Clip Things

A few years ago, there was a chain fabric store in our neighborhood that had a great sale on those little red clips by Clover.  I bought some and liked them but didn't have enough to go around a quilt.  Someone pointed out that the very same clips were available on ebay and Amazon for a great savings.  I bought this cute little tin of generic clips and now have enough to go around a quilt to hold the binding in place when I machine stitch the binding.

Some have said the clips are difficult to pick up and pinch open.  My recommendation is to line them up on the edge of a little basket like the Lazy Girl Button Boats.  The are much easier to grasp and pinch when sitting upright.

Another product that is saving me much time and hassle are the Clip-n-Seal Mondo 10 Pack Bag Clips.  These are the same thing as the Red Snappers longarm quilters use for attaching quilt backings to leaders on roller bars but cost about half as much.  They are a faster and safer alternative to using long corsage pins to secure the backing fabric to the heavy canvas leaders.

I originally purchased a similar brand of bag clips in shorter lengths and fun bright colors but when they became more flexible with use, they didn't hold the backing securely.  They are still useful when positioning the quilt backing to hold it in place until I swap them out with the longer and stronger version (and as designed for keeping bags securely sealed).  Also, I made side clips to replace the heavy clamps that keep the edges of the backing from sagging that are just like the Leader Grips side clips. 

Check Joey's blog entry for a link to the Mondo 10 Pack because she kindly answered my questions and she gets credit for referrals if you purchase.

June Elm Street Quilts OMG Finish: 3 in 1

June was a good month for binding quilts.  Don't ask me why because usually the winter months are best for curling up in my chair with a quilt on my lap and a few movies or a good audio book to entertain me while stitching away. 

Here are the quilts in order of completion.  The first is my June Elm Street Quilts OMG finish:

The flowers peeking out here and there remind me of my neighbor's passion flower vine.  We love the beautiful flowers but the roots of the plant are invasive and the plant came up in her garage and other unlikely places.

The second quilt to the finish line was a long time in the queue.  I started this quilt in Walla Walla and it was waiting for me to do the borders when we decided to pack up the HandiQuilter for our great move to the WE(s)T side of the state.  It was my intent to freehand vining flowers and leaves in the last border but instead the borders offered an opportunity to practice placing computerized patterns.  For a first try, I am satisfied even though the program with my new machine doesn't self correct if the borders are not totally straight.  But if I had tried the same pattern freehand in the first and second borders, they wouldn't be any better and maybe worse.  My freehanding skills are limited to a few meandering E2E designs.  This one has loops, leaves, and flowers that were inspired by the fabric prints.

The back of the quilt was

a collection of fabrics in the same colors from my stash.

The last quilt is a favorite of mine and I have enough strips to make a second quilt from the remaining rainbow of strips in a moire print jelly roll:

This quilt is a Cozy Quilts pattern.  The piecing method looks time consuming and tedious but only involves making strips sets of a colorful fabric framed by a white and black strip.  For the first time since I started making quilts in the '70's, I chose to cut continuous borders.  The rainbow batik in the outside border just didn't look as nice pieced so not only do I have the other half of the jelly roll left but I have just enough for the borders and binding, too. 

But don't get me wrong, batiks don't offer much give so don't even consider cutting the binding on the lengthwise grain.  I don't recommend it for another important reason.  The strongest threads run lengthwise and the weakest are crosswise.  A lengthwise fold will cut across the weakest threads and they will more easily fray.  The longest wearing binding is bias cut and with a stripe that runs lenghtwise or crosswise on the fabric, it definitely adds a special finishing touch. 

The binding for June OMG was quickly cut on the bias using a GO cutter.  Just 17 inches of fabric and a simple folding technique produced just the right amount of strips.

June Elm Street Quilts OMG: Movie Time!

This is a special quilt for a best friend who was my dear neighbor until the end of February.  It was her birthday recently and a few weeks ago she saw this quilt top and loved it.  So, once the binding and a label are on, she will get a personal delivery.  I don't send quilts in the mail.

June Elm Street Quilts OMG: Bind the Whirligigs in the Garden quilt

While I sew on binding, I watch a movie or listen to a book.  There are too many movies on my queue so I have a good excuse to curl up in my favorite chair and stitch away.

The Go Cutter made just the right amount of bias binding from 17 inches of the bubble striped fabric.