Last week I talked about my deep dive into the recesses of my stashed-away projects to unearth a short stack of brightly colored, applique Boogie Birds blocks. (Pattern by Linderella Design Studio).
This week I finished the blocks, bordered them, sewed them together - three rows of three blocks. Then I added an outer border, sandwiched and quilted.
I was on tear to finish, so I added the binding and decided to finish the binding by machine.
For the record, I enjoy hand-sewing binding, and I usually finish the binding by hand. But it takes a little extra time, and since I really wanted a quick finish, I decided to take the machine route.
I've seen a bunch of different methods for doing a machine-finished binding. Most of them involve a straight stitch that can sometime go a little off-kilter.
The quilt is smallish (about 40" square). I added the folded binding to the front of the quilt as usual, then turned the fold to the back, pinning it in place all the way around, mitering at the corners like usual.
Instead of using a straight stitch, I chose a wider decorative stitch that looked a bit like cross stitch.
I sewed the decorative stitch from the back using the walking foot.I was pleased with the result, on both the front and back of the quilt.
Since I was on a tear to finish, I think I gave my sewing machine a little heartburn.
It has had quite a work out over these last few months. That binding may have pushed it over the edge.
I finished the project and packed up the machine for a spa day at Patchwork Plus, the local Bernina dealer. Tom already has it ready to pick up! Yay!
The Boogie Birds quilt is done. It's a cage cover for Gillie, the newest fly-in resident at the Ford household.
Here he is, sitting next to his mirror friends giving the quilt a quality control inspection.
This is one spoiled parakeet.
Pin Cushion #25, Shut-down Series
Similar colors are clumped together as I approach the home stretch for this pin-cushion-finishing project. #25 is another citrus-flavored Puffy.
15 left!
Many have asked what my plan is for these squishy sweeties. And I think this week, the answer came to me. I need some time to set up some details before I tell you more. I think you'll like my idea. YOU are a big part of the plan. So stay tuned!
Make your own four-patch pin cushions. For the step-by-step tutorial, jump over to the blog and scroll down to the first Puffy Fours post from March 5. That's when I started, about the same time the world was shutting down to contain COVID 19. And that'll bring you to the beginning of the four-part tutorial.
Happy Stitching!
Wash your hands!
Joan Ford
Head Hummingbird
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