Friday, July 4, 2014

Charity Quilt Finish and Mystery Quilt-A-Long Announcement

As part of the Foothills Piecemakers Quilt Guild, we make philanthropy quilts with members making blocks, making quilt tops, and/or quilting the quilts for various charities.  I did not make this quilt top but offered to quilt and bind it.  I believe that the quilt top was made using some new Coats & Clark fabrics which were donated to the guild.



Charity quilts are wonderful quilts to practice new quilting and binding techniques.  It is a win for the quilter to practice a skill and a win for the guild to have some of the quilt tops finished into quilts.  (My previous charity quilt I used to learn a flower fmq pattern.)

For this quilt I quilted a simple meander because I was running out of time (I already had the sandwich prepared for 4 weeks), but for the first time, I used the backing to make the binding.  



I trimmed and squared the top and batting and then trimmed the backing to extend three quarters of an inch around the quilt top.  I folded in the backing once (so that the raw edge of the backing was adjacent the quilt top and then folded it over again onto the quilt top.  I was able to quickly machine quilt down the binding right on the folded edge.  I don't think that it looks too bad for a first attempt and it was very quick.

The only real hard part was making sure that when I was trimming the quilt top and batting that I did not accidentally cut the backing (I did cut the backing at one little spot but a quick zigzag fixed it).


My other news is that I was volunteered to be chair of the Mystery Quilt for the Foothills Piecemakers Quilt Guild 2014/2015.  I am going to post all of the quilt-a-long instructions and my progress pictures here so that you can join in too :)

The quilt-a-long is going to be at a very leisurely pace, starting this month with fabric selections with one post every month (posted the weekend after the first Thursday of the month) and ending with a reveal in April-ish.

This mystery quilt is an advanced beginner level containing half square triangles, square in a square, and some basic patchwork.  (No applique, Y-seams, or paper piecing).  The quilt construction instructions are different from typical patterns so that the design of the finished quilt remains a mystery as long as possible.

I hope that you decide to join in!  I will be posting the first set of instructions this Saturday or Sunday and I will be also posting my progress along the way. (I will even try to make a button for those participating as soon as I figure out how to make one.)








8 comments:

  1. Wow, Cheryl, we are close! I am in Western NC just over the border. I think I have been to a Foothills quilt show too. Looking forward to your mystery quilt series.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, I love mystery quilts. I think I would love to join in! I always like the idea of using the backing for binding on a quilt, but I worry a lot about accidentally cutting the backing when trimming up!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I like that you were volunteered to be chair LOL :) I love the backing as binding idea!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks for the tip on using the backing as the binding... I never think to do that! I totally agree that charity quilts are a great place to practice your quilting skills and a lovely way to pass on a warm hug and support to someone in the community who needs it. I can see why you volunteered to quilt this one - the colours are so cheerful!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Love the binding idea! And I'm intrigued by your mystery QAL. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  6. very pretty. I love that binding idea, I'm going to have to try in soon.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I really like that quilt and I've been wanting to try that backing as binding idea but was hesitant to. Glad to see it worked so well for you!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Love your charity quilt - you did a great job! Whoop whoop!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a comment!