend to “baste it” and adjust the join several times before I get it lined up just right. The TQM binding tool helps with the measuring of the angle/space etc. Jenny Doan at Missouri Star has a great video on how to use the binding tool and how to join your ends.

Because the binding is all done by machine, goes fairly fast. I tend to take a few breaks while binding, so I break it up in steps. I tell myself you can have a break after the binding is on the back of the quilt, before the join! Then when it is time to join the ends, I come back to it “fresh”. I also like to press my binding once it is sewn to the back of the quilt, towards the edge of the quilt…then it is time for another break. I take it back to my big work table and use those wonderful little clips to roll the binding to the front and secure it. I have enough clips to go all around the quilt. And I take another break before winding a bobbin to match the back of the quilt and finding a thread that will work on the front to topstitch in the ditch of the green flange. With all those breaks, I still got it finished in an afternoon, including the time needed for the embroidery of the label. I got finished just in time to go make dinner, and still had enough daylight for a photo out on the grass.

Autumn Jubilee 2020 finished.

Just need to hand stitch the top and left side of the label. The bottom and the right side are stitched in when the binding was attached

I brought the finished quilt into the kitchen with me, and while my dinner was cooking in the air fryer I got the hand stitching of the label started. The quilt is now “officially done” and ready to go into the washing machine with a few color catchers. I can’t wait to see how it crinkles up! I know some don’t wash their quilts, but I love the softness it gives the quilt and after all the time being dragged around it deserves a nice washing!

Do you get excited when you finish a project? I hope my tips for label making and links to binding methods are helpful to you.