Friday Favourites: Continuous Bias Binding

Up until a few months ago I was deathly afraid of continuous bias binding. As afraid of it as I am of falling and failure.  Then I had a project that was just begging to be bound with a bias stripe. Begging for it. So I gritted my teeth, consulted the interwebs, and our book (Amanda wrote great instructions for continuous bindings with mitered corners). Then I dove right in.

And it was easy!

Yes, it requires patience. Yes, it requires more fabric if you don't feel like doing any math. But it is so worth it. For the effect it gives, for the feel of the binding. (And, for many, for the wear of the binding.)

Now I feel like I have another tool in my arsenal to make each quilt uniquely mine. Not to mention to fuel for another favourite - custom bias tape - but that is for another time.

Pressing Issues

I need a new iron.

This one is, literally, out of steam. And I like my steam.

Any irons you LOVE out there? I've frankly always gone to Canadian Tire and just grabbed something that looked decent enough. I pay attention to where the cord emerges and whether it will stand easily. It must also have an automatic shut off. But the last two irons haven't lasted long so it might be time to look a little more closely.

Any suggestions?

Pretty Thing

 

Pretty Thing

42'' by 54''

For my latest niece, the pretty thing in question. Modelling her quilt with her 12 days younger cousin, my babe. A summer night just chillin' on the lawn at Baba's house.

Inspired entirely by Malka Dubrawsky's Whirligig quilt from her book Fresh Quilting, only made on a much smaller scale.

Random fabrics including solids (yes, solids for me!), some Lotta Jansdotter, some Amy Butler dots, and a bunch of other loverly greens, greys, yellows, and light turquoise. I mixed up the scale of prints, as well as the intensity of the colours. It was great shopping in the stash for this one.

Quilted with Aurifil 50wt thread with some straight lines 1 1/2'' apart.

Mountain Meadows

I have this quilt in mind. In fact, I've had it in mind for a year. We went on our first family hike in the mountains near us. It was a gorgeous day, everyone had fun, and I was completely taken with the mountain meadows. One usually focuses on the view, but I couldn't stop staring at the little bits of colour in the flowers all around us.  And now I hope to capture some of that magic in a quilt.

The inspiration:

Gathering fabrics, courtesy of Modern Quilt Guild members who responded to a plea for solid green scraps. Yes, solids. I'm pushing myself here! Now, let's see where this goes.