Prayer Quilt 6

Here is the latest prayer quilt for a dear lady who has been placed on hospice.

Just a little information about my choice of fabric and design. First, we receive the material and then select a simple pattern. I receive one charm pack of 20 squares from Keepsake Quilting each month. I do not know what material will be in the package and just use what they send to make a quilt. I must add material for borders, fill in, binding, and backing. There are only two of us completing the quilts. I usually cut and iron and Jeri sews. I finish the quilt with borders, backing, quilting, and binding.

PS -- I have a great camera but always use the picture manager to crop and make smaller--so the final photo does not do the quilt justice. The border on this quilt is a soothing shade of pale yellow.

Wedding

My blog and interests are in quilting, but I have found so many blog friends who are so talented and love working with their hands. I thought I would share this picture with my blog friends. My brother and his wife, David and Marilyn, and his family of 5 children built this home from the ground up with their own hands. This is a picture just days before the wedding. They were still working on the banisters around the porch and steps. My brother is so proud of his real working shutters. The home is beautiful and a wonderful place for a wedding.

Ellen and Ryan's Wedding

We had a wonderful weekend attending the wedding of my niece, Ellen. My brother and his wife, sisters and husbands, my husband, my mother-in-law, my niece and her husband and I had a great time together as we honored the bride and groom with a rehearsal supper. My brother, Oby, and sister-in-law, Shirley, are so talented, and we just did as we were instructed.

Shirley instructed us on how to fold some cute angel napkins. Then she showed us how to decorate the candle stands. If anyone needs to know how to fold an angel napkin, just ask me, because we ended up folding almost 100. The menu consisted of a cold tomato soup followed with a tiny ice cream cone of sorbet. A buffet was set with grilled chicken, baked potatoes, green beans, and rolls. Dessert was banana pudding. We served about 65 seated guests.

The outside wedding on Saturday was so sweet. The bride was glowing. The bride is quite a cook, so she, her mother, sisters and friends fixed the food for the reception complete with a lemonade stand, an ice cream bar, and tables of good food. They even had a children's table complete with all kinds of outside games and toys.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to all of the guys around me. Sonny is a great father to five sons who are good fathers. We have been blessed with wonderful fathers and grandfathers and father-in-laws who have had a tremendous influence on us. This is our day to reflect on our blessing and thank the greatest Father of all, our heavenly Father.

Grandchildren

Today is my birthday and I am so very blessed. My wonderful husband prepared me a delicious dinner. My son cut my yard and I had many Happy Birthday wishes. Here are more of my blessings--the rest of my grandchildren--Gabby, Hannah, Andrew, Jacob, Maggie, Nikolas, and Shannon. Jase and Josie Clare are shown in yesterday's post.

Josie Clare

Josie Clare is here. She arrived at 10:14 a.m. on June 8, 2009. She weighed a little over 8 pounds. Josie Clare and mother are doing great. Big brother, Jase (2), is great. He is staying here with Grammy and Granddaddy and wakes up with a smile and goes to bed with a smile. He is so much fun and doing great. Hope to have a picture to share.

Coin Quilt

Well, I finally completed the coin quilt. Recently, I saw on Moda Bake Shop a quilt that had a ruffle edge and thought I would add a ruffle to this quilt. I do not think I will do that again. It was a PAIN! However, I have learned how not to do it. Adding the patchwork to the back of the quilt seems to be quite popular. (I saw this on http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/). I used a pantograph for the stippling quilting. I cannot doodle. I tell the story that even as a child I did not color, because I could not make up my mind which color to use. I find the same problem with quilting so I tend to buy charm packs, or copy colors from a pattern, or I get someone at the quilt shop to help me out with color selection.

By the way, the pink material were scraps from two baby quilts I have made.

Pic 1 -- front of coin quilt

Pic 2 -- close up of front

Pic 3 -- back of coin quilt

Another P & S

Here is another Prayers and Squares quilt. After ties are added, the quilt is presented to the church and members will voice a specific prayer for the recipient of the quilt, and tie a knot. The quilt will be presented to Nancy who is battling effects of cancer.

About the quilt--made from a Moda layer cake, it measures 50" x 50". It is quilted in a 2" arch.

Joining the Binding Ends

Do you have problems joining the ends of your binding. Well, one of my favorite tasks of making a quilt is finishing with the binding. My only problem has always been joining the ends of the binding. I always had too much material or lumps but never a smooth finish--until I found the following method. I have wanted to prepare a tutorial, and this is my first quilting tutorial. I have not been able to find a tutorial on this subject on the blogs I follow. My tutorial pictures are not as clean as those on other blogs but here goes.

1. When you begin stitching the binding, start in the middle of one of the sides, leaving an 8" tail. Stitch the binding on all sides of the quilt but stop about 10" from where you began. Remove the quilt from the machine.

2. Working on a flat service, pull the binding ends together to meet in the middle.

3. Crease both ends where they meet, leaving a 1/4" space between the ends.

4. Cut one end off at the crease.

5. Measure and cut the second end the binding width from the crease. My binding is 2 1/4" wide so I cut the second end 2 1/4".

6. Now join the two ends with a diagonal seam careful not to twist.

7. Finish sewing the binding to the quilt.

That is all there is to perfect binding. Hope this tutorial helps with your binding success.