a little bit about binding

I have a sort-of tutorial here for you today to tell you about something I have learned that helps me with my binding process. I get pretty picky about my bindings, they have to be neat, flat, straight, sharp corners, etc. I watched a video by Sharon Schamber that carries bindings to a whole new level, and while I don't feel the need to follow each step of her process to the letter, I did find one or two things that have benefitted me. Today I am telling you about bindings and starch. This pertains to the preparation of the binding strip before it is even near the quilt.

Here's what you need:

a fabric strip, spray starch, iron and ironing board.

My fabric strip in this case is 2" wide which is all the wider I wanted for this project. It used a very low-loft batting and needed to look narrow in the end, so 2" is plenty wide. This fabric happens to be the same color on both sides. I LOVE Niagara spray starch in the aerosol bottle, but it can be a little hard to find in stores so I have even ordered it online. Type of iron doesn't matter, and my ironing board got covered with a clean piece of muslin so all the stains don't show in the pictures!

With the wrong side of the binding strip facing up, lightly spray the starch.

Fold the strip in half lengthwise, wrong sides together with your fingers, carefully matching up the raw edges. The damp starch will help you stick the layers together with just the pressure of your fingers. Just work on a section at a time, however much is laying on the surface of the ironing board, you want the fabric to stay damp so you can't work too far ahead.

With a hot iron press the folded strip.

This will give you a crisp folded edge and a little more body to the fabric.

The starch actually kind of glues the layers together, as you can see in this picture of a partially pressed strip.

Then you are ready to sew it to the quilt edge, and I find that it is easier to sew neatly if it has been starched this way. There is little or no shifting or twisting of the two layers of the binding fabric and it ravels less on the raw edge. And that's what I know about binding prep!

check this out

Today I am supposed to be quilting up a storm, but I feel compelled to pause and tell you about this. One of the things that I do while running my quilting machine is listening to podcasts that I subscribe to via Itunes. I'm not sure if I mentioned this here before, but I want to suggest that you tune in to a very informative program from National Public Radio called This American Life. First, let me sort of explain the "how-to" in case you aren't familiar with this method of programming. This is a talk-radio weekly show but I never have the radio on at the time it is broadcast. I make use of the fact that it is available through their website and I can listen to it at my convenience either on my computer or ipod. I "subscribe" to it on Itunes, this means that each time they broadcast a new program it goes into my Itunes library on my computer, and is saved there for me. It's all free. I can listen to it once or as many times as I want, save it or delete it. If you don't want to do it through Itunes you can go to the program's website and get their entire archive of programs. The newest program is a free download from them, or the older programs can be listened to for free directly on their website.

So why am I telling you this? This American Life is sort of a digest of real-life short stories centered on a weekly theme. Sometimes very funny, sometimes serious. There are 2 programs that I encourage you to listen to that explain some of the ins and outs of the healthcare situation in our country. I'm not trying to get political here, I can't swear that every fact or detail you will here is 100% accurate, but NPR does have a good name for reporting the news, at least as I know it. The programs are titled "More is Less" and "Someone Else's Money" and were broadcast in October. If you like these, you might also like to look back in their archives for a couple other programs they have done in 2009 about the mortgage and economy problems. Check it out!

Did you remember to set your clocks back?

DNR

As part of my own personal appliance health plan, I had to pull the plug on my washing machine. It gave up the ghost last week and the examination by the AT (appliance technician) was not promising. Given the fact that it is the youngest appliance I own, I was actually surprised that it could not be resuscitated for a more reasonable investment. It's only 7 years old, which in this house is just an appliance infant. It stands next to my lovely antique Kenmore gas dryer purchased in 1982 and going strong ever since. Bob has had to tinker with a few things to keep it in shape, but I really don't mind that the handle for the lint trap is fastened on with a chunk of wire, it still catches the lint! I had actually expected the dishwasher to be the next to go, both it and the refrigerator were purchased when we built this house in 1988. The dishwasher is in sad shape, badly needs a new bottom rack, but keeps on ticking. I know I might be able to replace the rack, but it's one of those items that never moves up very high on the Must Do list. Plus you know as soon as I replace it, the whole thing will die! After shopping in the appliance department at a couple local megastores, I realized just how humble my little refrigerator is--no fancy faucet with computerized keyboard in the door, no high tech food storage containers inside, not even an ice maker! Must be my inner Amish, but when I am looking at appliances I try to keep it simple! (Actually, the fridge is an Amana so I do see the connection there! Who knew appliances had religion!) For example, when choosing a new washer, I know that basically I use only 2 cycles (regular or gentle) and 2 temperature settings (cold/cold or hot/cold for felting), so why can't I find a frontloader that doesn't have 15 choices? Anyway, I await the delivery of my new washer and removal of the washer carcass that is easy to say goodbye to because I don't have 20+ years of attachment!

