Labels

I just received some woven labels from labels and ribbons.com.  Pretty simple but now I have 50 labels to add to my wool batted quilts... all 3 of them. I have a roll of wool batting and I will include a label with each quilt that I quilt for a customer.

I forgot one of the quilts had wool batting and although I washed it in cool water I dried it on low in the dryer and it shrank. I got to redo the binding since it rippled but the quilt itself looks fine.

Of course I have had the quilts sitting out ready to add the labels to for months but Sunday I forgot and packed them away in a closet, now I'll have to pull some shelves and boxes out to get to them.

Pop show

Our high school choir department has one fund raiser a year; a performance with all the choirs and with solos and duets between the numbers. It is very nicely done and worth attending even if you do not have a child performing. This year Jeffrey has a solo, he will be singing 'Bring  Him Home' from 'les miseables'. Here is a beautiful rendition of it. There are 2 nights of performances, Friday and Saturday. He only does his solo on Friday, there are different soloists on each night.

Jeffrey is in several other numbers as well. I went hunting for a white suit with bell bottom pants for their 'Saturday Night Fever' number.I found a cream colored jacket and off white women's pants and a black shirt.

I took up the jacket about 5 inches in the back, lengthened the sleeves and the hemmed and changed the pants into bell-bottoms. The color doesn't match perfectly (pants and jacket) but I don't think it will matter up on stage, and he's in the back...

I got sick quickly this week and am on 3 Rx for a sinus infection. I feel much better today. I went to HEB (a grocery store) minute clinic and got in and out much faster than I would have gotten at the dr. Which was good since yesterday's schedule was tight.

• 5:20 Roger managed to get Andrew up for Seminary! yeah!
• 8:00 Jeffrey had to be across town (20 minute dr.) for his AP calculus test
• 8:30-10:00 Andrew had a speech therapist appointment for an evaluation and I had an interview with the school psychiatrist. (Who recommended the minute clinic to me since she could tell I should have been in bed and moaning all morning.)
• 10:00-11:00 I fit in going to the minute clinic and fed Andrew. (Gave him my debit card and he found something to eat at HEB, a pre-made mac and cheese that he heated up in their microwave and ate, said it was the worst mac and cheese he had ever had.)
• 11:30-12:20 Andrew's one class at the high school
• ran to Walgreen's and got Rx
• 12:05 pick Jeffrey up from AP test
• 12:30 pick up Andrew feed him and have him ready for
• 1:00 - 3:00 Teacher coming to the house for Andrew
• 2:00 took Jeffrey to school and back to Walgreen's for another Rx
• 2:30 -3:30 I made a big pot of vegetable soup so I do not have to cook today.
• 4:00-5:00 Math teacher coming to the house for Andrew
• 6:00 pick up Jeffrey from Pop show rehearsal
• 6:30 have Andrew in scout uniform to Scouts for an evening a selling flag subscriptions

Roger did the 6:30 run and I worked on the above suit for the rest of the evening.

New York Beauty

I quilted this for a customer in March;

Beautiful quilt.

Chenille blanket update

I kept looking at the blanket... and decided that I did not like the binding.
So I went to the store and auditioned another color; green but bought another package of blue.
Ripped off the poorly applied blanket binding....did I mention that I put it on after taking a sleeping pill?
and replaced it.

  changes;

• I actually used the 3-step zigzag stitch that I thought I'd used the first time.
• I did not baste one side down and then fold the binding over the edge of the blanket.(Which I did the first time.)
• I jostled the blanket into the fold as deep as it would go and put a few pins in, then stitched.
  This actually worked much better and the stitching is close to the edge on both sides. (you can see how far my stitching got from the edge in the ripped off binding above.)

 

• I machine stitched each side from the miter to the end of the side, then took it out from under the machine and hand-folded, pinned, then started the next side at the miter.
• I did not stitch down the mitered corners by machine, did them by hand.
• I did not try to end the binding inside a miter, ended it on a side, at a diagonal and then hand-stitched it.

finished blanket:

Chenille baby blanket

I finished grandson #7's baby blanket. It turned out to be pretty green, (the other side is blue).

 This is it after it was washed once.

 This is before it was washed.

 This is what is hidden under the blanket binding. I thought that just putting the blanket binding on top of the slashed part would make for a bulky binding. There are 3 layers of flannel under the binding, the blanket has 4 layers.

things I learned;

• the second layer of flannel shows the most, green here, that makes it the layer that was next to the backing of the blanket.
• I turned the blue gingham flannel upside down and worried about it the whole time, but the blue is folded up so much that you do see the right side more than the wrong side. (the right side was facing down.)
• the blanket binding was no fun to put on. Basting it helped but picking out the basting actually damaged the satin in one area.
• The satin binding...we'll see, if the baby loves the feel it is worth it but that is an unknown, next time I'll use regular quilt binding, but what color?
• I THINK next time I will match the back and first layer and then that will be the dominate color in the blanket and the binding will match that.
• It drapes great for a baby blanket, a little thick but will work great in a cold climate.
• 4-1.25 yards of flannel, 1 package of blanket binding, plus some scraps that I got from a friend for the last edge.
• measure then cut the section that goes under the blanket binding so the edge doesn't ripple
• I like the lengthwise grain pieces best
• The chenille cutter I bought about 10 years ago finally got used and the cutting of the slashes was the quickest part of this project. Mine looks something like this one. But was made by olfa, before they changed the design, so maybe the new one works even better.

 I saw a chenille quilt last week at a quilt shop. It was much heavier with batting and multiple borders after the chenille area. The chenille was 3 layers of the identical quilting fabric, a panel, (cut through 2 layers)  then with batting and another layer for the back. Cute, though and the panel showed up great.

Other post about this blanket here.

Spring Quilt

I took down my Heart quilt and put up my Spring quilt;

This is in my front entry. Love this quilt which was an exchange, a LONG time ago. Before long it will be time for red, white and blue.

Chenille Blanket

I have been doing some things while I haven't blogged...very few, but one was to start a baby blanket for grandbaby #7 (most likely a boy).
But I'm a bit stuck. I can't decide on the binding. So I will show you a few pictures and ask your opinion...

These are the flannels I chose. I already had the alligator print, made a receiving blanket for this baby's big brother, so got 3 more flannels. I washed and dried all of them 3 times to prevent them from shrinking later. Layered and pinned the layers together. (I got tired of getting poked with the pins, could have used safety pins but didn't, so when half done I basted it across in 3 places. The flannel did not shift much but I also used my walking foot. Then I quilted 1/2 inch apart, on the diagonal, using the domestic sewing machine...all over, which took a long time.

Here you can see the beginning of the 'chenille' but really you won't be able to really tell what it will look like until it has been washed. Will not wash it until it is bound...Can't decide how to bind it.

Here is what I'm thinking;

1. narrow satin bias binding with the corners curved
2. wide blue purchased blanket satin binding with the corner square
3. regular quilting fabric with mitered corners

Problem with number 1, nothing matches either blue or the green and I'm not sure the yellow will show up enough to merit using that to bind it. (Can still go to another fabric store.)
Wide blanket binding doesn't match exactly but probably well enough but without a coupon it would be about $16. (I don't have a coupon .)
Regular binding doesn't give the baby that touch of satin that lots of babies love....

Here is a link to a blanket that used satin, unbias binding. One that used normal quilt binding. And one that used a wider binding. Haven't seen one using regular blanket binding.

What do you think?