Most days are quilting days but then there are days where life just interrupts my quilting harmony. This weekend has been one of those. It involved some seasonal yard work. Its gotten colder here and the weekends are numbered before it’s too cold for me.  I get a lot from quilting but I also need a break at times to refresh. Getting outdoors to garden helps feed the spirit. This kind of digging I would say was more the type one would need to drive out evil spirits. Lets just say the demons are now gone!

I am very happy that we got the large shrub out and moved to the back yard corner where it can grow to the size and shape it should be.  I’ve been fighting to keep it into a more compact smaller area. While it was beautiful, it would have to come out and trim back branches so people could get to my front door.  I have a much smaller variety to place in the front that wont get huge like this big guy and should be just as nice.

It can be like that with quilt piecing too. I’ve tried to fit a larger block into a space and it just won’t work until I cut it down to the size it should be. So much time and work can be saved if I just make sure to measure my blocks and make sure they are the correct size. Its easier to fix then than when I’m trying to fit all the blocks together. These are life lessons I have to remind myself and learn more than once.

Here is a new technique I was shown at AQS Grand Rapids in August. It is using a Felling Foot to put on a machine binding. The original use for this foot is french seams. To make a binding I cut a 2″ strip that will be folded in half and stitched with the raw edge to the outside edge of the quilt with the Felling foot & the machine needle all the way to the left. After its applied all the way around the quilt is turned & the folded edge is pulled over the lip on the inside of the foot. When stitched it aligns the binding so that the thread catches the edge on both sides of the binding. Here is a photo of my first try. Its a little bit narrow but was very accurate two step process. Here is a link to a tutorial I found that shows step by step how to do this. http://awomanaday.com/2013/01/17/happy-feet-quilt-binding-edition/  I believe you can find this foot for about any machine brand.

Have a great day & sew on!