Friday, June 26, 2015

It's magic!

Hello all, and greetings from my very soggy home! Seriously, it will not stop raining.  As you'll see in the following pictures, there are puddles everywhere, and the grass feels like a sponge.  The sump pump is running quite a lot.  The sad part is that we're still down several inches from where we should be because the last couple of years we were in drought.  Some of the pictures today are darkish because I had to dance between the raindrops to get them, so sorry about that!

Today I am showing off the completely finished Mutant Elephants quilt, complete with a really snappy machine-finished binding!


Well, at least you can really see the quilting! I was going to quilt this myself, but I chickened out.  Just too big, and with limited time in my life, it was better to send it to the longarmer.  I know the turtle and the frog are a little wide-eyed, but I like them.  Plus, those birds are flying, because I forgot to give them legs.  Next time I'll piece some legs in, but for now, they're flying.

I took this lovely little quilt to the park and tried to get some good pictures, but it was really wet.  See the puddles?


Who's going to lay their quilt on that?  Not me!

For this quilt, I did the machine binding again using the tutorial for Susie's Magic Binding, found HERE.  It really is magic! I think it looks fantastic. Look how it turns out:


This binding took me about an hour and 45 minutes, with several breaks, mainly because of the pressing involved.  And stitching that looooong seam in the binding, which was tedious but not difficult. I used my zipper foot to stitch this binding down on the front and it worked great. Plus, last time someone suggested that I do the sides and then do the corners last.  This was a great idea, at least until I get the hang of machine binding quickly.  Even with the "piping," my corners turned out great:


My only trouble with this binding is that I didn't realize that so much of the under fabric would be "lost" and the stripes would essentially be invisible.  Here is a swatch of the two fabrics I used:


See how much of the stripe pattern was hidden?  Next time I'll put a solid on the underside.  The good part is that you can use less of each fabric since they are both cut narrowly, so if you have a really cute fabric but not quite enough for a binding, you can still use it along with something else on the underside. Win!

Everybody have a great weekend.  I'll be checking my north side for moss.  Imagine finding some--wouldn't that be a situation? 



One last thing: The Academic Quilter is now listed on QuilterBlogs.com! We'll see what happens.  This does NOT mean there will be ads.  Still non-profit! But if you are looking for something new or different, head on over there to look around! 

Linking to Confessions of a Fabric Addict and also Finish it up Friday.
 

10 comments:

Gina said...

Love the quilt. What a great looking binding. Thank you for posting a link I'll be trying this on my next quilt

Judy@Quilt Paradigm said...

Your elephant parade turned out fabulous - I just love the big eyes of the frog and turtle! :) I have used the magic binding technique several times, such a GREAT look :)

Have you tried gluing your binding down before sewing? I know it takes longer but not having to fight with the binding when you are doing that final sew around really does make for a great looking final product!

Ramona said...

I have seen several of the elephant parade quilts and yours is wonderful! The binding is too cool. I'm going to have to try that, too.

Dona said...

The quilt is just wonderful, I love the elephants. Nicely done. The quilting and the binding are wonderful too.

Lynette said...

I just love the Elephant Parade quilts. Yours turned out so CUTE! Love the binding, adore the wide eyes and flying birds :D

JanineMarie said...

I love your mutant elephants. And your wide-eyed reptiles. And your flying birds. They add personality. Your binding turned out great, and I do like the little peek of striped fabric even though you expected to see more. Your corners are fabulous. Is it tricky to do them last? I will need to check out that binding tutorial.

Soma @ inkTorrents.com said...

Fabulous quilt! I like the wide eyed frog and the turtle, and the birds are following along. Who would want to walk when you got wings?! :)

-Soma

Sara said...

Fantastic quilt - love the wide-eyed critters and the pink and yellow elephants. Just plain FUN!

Deb @ Frugal Little Bungalow said...

Such a cute quilt !

I am in Western PA, mowed the other day between the latest rains, and yes the grass was squishy and spongy and today it needs mowed again! The weather forecasts calls for more rain later on...

Kristin said...

I love your Elephant Parade! I have one in the works, too. Where in Wisconsin do you live? I'm in Madison! :)