Under My Needle-The Picnic Quilt

The picnic quilt, a little stiff because it hasn't been washed yet and because of the dense quilting.

Sorting through the UFO's can be a little overwhelming at times. The cause for my collection of not-yet-quilted tops is as simple as I don't like to baste. I think I may have mentioned this before. This Jelly Roll Race quilt is an example. It was an experiment of sorts and quilting it was really not a priority. Actually, I have done little quilting on the long arm for several months. So, to retrain my hand-eye coordination this one was next in the queue. I layered it and basted it using the "skewer method" as mentioned in a prior post. It works very well for me.

Working on the swirls and curls, it didn't take long for me to get back in the groove.

 

My standard setting but I wanted to move along a little faster. After getting comfortable with the patterns again I upped the cruise control to 50%, we were bopping along and cut down on the quilting time. This pattern is fairly easy and the machine easy to control, even at 50%.

 After I square up a quilt I like to run a serger stitch all around the edge, just trimming a hair of fabric and adding a little extra thread to the edge. The edge is then smooth and flat, the binding folds nice and neat over the edge. I also think this secures all the edge seams, sort of like insurance. Particularly when the quilt will be washed a lot. (you may notice that I ran off the edge a bit, it happens, no harm, no foul.)

Working on the swirls and curls.

 On a prior quilt I used fabric from the same designer and the same manufacturer. With the left overs I made binding, lots of binding. Now, the patterns are entirely different but they work because the colorways are the same.

Hand stitching the binding to the back. I do not do so well doing the binding by machine. I have a hard time keeping the stitching line straight, some of it slips out from under the needle then I have to go back and re-stitch and it never looks right. I need to work on that one of these days.

• The skewer method of basting worked very well for me, not one wrinkle or pucker, I am sooooo impressed. Now I did secure the basting with 1000 pins. I am a pinner. 
• Amelie Scott video-skewer basting, give it a look if you haven't already.
• I rounded the corners on this one. I sort of like that these days. 
• I may get a bit more quilting done. 

 My porches are outdoor rooms and all rooms need a quilt or two, or a rocking chair here and there. The final measurement on this one was 72 x 90 inches. (please excuse the burnt looking greenery in that rock garden. The gardener is in the process of killing an invading weed and insists that the stronger the poison, the better)

The backing is pieced (3 pieces) and patterned to blend with dirt or grass, after all, it is a picnic quilt! I like rounding corners now and then. The frog on the table is a vintage McCoy piece, he is a beauty. Now, on to the next UFO! 

That's All Folks!