Week 7- Time to make the 3 remaing blocks, K, L, and M.

I have worked ahead so I can talk a little about quilting.

Here are my bits and pieces left over from my blocks. I have no plans for them now, but may piece them all together for a futre back or something else fun.

I talk about this often but thought I would share it here also. I am not good about labeling my quilts. Maggi Honeyman  @sewmaggi quilts many of my quilts and she always stitches my name in the quilt somewhere.

How fun is that? I like to think of my quilts showing up somewhere in the futre and some historian discovers "Lissa Alexander" in my quilt. I need to add the date and I like it when Maggi also adds her initials, afterall she did work her magic.

When a quilt top is made up from mainly straight pieces I like to choose a design that is the opposite and compliments the straight lines. This quilt does have any open spaces so an all-over design is just perfect. The original quilt was quilted with a small orange peel design. It adds a bit of fun to the summer sherbert colors. ( quilt shown at top of post)

My go to all over design is usually the baptist fan so I have got to make sure I mix it up some. 

 

 

 

 For my red, white and blue version, I choose loops. I love how it turned out. I had been hoarding a bolt of Bonnie and Cmaille's dots from Bliss and had to use it on the back.

Do you save your leftover bindng pieces? I do and knew this was the perfect quilt to use some of them up.

 

MORE DETAILS

BATTING

I like a lighweight batting so my 2 go to choices are

Kyoto Bambo Blend Batting

Available in all sizes

Kyoto is a bamboo and cotton blend. Bamboo is softer than cotton, biodegradable, hypo-allergenic and eco-friendly. Naturally antibacterial. It has been blended with cotton for the perfect natural quilt batting. Cleaned without harsh chemicals. Needle punched to a thin scrim using no binders or resins. Will not shift or shed. Stitch up to 8" apart! 50% bamboo and 50% cotton. 

and Luna Loft batting

Luna Loft is made with long staple cotton and the softest polyester to create a soft comfort blend. The fibers are cleaned without the use of harsh chemicals. Needle-punched to a thin scrim without the use of binders or resins. Will not shift or shed. Stitch up to 10" apart. Ideal for machine quilting! Bleached to achive a lighter batting that will not show through in lighter quilts. Luna is also available  in black for dark quilts or when using dark threads.

BINDING

The most common size to cut binding is 2 1/2", but I like to cut mine 2 1/4" for a smaller edge. This works nicely especially with todays battings. If you are using a thicker batting, you would be best to keep with the 2 1/2". Whenever possible I cut my binding on the bias unless the fabric has a design that doesnt work, such as stripes. If the fabric has a diagonal stripe, then I cut it on the straight of grain. Both straight of grain and bias bindings work just fine and bias does oftern require more yardage. Keep in mind that the binding is quite often the first part of your quilt to show wear and tear. The bias edges are a bit stronger and will hold up better over time. FUN FACT: Levi's blue jeans use to be cut completely on the bias and lasted forever.

 

Join me here next week for the last post about the Scrappy Celebration QAL and a sneak peek about a few upcoming Moda Quiltalongs.

 

Enjoy, 

_modalissa

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All of the following info is available here also.

Get the Quilt-Along Pattern