Another Finish

My Kaleidoscope quilt has been finished for several weeks now and resides on my bed. I love it and my DH loves it. My Longarm quilting still needs to be perfected, but the only way that's going to happen is by doing. (This is the 3rd quilt I've done on my Longarm). It's hard to see the quilting from the front of the quilt because the Kaleidoscope (K) blocks are so busy. When I arrived at the part of quilting the K blocks I was in quite a dilemma because I didn't want to take away from the K design. So, I just went with it and followed a design pattern from the K block itself, resulting in each block being quilted differently based on the K design of that block. So...I quilted and quilted and quilted for what seemed like forever thinking I would never get to the end of this king sized quilt. 

Well....I didn't know what was happening on the reverse of the quilt...when I unrolled it from the frame this is what I discovered....

My quilt is now reversible. I wasn't even thinking about the back of the quilt! I was totally blown away. Now,  for you expert quilters, this may be nothing to you, but after seeing the reverse of my quilt I was totally impressed with myself!

Every single block is different...just like on the front!

Here is a partial view of the front...on my bed. I used my serger to create a wave stitch for the binding. I totally dislike doing traditional binding and call my methods "Binding without Boundaries" or maybe "No Boundaries for Bindings".

I don't want this post to get too long so I'll do another post later about my experimentation with bindings...especially my serger method. I would love to put together some serger tutorials...there is so much that can be done with the serger in general and combined with quilting. I've even done a mitered border using my serger! Maybe tutorials are in my future (More to come on that too).

Thanks for visiting! Have a blessed day!

Happy Living! Happy Quilting!

It's A Saturday Sharing Day at Pigtales and Quilts. Go take a look at what everyone else is sharing on this Saturday and share something yourself. It's easy to link up! This is what I would like to share...

Happy Saturday! And Happy Saturday Sharing Day.

 

I sewed the last quilting stitch on my black and white diamond quilt which I'm naming "DeAnna's Diamonds" This was the first quilt that I quilted on my longarm...I finally showed that machine who was boss, after saying to myself..."self, it's only thread and not a permanent marker...thread can be removed". I realized I was right...and I removed all stitches that I was unhappy with. (It also helped that the thread was black and I was stitching on mostly black and the backing was a busy white flower on black...you really couldn't see the stitching at all)

 

 

See..you really can't see the stitching on the back..maybe if you zoom really close...but you don't have to do that...just take my word for it that there's stitching there!

 

 

 

This is the border. I quilted the arches between each diamond on the border. Sorry for the poor picture quality...but you get the idea. My sister at Sew Much and More gave me these rulers for Christmas.

 

 

I generally serge the edges of my quilt before I put on the binding. It holds the layers together PLUS cuts off the excess batting and backing all at the same time!

 







 

Serging makes a nice support for the binding. This is a wide three thread overlock so it doesn't add too much bulk.

 

This is my serger. I love, love, lover her! She is so versatile! I've pieced several quilts with her and my seam allowance is always perfect...she sews a perfect 1/4 inch overlock stitch! And my edges are neatly finished.

 

 

But threading and tension adjustment is such a horrific chore you say? Not this "Baby"...I just put the thread about a half inch inside the threading ports and press the "Push to Thread" button.... and with a whiff of air it threads...

 

 

 

...even threads the looper needle eyes!... Amazing...it's certainly an Evolution in serging. Like I said...I love, love, love her!

 

 

Let's see what else I can share today....oh yeah...

I'M A WINNER!!!

 

I blogged hopped in the Dare to Dresden Blog Hop and I won this beautiful fat quarter from Debbie over at a Traveling Quilter. Thanks Debbie for offering the giveaway...especially since I won!

 

 

 

 

 

I am also taking an online quilting class at Quilt University. I'm taking Designer Pinwheels taught by Dena Crain  She is a really awesome designer and I look forward to learning a lot in the 4 week course.

 

 

Now..on to finishing my quilt...binding and a label and I'm done with "DeAnna's Diamonds" and a February UFO project.

 

Oh... and a quick and easy beverage recipe for a cold winter night:

 

Irish Coffee

 

 

Ingredients:

• 2 teaspoons sugar, or to taste
• 2/3 cup hot brewed coffee (decaf can be used)
• 2 tablespoons Irish whiskey (or Irish cream Liqueur)
• whipped cream

Preparation:

Combine first 3 ingredients; top with a generous dollop of whipped cream. Sprinkle with nutmeg if desired. Makes 1 serving.

 

Thanks for stopping by and visiting. I love reading your comments!

 

Happy Living! Happy Quilting!