Learning about 4 patches…

The last 2 days have been filled with strip piecing 4 patches and cutting them into their pairs.. have you made 4 patches before?

I had not I guess because I learned there is a special way to iron a 4 patch to get it to lay nice and flat!  Yippee 🙂

Once I figured there was a secret I searched more vids… and found THIS great vid by Billie Lauder on how to lay out my strips for quick cutting.

pressing to the dark…

Then I watched this follow up vid also by Billie Lauder where she explains the way to press them HERE!

4 patch anatomy ~ before finger pressing…

Finger pressed open now

Ironed flat now…

Tahdah!  The finished 4 patch 🙂

Both vids are only 5 minutes total but worth a watch.. or 2 .. or 3 times as it goes FAST! lol 🙂  ha!

I also managed to do some reading yesterday… I was so happy that the mood struck…  I decided to open Jinny Beyer’s book ~ Quiltmaking by Hand ~ randomly but toward the beginning of the book…  the topics were quilting notions and prewashing stash! lol  I loved reading about the history of chatelaines and such… but hearing more preaching about prewashing all fabrics was getting a bit over heard for me lately.  GOAL MET!

I have totally been absorbed in designing and now making this quilt.. I am very excited with all of the process thus far!

Did you already know how to do the 4 patch twist or was this new to you?  This is my 13th quilt.. how come I never made a proper 4 patch before now ??  None of my quilts had 4 patches .. until now! lol  And I have no idea why either… as I am truly enjoying the process of placing them around the spot the center panel I showed you yesterday will go…

Come back to see what else is new.. as I am learning something all the time and love to share what I learn.. plus it gives me an easy reference if I need to review the info later 🙂

My honey is even being quilty today… in a way… he is preparing some new featherweights for sale!  Isn’t this a cool shot I got as he was using the morning light to do his work! 🙂

Have a blessed weekend!  I will be sewing together 4 patches and such.. what about you?

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Quilting & Binding ALL by hand… and a WINNER!

This is my house for Thanksgiving this year… what is your house like??? lol

On this Ozark Star project I first had to learn how to piece and by hand… did well with that (Yippee!… found excellent tutorials I shared along the way… but not so with binding by hand… so I jumped in once I finished the handquilting on the sandwiched top…

here I am marking some lines with tape to mark my quilting path

And here is a close up for you…

Then it was time to figure out the binding!!!!

I turned to Quiltmaking by Hand but it only had a page and a half with scant pics on this topic… they were fast to answer my email request though and away I went!  Chartering new territory for me… do you ever do that… challenge yourself to learn something new???

First I sewed it with a running stitch above (with lots of backstitches to make the overall stitches stronger and closer together…)

Then I enclosed it on the back side careful not to come through the top 🙂

I made my binding 2 1/4″ for a more narrow binding (generally binding for quilts is 2 1/2″) folded in half and sewn to the front… ironed then folded over and sewn to the back while pinned.

Now to finish the final quilting and show off the end result.  I also have to figure out how to sign this inconspicuously.. any ideas???

Now on to the WINNER! of the YLI thread giveaway!!!

Daytona Damsel… I will email you that you won… please contact me here if you don’t get the message 🙂  You are a no reply blogger!  You do follow me but I have no way to get in touch with you… so if I don’t hear from you by Monday I will gift this thread to someone else… Good luck Daytona Damsel!

That was such a fun giveaway… if you didn’t enter know that I do 2 or 3 giveaways each year related to my posts… I always mail anywhere for free and give followers 2 entries… must be a follower to enter so enter now and be ready for future giveaways that are crafty 🙂

Have a blessed weekend!

Kathi

Linking to:
My Quilt Infatuation ~ Needle & Thread Thursday here

Christmas is coming early around here!

As I prepare for Christmas on a limited income I think about how blessed I am that I have found really great deals on things I need but REALLY want… truth be told.

The antique quilt top is a great example…

it is a nice larger size without being a full queen sized bed quilt… it is made entirely of old plaids and feed sacks… I lucked out and got a great deal!  It has vibrant colors and a patina of an old quilt and dates about 1940’s.  This has been on my bucket list since I realized they existed!!!

I got all cotton batting on sale for $15.00 for this quilt!  Now to find a nice muslin for the back n binding 🙂  That will be a future budgeted item… you see we live on a pretty tight budget…

But one more thing did make the budget because it was such an awesome deal and under $15.00 so it was a no brainer to me… this great book!

 I got it as damaged but new on Amazon for less than half price including shipping!

because of this ding!

So I have been looking for things I want for cheap and just happened to get 2 this month… next month I doubt I will get anything as my next project is paid for, collected and waiting for me to start it! 🙂

Do you budget what you spend on your craft?  Any tricks you can share with the rest of us??? Would love tips on how to be a more savvy shopper 🙂  Just don’t ask me to use a coupon that isn’t on my iPhone! lol

Kathi