You did a fantastic job. She is going to love it!!! Be sure to put insurance on it when you send it out.

Oh You'd be surprised! "Where there's a will, there's a way"!

That's a beautiful quilt, and the pillow too.

Sue

That's a beautiful quilt, and the pillow too.

Sue

Beautiful job!

very pretty. thank you for sharing.

Thank you very much. It's obvious I was a novice at quilting when I took that one on but it sure was fun making it. I think it took me a full year working on it at every opportunity.
Hugs
Patty

Your very welcome. I am doing the march doll quilt swap, and it is my first time quilting, hard to believe that something so small would take so long, but I am learning a lot from this project, and perhaps I should have done something a lot easier than what I have picked. a lot of detail in this for my first quilt.

Everything about your quilt is beautiful. Did you say you tied it? I can't see the ties. WoW!

Beautiful quilt! There sure are a lot of pieces in it!

Yes, it is tied. I put 25 ties in each block. It is tied with gold embroidery thread. Here's a close-up of the ties. I like tying with embroidery thread as it is more delicate looking and doesn't stand out like yarn does. Thank you for the compliment on my quilt.

love the colors in the quilt

That's how we learn. I often get myself into challenging situations because I think I have to constantly try to learn to do new things. Today I decided to totally use the machine to put a binding on a gift quilt. It looks nice, they are pleased with it but my bindings are normally beautiful and this one does NOT please me but because I used the blanket stitch to top stitch on the right side, that's way too much work to rip out and start all over again. Grrrrr. Dumb, dumb, dumb and the worst part is that the rest of the quilt is one of my best even though I did quite a bit of machine quilting (just learning how) and detailed hand quilted butterflies to fill the 15 inch squares. Kim will love the quilt and won't know the difference so that's a good thing. She will be celebrating her 40th birthday March 23rd and is so thrilled that her new friend Patty is making her a special quilt - she is down syndrome. Now I'm working on the signature tag and that's been another experience - guess it's called practice. I've only done 3 or 4 since buying the machine the end of Sept. so of course I had some problems and a couple of jams making this one "practice" but that's a good thing. Enough practice and such won't annoy me again - sure Patty. Uh huh. LOL. The very first thing I did with this new machine was make a tag for a quilt. LOL. The sales lady couldn't believe that was my goal and I did it although it took me the whole weekend to get it figured out as it works differently from my 5 year old Pfaff.

When I go to do the binding, I am gone to do the flip the back peace of fabric to the front, I want it to be perfect for my doll swap partner, I will practice on family quilts, but I am gone to due the easyer one so there won't be any mess ups on it. Penny Oh I forgot I need to make a lable for the quilt, this is sure turning out to one of my biggest learning experances in life.

I am far from being a pro with bindings but I found the easist way to get a satisfactory-looking machine stitched binding is to first, cut the binding strip a little wider, perhaps 1/4 in wider. Once folded in half and stitched to the right side of the quilt top, wrap it to the back where the binding will be a little wider on the back. Pin in place from the right side. Machine stitch on the right side as close to the binding as you possible can. Once stitched, the binding will roll back a little and practically cover the stitching. I did this in garment sewing, and it works for quilts as well. I use this technique when I want a really rugged little quilt.

That part of the binding I actually got decent. I suspect that it has more to do with my attitude as a hand quilter. The first side isn't great but the other 3 did come out just fine and my friend said it was pretty and she couldn't figure out why I was unhappy with it - it is pretty and that's what counts. I need to get it photographed to share so it'll be up in the new photos section in the next couple of days but I want to make the tag first and get it in place. That has been a challenge and now I have to cut more fabric and the tear away stuff and rewind bobbins and do another. At least the text is all programmed into the memory, thank goodness. Love my Pfaff and what it can do but if a bobbin doesn't wind itself exactly right, the machine will go into a major hissy on me. My tag probably is useable but I'd like things centered a bit better plus the practice is good - new Sept. 29th and still learning of course. Thanks for the tip on binding.
Patty

I third that! Thank you Gail for the binding tips. Sorry, I've been eavesdropping.

It's beatiful!! I just printed directions to make this block...today will be my first try at it..I hope it turns out as lovely as yours.

Thank you! Post a picture when you get it made. You are going to be surprised at how simple they really are. I love this block. :P

Thank you for your pattern! I just printed it out also and put it on my "things I really want to make this year" list. Your quilts are beautiful!

fantastic. :-D

Thanks Sweetie. I'm always evesdropping. That's how we learn. The binding tip is something I carried over from the garment-sewing days. On garments I would use the zipper foot so that I could get in close, but I've never used it on quilt binding. I try to always use the walking foot and move the needle as close as I can get it.

And Patty your ties look nice. I was wondering how long you leave the ends after you've tied the knots. I'm doing one right now with perle cotton and am cutting the tails about 1/2 inch. I hope that's not too short. If so, I'll wait until they come apart to redo them. I've been working on that sucker for almost a year and the end is in sight.

Thank you All so much for your posts! I had no idea when I put these pictures on that there would be such an overwhelming response to them!!! I very much appreciate all of your kind, generous, and wonderful posts! They make me happy and make me blush. I'm not used to all the praise.
I've never shown my quilts or patterns for that matter, anywhere before. Again, Thank you All!
Marilyn

Hi Gail, When you were talking to Patty about the nice looking ties, were you referring to the gold ones in the picture on page 4 of this post??? I'm confused.

Hi Marilyn just wanted to thank you very much for posting that. this is something I want to learn, it is so beautiful, so I coped it. And thank you all for your tips on binding, but my next herdal before the binding is the lable. Thank you all very much. Penny

gorgeous! if you are looking for a pattern and know the name, try www.about.com/quilt

they have a huge library of free blocks and quilt patterns - and some truly awesome tutorials

If you don't know the name of the block, go to the same site and scroll through - chances are excellent you will see what you're looking for
casamanana
aka Vicky :D

Thank You Penny. This post is getting confused. I didn't give the tips on binding, that was Gail. I thanked her too! Great info. Gail

I love the pattern. You did a great job. I am sure they will enjoy it for a long time.

Yes. Oops. Was I speaking to the wrong person? Yes, the gold ties on page 4.

Yes. Patty thought that she was posting on one of her posts starting on the bottom of page 3. It all got confused then. I am the one who did this quilt, not Patty. It was an honest mistake. I can't believe how close I've come to doing the same thing.

I'm glad you like my ties. Thank you. I leave my tails between 1/2 and 3/4 inch. I don't go back and trim them all to the same length. I end up cutting one then it's too short so I just leave them. It adds character. :P I really like the looks of perle cotton or embroidery thread for tying.

That quilt is beautiful. I love the pillow too. Great job on both.

Beautiful job!

very nice

:) Well done!

Beautiful.

love the quilt

WOW! that sure is beautiful

Amazing how different the same pattern can look using different colours. Incredible. I bet you must have had fun working on this. :-o

Hi Marilyn, I love your Carpenter's Saw block and really would love to have the pattern of yours. How much do you want for your pattern? I want to make it just like yours. What a GEORGEOUS block!!!
Shirley /TN.(jigs1354 on the board).
Thank you

Wow! Very nice!