Charming and Binding

Several months ago, I won a charm pack as a door prize from quilt club. After it sat in my closet forever, I decided I should do something with it. I found a free pattern on the internet here and thought it seemed like something neat to make. The pattern suggested a specific charm pack, but the one I had worked fine. It 's neat to see color variation on quilts anyway. I was a little nervous because this quilt required appliqueing which is something I've never done, but I think it turned out ok. The instructions were for what I call "cheater" applique anyway. You use interfacing on the fabric to keep it from fraying and then stitch directly on top of it to adhere it to the quilt. I think it still looks neat and definitely worked for this quilt anyway. I might try it again since it was fun and pretty easy. Some of the pictures I attached are small, but you can click on them to see a full sized image.

I think the most exciting thing about this quilt for me was that I finally learned how to bind properly and am not scared of it anymore. It turns out that it was as simple as watching a youtube video to learn a better technique. I am very pleased with how it turned out. My corners look very nice. Nice enough to include a photo. And I really don't mind binding. A lot of people seem to hate it, but it might be the part of my quilting that I'm most confident in now.

There are still several things that i need to work on with my sewing. I didn't get the fabric tight enough, so when I did the top quilting, I got some puckering which is very annoying. I have a theory on how to keep that from happening now. I'll let you know if it works the next time I try. I also still suck at top quilting so there or some areas that look crappy. Then there is the matter of needing to learn to properly square off my quilt and improve my corners meeting. But I guess practice makes perfect. Maybe more youtube videos would help too.

I also made Meg a little bag for her birthday. It's the same pattern as the one I showed awhile back, but I changed it slightly. I got two half-yard pieces of fabric and sewed them together before following the pattern so that I could make the bag with a different colored lining. I think it turned out ok, and Meg seemed to like it, so I'm happy.

Lastly, back by popular demand (i'm joking. no one seems to care either way) is name that tune. Richard got the last one. Crazy Train, by Black Sabbath. I learned a new song last weekend, so I recorded a bit of it. I think it should be pretty easy. The hint is that it's another classic rock band and I covered a song by one of the members of the band awhile back. Good luck.