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Wednesday, February 24, 2010

That Checkerboard Border......


I'm not concentrating well enough to want to work on those 40s blocks after all. I decided instead to finish the quilt that was on the machine, get the binding on it..and spend the afternoon with my feet up in the recliner binding to the "Lifetime Movie Network." Always good for a "man hater" chick flick! *LOL* I happen to like movies...I don't like sit-coms with canned laughter, and a movie can take up to 2 hours of my time, where those 30 minute jobs leave me playing with the remote trying to find something else to watch way too often!

SO..the quilt is done, and as I was trimming it I thought I'd see if I could get you some pics......of the border...and what I did to the BACK! Because --- I pieced WAY too much border! I don't know what I was thinking, but I just kept piecing and piecing and before I knew it...I could have circled the house with this border!

This is going around a quilt I set "on point"...AND YOU KNOW what happens to even measurements when you put a quilt on point? They are no longer even! They are 1.414'd into oblivion. So this is when I take a clue from antique quilts and just go to lobbing them off where they need to be lobbed. The spacer border helped with that. Actually, the number of squares worked on the lengthwise borders, but the top and bottom end with like 1/3 of a square...so be it! :cD

The fun part was taking some left over reds and piecing them into a back with the checkerboard remains put in there as a spacer. Look...MORE COW FABRIC! I swear that has to be the end of it, but those cows have been lucky for me, so I'm happy to put them in the back of one of these quilts for Scraps & Shirttails II....This was the last hunk, so if there are any others, they are in the strip bins, or the pre-cut square bins.

That big red check reminds me of picnics :c) (Please bring on picnic weather...it's SNOWING here in NC TODAY!!)

I really like the leafy design for the quilting. I needed something with a fairly small repeat because the units in the border and the quilt front are small...so scale was important to me with this one. That said...it probably took me 20+ pre wound bobbins to quilt this thing!

I'm now going to attempt to get the binding on.....and then do the hand stitching this afternoon. At least, that's my story and I'm sticking to it!

16 comments:

  1. Loving the reds and the checks! Good for you getting the cow fab all used up... isn't it funny how you come across something and it lasts forrrr everrrr! My friend and I used some fabric's with thread spools on it like that! Every time we used it we would laugh... cause here it was again sneeking up on us!
    Hope your feeling back up to snuff... enjoy your trip!
    We got some of the white stuff today... but we need it so I won't complain! Take care.

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  2. Love the border and the back! I am really loving using up fabrics on the backs of quilts. I just finished a cray quilt top and I am thinking I am going to use up some orphan blocks on the back. But first, I must get the sewing room cleaned up so I can actually move around!

    Have a fun trip!

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  3. You are putting that compuquilter to great use! Love your new book and can't wait to see what you are cooking up for the next. Hope you are feeling better.

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  4. I can't believe you are up and at 'em so quickly. beautiful back!

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  5. Love the backing on this quilt! I have been wanting to try a piece border maybe one day I'll get brave. Could you please tell me the name of the quilt design? I really like it!

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  6. Wow, loving it... that's a great way make you backing... I'll have to try using the rest of fabrics this way..thanks for sharing...

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  7. wow you've been busy!
    I can't believe you still have that cow jumping over the moon fabric!
    Have you used it all up now on this back?

    I'm sewing a binding on and enjoying some hand sewing. Bonnie do you have any tips to make the hand bind process quicker?

    Happy sewing

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  8. Wow, 20+ bobbins, that's a lotta thread in this baby! Thank goodness you have the compu on your machine. Love the colors and, again, your back is fab!

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  9. Looks wonderful, Bonnie. I want to see the middle!!! :)

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  10. I just love this quilt. I hope to find the time to make a similar one from the pattern in your most recent book. Thanks for introducing creative backs to us, too. My friends (and quilt recipients) are quite taken with the backs of my quilts as well as the fronts. It's almost as much fun to make the backs.

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  11. The cows were the first thing I noticed ;-). Imagine quilting that pattern hand guided! I'm glad your getting a bit of snow, we've had plenty to share this year.

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  12. I did my first pieced back in December and it was so fun. Used a big "Turning Twenty" block pattern. Handstitching with a movie is the best. I believe that's how we put our karma into the quilt.
    Gayle

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  13. Love that you are showing up snippits of the quilts that are going into the new book. Great teasers to make up want that new book even more!!! Glad to hear you are on the mend following your op :)

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  14. Anonymous9:44 PM EST

    I LOVE what you do to your quilt backs and I particularly like this one with the checkerboard strips in it. I am not maverick enough to do these backs yet LOL.

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  15. I love the back of this quilt! But I have a question, how do you trim a quilt that big?

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  16. Hey Bonnie! Where ya at, girl? I've been kind of concerned about you since your surgery. Are you ok? Please let us hear something from you.
    LindaJ

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