It's a New Year and my first Design Wall post of 2010 and this is what is up there today. Nothing exciting, just leftover blocks from making gingerbreads before Christmas, triangle practise blocks for a new mini, and borders that I'm sewing for my Red & Aqua quilt top. This is the first UFO that I am tackling for this year, and if you're a long time blog reader, you know how I hate sewing borders!! It's so boring...and there's all that annoying measuring to do. But I'm so close to finishing this quilt, that I am inspired to get the borders on and get to the quilting stage.
Yesterday this was on my design wall....sewing together bits and pieces of red and aqua fabrics into a quilt backing. I must admit that I really love buying the wide backings...it's so easy and convenient, no big pieces to measure, no additional piecing to do right at the end of the project and then no bulky seams to quilt through. However, using the wide backings doesn't use up any stash, especially all those pieces that are hanging around after the quilt top is complete.
Look at my cutting table here...I have cut the binding strips (on the right of the table) and they are ready to sew together. After piecing a quilt, there are so many little pieces hanging around! Some people throw them out, but I could never do that...{shudder}.I think to myself "I paid for all of the fabric and I'm going to use every piece"! But this thinking results in lots of little packages of small bits filling up my storage space. SO...this year I am going to try to piece more backings and use up these scraps. I do have more red and aqua blocks and briefly considered putting those in the backing, but I decided to make a second quilt with those. I wonder what I'll use for that backing since there are very few scraps left now!?!?
10 comments:
I agree with limited sewing on the backing of a quilt. My idea of a "pieced" back is sewing a long strip on the backing to get to the required width or length and so I don't have to cut more yardage than necessary!
Liz
I agree about the backing! Every once in a while, I get a wild hair and I piece a back, but it seems to take FOREVER 'cause I just wanna get to the quilting part!
The widebacks ARE easier to handle and faster BUT having joined Judy's Stashbusting game, I WILL be piecing lots of backs so my Stash report will look great! :) I really do have way too much stash and it's time to USE IT UP. I want to buy more fabric, but there is no room at the inn. Dar
I am trying to make mini's, table toppers, pillowcase edgings etc with my quilt leftovers... doesn't always work as I love the wide backings too. ;-)
I totally have the same issues with borders, boring and tedious. I have 2tops waiting borders right now, and since I have 2 in progress that number will double soon. Piecing backs has not been on my radar, it is almost like making another quilt. I can't wait to see your aqua and red completed.
I converted to a one piece back about a year ago, and what a difference it made in my getting things done. I LOVE flannel on the back on anything that will be next to a body, so I get the 90" wide neutral flannel from FAbric Depot and put that on the back of everything. I do sew bits of remnants of this together also and use it.
Thanks for sharing your lovely brights on your wall!! Just my flavor!
I can only do scraps for so long and then all those bits and pieces make me feel crazy!!! That's when I "clean out" a bit and send a few scraps to our quilt guild. I can't wait to see the fruits of your scrappy labors!
I have been piecing my quilt backs for almost a year and it is quite uplifting to use up my stash for this purpose. And now I won't have to live to be 105 to use up my stash!!!
I am not a border girl either. They are worth the trouble, but they can be a pain - I swear if it were not for borders some quilts wouldn't be anything at all! I am happy to see that you tossed a project up on the design board, always nice to see somebody busy sewing. BTW, your cold weather found it's way down here to Minnesota. Send heat. I'm too cold to sew! Hee!
If you like scrap quilts, don't forget those for using up your little (not big enough for backing) scraps. Great scrap projects: Pat Sloan's Calendar Quilt and just about any of Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville quilts especially the "Crumb Blocks" which don't even require the scraps to be exact sizes!
I am always on the look out for or keep a couple of scrap quilt ideas handy so that when I finish cutting for a project, I can put aside pieces as small as 1-1/2" towards a project.
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