Friday, August 21, 2009

What a difference a day makes

I'd intended to finish up the last 16 string blocks I need for my current project but woke up feeling like I needed to focus on the quilts needing bindings. So I sorted, and trimmed, cut and made binding, and machine stitched it on a couple quilts and now things are under control.

Of the 9 quilts here:
  • 2 were set aside to be sent to Maine for binding and donating
  • 3 were trimmed, binding was cut, and they're set aside for me to take to the sew-in tomorrow. Sheree has come to my rescue again and will bind these 3 for me.
  • 2 got bindings made and machine stitched - these are ready for me to hand stitch now.
  • That just leaves 2 in the stack that needs attention -- much better than 9.
I know some people get confused when I mention machine stitching binding but just to be clear, I machine stitch all my bindings to the front of the quilt and then fold it to the back and finish it with hand stitching.

Now, I'm working on getting my stuff together for tomorrow's HeartStrings sew-in.

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3 comments:

Angie said...

Lots of things getting completed---what a good feeling! Mary, I have quit hand stitching my binding on donation quilts just recently. I machine stitch the binding to the back of the quilt and also machine stitch it down hitting the very edge of the binding on the back from the front. AKA: similar to potholder bindings. I match the bobbin thread to the backing fabric best I can, the front stitching thread to the binding I'm applying. It really is difficult to notice I haven't hand stitched the binding on. Especially for someone who is receiving the quilt. I also now feel this way of applying binding is probably better in the long run as it will endure many washings and who knows what other tugging/pulling or other wear and tear factors along it's journey into someone's life.
It also has saved me a great deal of time which is the plus in all this quilting for charity. It took me a long time to get over the fact that not all bindings have to be hand stitched to the backs of donation quilts. (without some guilt) which I sure don't know why I should feel. I guess old habits are hard to break after all these years of quilting.

Anonymous said...

Hi Mary,
I also machine stitch my bindings. I stitch the front and then after folding to the back I use a decorative stitch from the front. I usually use the buttonhole stitch, which I think looks very nice and is very secure.
Sue
sue.quilts at verizon.net

bingo~bonnie said...

DITTO to everything of what Angie said above!! ;)

I think it was about a month ago that JudyL posted a youtube video showing how she discovered to stitch in the ditch from the front and you don't see it from the front and it barely catches the back side.

Since watching that, I've tried it and love it - if it is not a quilt I'm keeping for me or my kids then machine stitched it is from now on.

You may wnat to just take a look at what JudyL shared and see for yourself... ;) as a matter of fact I pulled out a quilt today and started applying a binding down on it. ;) I hope to finish it tomorrow.

Happy Weekend! and have fun at the sew in ;) Love from Texas! ~bonnie