Things done

I was very productive the last 2 days and have moved a couple things off the ToDo list.

Some little invisible machine applique wall hangings, samples for the store, patterns from When Quilts Fly. I used the applique fiber that this particular designer has developed for her patterns. This is being offered as a class at the store on Tuesday 10/27.

A new sample of my own pattern, Solitaire Bear, using batiks and rather detailed quilting, at least in my world! I kind of enjoyed the challenge of trying to do some very small-scale quilting on this but can't imagine doing it on anything very much bigger! This little tabletopper is my limit for tolerance of tiny stitches!

A new little baby-sized quilt using Texture Magic in alternating blocks. This is a very fun product that shrinks when steamed, and causes the quilting fabric to bubble up and become textured. I made up a new quilting design (new to me) for the non-textured blocks and a similar shape in the border, I like it so much when I get to experiment with something like this and it even turns out well! This might become the newest Emmaline Design pattern!

Lest you think that all I ever do around here is sewing/quilting, let me share with you a good recipe that isn't new at all, but not something that I had stirred up for a long time. Now that I made a batch I am hopelessly hooked on them again.

Monster Cookies

1/2 cup flour

1 tablespoon baking soda

pinch of salt

5 cups oatmeal (quick cooking type, or old-fashioned oats that have been chopped in the food processor)

3/4 cup butter

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar

5 large eggs

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups creamy peanut butter

your choice of 2 - 3 cups of added ingredients, things like chocolate chips, M&M's, chopped nuts, butterscotch chips, toffee bits, coconut, etc.

Cream butter and sugars in a large bowl, use a mixer if you have one. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well. Add the vanilla and peanut butter and mix until smooth. Add the flour, salt, soda and oats gradually. Fold in the goodies and refrigerate at least 5 hours or overnight. Make large clumps (1-2 tablespoons) on parchment paper covered cookie sheets, bake for 12-15 minutes at 350 degrees. Leave them on the cookie sheet about 10 minutes before even trying to move them to the cooling rack. You can make the cookies bigger, but adjust the baking time so they are just barely browned. This makes a large batch.

pretty things

This is a quilt top that I put together while I was at Nancy's last weekend. The fabric is the new Amy Butler Love group and the pattern is Archipelago by Blue Underground. Went together very well, and makes a nice cheery quilt. It is on display at Bear Patch and kits are in the works, in case you can't resist!

Hot Tip

Every now and then I find out something new that I am surprised that I didn't know about before. This is one of those things. And it seems like it's too good to be true because it's so simple! I learned about it from other longarm quilters. When I first started learning about longarm quilting, I took great care to iron all the quilt backs and tops carefully to get all the wrinkles from folds out. I even constructed a "big board" for my ironing board next to the quilt frame. Well, that big board has grown dusty lately because I learned the magic of a spray bottle of water! Low and behold, no more toiling over a hot iron! Now I lay out the fabric flat on my work table/cutting table/former pool table or drape it over the rails of the quilt frame for bigger chunks. Just so it can lay or hang flat. Then spray all over, especially any creases or fold marks, and let it dry. When you come back it is like magic! This even works to get that stubborn crease out of the fabric where it is folded on the bolt. Who knew it could be so simple? I know, you are feeling doubtful about this right now, and you are thinking I must not know what wrinkles really are because this is just too good to be true, there must be a catch. That's what I have been thinking about the Vikings lately and last Sunday they almost proved the point. But I digress. If you don't believe me, just try it, even if you do believe me, give it a try. It just might save you some ironing!

other things

Stuff I have been working on:

the clapotis scarf made from Happy Feet yarn. A very different approach to making a scarf, it is knit diagonally with intentional dropped stitches causing a repeating open ladder across the scarf. I have to admit that it was really fun to pull the stitches and watch the ladder open up, I had to force myself to put down the knitting because I just wanted to get to the next repeat! I found the pattern through Ravelry, which is a wonderful source of knitting information and inspiration. Wish someone would come up with the same thing for quilting!

quilted this up for Laurel, it is called Tea Time and kits and patterns will soon be available at Bear Patch