Color Kazoo Blocks and Rails

I finished quiting the Color Kazoo quilt and it came out pretty well. I quilted the center with boxes, it wasn't as easy as stippling at first, but it got better as I went. It's probably easier on a long arm machine, but it wasn't too bad. I thought it looked better after washing, and I think it's a nice little quilt. I hope to get my next quilt basted tomorrow, but have to go get more batting first.
I had a good day Wednesday. I drove down to Gold Beach to judge the quilts for the fair. It was my first judging experience and although I was pretty nervous about it, everything went well and I learned a lot. One of the things I learned was that the reason judges pick on your batting is that may be the only thing to pick on! Luckily we didn't have too many categories with more than two quilts, there was one with 6. They were bed quilts. They were varying in difficulty, but all were well done, and the bindings were one of the big deciding points. Though each one looked like it was done with care, there were differences in the corners, the fullness of the bindings, and the way they were stitched down. So, make sure you take as much care in finishing your binding as you do in your piecing or quilting.

What I look for in a binding: The binding should be even all the way around the quilt, the batting should fill it all the way to the edge, the corners should be mitered, all the same, and nice and square. The joint should not be noticeable, and the general preference is stitched invisibly on the back. I do a lot of mine top-stitched to the front, though and generally get good marks for those! I think ideally the binding should be the same width on the back as on the front, but that's flexible as long as it is consistent in size on both sides.

Remember, the binding is your last chance to make a good impression, whether your quilt is judged or not. Make it as good as you can!

Jane block for July 17

Thursday I worked on the 11th triangle from the left on the top. I want to get this whole side of triangles done then I will be officially 1/4 of the way through this quilt. I started January of 04, so I hope it doesn't take me 13 1/2 years to finish this whole quilt!

Well, this triangle had some oddly angled diamonds in the middle, then from there the whole block was built around that. I strip pieced the diamond unit, using masking tape to mark the angle on my 6 inch square ruler. For the half diamonds at the top and bottom I made a strip of blue and white, the cut the diamonds using this angle also, then pieced the strips onto the sides. After that I made freezer paper templates for the triangles, pieced them onto the diamond, cut strips to add for the top sections and trimmed up with my triangle ruler after. The top diamond is appliqued on. Took me 2 1/2 hours, but it looks lovely and is done! The next triangle is just applique so I got that cut out and am ready to tackle it during any sit-down time I have during the week.

Yesterday I went to the quilt shop and traded patterns for fabric and got backings for two quilts. So now I have 4 quilts that are ready to go, but I need more batting. My goal is to get 1 done each week, so I have one lined up to work on this afternoon. It is Color Kazoo - pretty pinks and greens. The border will be fun to quilt because I'm just going to follow the lines in the fabric. The middle, I'm not sure yet. Maybe I'll try something different. Some boxy stippling might be kind of neat. We'll see what inspires me once I lay it out!

Well, time to get on with my day. Lots of altering lined up, but quilting breaks are planned, so I hope to have a very productive day.

What I did at work today...

I though it would be fun to talk about what I do at the quilt shop all day, and share some pictures. Today was the Farmers Market so I try to get there early because the Market opens around 9:00, and the earlier you get there the better the chance for a parking spot! I only have to drive about 5 minutes to work, and today I was busy at home so I didn't get there until 9:45. I unlocked the front door, and as I put my bags down at the desk greeted my first customer of the day. I went to the back, turned on the lights and picked up our cash box. While chatting, I set up the cash register for the day and read the notes Sharan left me.

Today's market special was Christmas in July, so I set up the table outside the front door, put two stacks of Christmas fabric out and a basket of McKenna Ryan Gingerbread Lane kits. Then I went back to the computer and made up the sale sign.

I waited on some more customers, then went to the back table to check in some bolts of fabric. Pretty new fabric from Alex Anderson in reds and blacks. I wanted to buy some so badly - they were lovely! Checking in means marking them off on the invoices, and initialling, pricing, and cutting four fat quarters from each bolt. In between waiting on customers I got this task done fairly quickly.

I visited with my friend Candy who stopped in to see what I was up to and tell me that she finished quilting her quilt. She has two days to bind it so she can enter it in the fair. Can't wait to see it hanging, it's a winner for sure!

The next thing on my list was to bind a quilt for Sharan. I trimmed the edges of the quilt, cut binding strips and ironed the binding. Before I knew it, it was 12:00! Since there was a lull in activity in the store I decided to try to finish the binding before I had lunch. I was actually able to sew the binding to the back by machine, then turn it and top stitch it in a little over an hour!

It was a good thing I got that done, because the minute I got my lunch sack out, the customers starting coming in and it was pretty much non stop until 4:00. My favorite cosutomers of the day was a family with grandma, mom, and two daughters. Grandma was the quilter, but they all got inspired by the fabrics (Amy Butler!) and left with patterns for tops, a laptop cover, and fabric for several projects! The farmers market starts shutting down at 3:00, but I had people in the shop one after the other until an hour later.

After that it was pretty quiet until closing. The phone only rang twice the whole day, which is very unusual, but we were way busier than usual with customers. I had my cup of yogurt for break, then got busy and sewed up some of my scrappy 9-patch blocks and made a set of disappearing 9-patches. Then I turned off the iron, straightened up, and was ready to close. The register was off by 6 cents, so I just put the extra in our back up and was ready to leave for the day.

I was glad to get home to dinner in the crock pot, a glass of cold ice tea and time to relax at the computer! Next time maybe I'll be able to take more pictures, today was too busy for that.