Well it’s finally done! The borders have been added.  I now have a queen-size quilt.  The original pattern was for a double bed.  I decided to combine pieced and solid borders to add a bit of interest.  Once again I used Seminole piecing for one of the borders.  Easy to piece but the bias edges can cause a problem.  I solved this by using tear away stabilizer.  Make a sandwich of the top border, Seminole border and stabilizer.  Sew with the stabilizer on the bottom.  No stretching and the stabilizer easily tear’s away.

Needing to make my latest bed quilt larger I’ve added some extra borders and decided to make pieced rather than solid borders. Naturally Seminole Patchwork is one of these  extra borders.

I added a half 4-block at either end of the side strips to make them the correct length. And after attaching the top border I didn’t like the finished look.

So I had to come up with a better idea and I’ve settled on a single block at either end of the strip.

- Thus a design element was born! (At least that what Ive deceided to call it when Pland ‘A’ doesnt work and I have to come up with a Plan ‘B’).

I am now working at finishing a quilt for our guest room.  The piecing is finished – and now I am adding the borders.  I decided that I wanted to add pieced borders along with the straight borders in the pattern.  The patchwork in pieced borders can be very simple (blocks) to more  intricate (Seminole Patchwork) designs.  I’m using both for this quilt.

The first border is spaced squares from the EQ5 library

Border of Spaced Squares

and the third border will be Seminole Patchwork.

Third Patchwork Border

I am constructing this border from strips left over from the strip-pieced blocks in the quilt – a true Seminole Border construction technique.  If you’ve been following my posts, you know that Seminole women developed this patchwork technique to use up fabric left over after clothes construction.  Nothing was wasted.  The patchwork embellished the clothing they made.

Pieced blocks ready to be assembled

Of course I used my Shape Cut ruler to quickly cut the pieced strips into 1-1/2 inch units.  A demonstration video for using the ruler can be found on  June Taylor’s website.

Cutting units with Shape-Cut Ruler

To make sure  that the borders lie flat, I always cut the borders with the straight of grain for wall hangings.  When making a bed quilt, I find that using the crosswise grain works well as long as I measure the quilt in the middle and not on the sides. (Adding Borders at Quilt Qua).

There’s always time to quilt!

I’m on a mission – to finish up two of my UFO’s before the year is out!  I’m hoping that by focusing on one or two pieces and spending 15 minutes a day, I’ll actually get something done.   Both of the pieces are table runners that are ready for quilting.

The first is a pattern I found on our 40th Anniversary trip to Alaska in 2005.

Rainforest Rings

The colors reminds me of  the mountains and ocean waters of  Juno.  It has already been sandwiched and pin-basted and I am ready to machine quilt it.

The second is the Mystery Quilt from one of our Quilters’ Retreat at the Watson Homestead.  The top still needs to be prepared for quilting.

Red and Green

Let’s see how I do.

There’s Always Time to Quilt!

Well the truth can now be told.  The Celtic quilt that I started in March is a wedding gift for our daughter Marianne and our new son Dan.  I was having such a good time making the quilt  that I didn’t want to wait until the wedding to put it on the blog.

They were married  this past Saturday, July 25 at their home in Amsterdam, NY. What a perfect day – and no rain.  We haven’t had many days this summer that have been completely rain-free.

I decided to give them their wedding gift early because I wanted to see them open it. Wanting to keep the quilt a secret until the last possible moment, I put it in a space bag and removed all the air with my vacuum. The the hard, bumpy package was as far from a soft quilt as you could get. And to take it one step further, I had my son Tom give her the package as though it was a present from him.

We had started the evening with a barbecue of Hoffman Hots and Snappys (I always have to bring her some of these Central New York favorites whenever we visit) and ended with dessert waffles from her new waffle maker, a gift from my son. (She just had to try it out!)

Their crew just couldn’t wait until the waffles were finished.

I don’t think they could have been more surprised when they finally realized that their gift was actually a quilt.   Marianne liked the Celtic medallion.  She has always told me that she is more Irish than Italian.  Dan was very impressed by the Seminole Patchwork and my story of how the Seminole Indians made sure that they used every available scrap of fabric in their clothing.  They turned plain, utilitarian clothing into works of art.

Marianne & Dan show off their wedding quilt

There’s always time to quilt!