Masquerade Labels and Binding

The free motion quilting on a quilt, especially one as large as this king size one, is always the hardest and most time-consuming part for me. FMQ was the topic of my posts for  9/25/20, FMQing triangles and  10/12/20, FMQing inserts and hex centers. Finishing details like machine embroidering the labels and attaching the binding do take an effort but a much more manageable one than free motion quilting  – most of the time. I wanted blue grosgrain ribbon for the labels on Masquerade, but, as luck would have it, I did not have any. Normally I would just dash into my local craft store and have them measure out ½ or ¾ yard for me. But, during this pandemic, I am not leaving my home for anything non-essential; plus, the store I would use does not regulate its customer traffic safely enough for my satisfaction at this contagious time. Fortunately, there is almost always the option of purchasing online, partnered with mail delivery or curbside pickup. So to cut two labels, each about 10" long, I needed to ordered an entire roll of blue grosgrain ribbon – 25 yards of it! It was $10 for the whole roll so the price was not that bad. Maybe I can ribbon weave some pillow covers with the non-trivial length of leftovers. But then I would need a second color - no? This thought process reminds me of the book If You Give a Mouse a  Cookie.

Having some extra was good. It was not until the fifth attempt was I successful in embroidering the quilt name and date. My first attempt was progressing great but the thread broke before the file "0" of "2020". When I tried just adding another digit I goofed, and the letter "M" from the beginning of the word appeared instead. On try #2 the thread broke after 7 letters of the 15 character phrase; on try #3, the thread broke almost immediately. I rethreaded my machine top thread, removed the bobbin and cleaned and oiled the area before reinserting the bobbin. Perhaps the eye of the needle was too small or had a burr? I changed from an 80/12 to a 90/14 machine needle. On try #4 the entire phrase came out fine – almost. It appeared to me the second character, the "A", was slightly squashed so it read as MISQUERADE. Perhaps I was constraining the free flow of the ribbon somehow. Since I tend to be fussy, I decided to try one more time. Lo and behold, attempt #5 was a winner! MASQUERADE_2020. I was able to embroider my name exactly as I had wanted it on the first try, the bottom most label in the following photo. Whew! I had visions of using up the bulk of that 25 yards.

For the quilt binding I wanted to do the flanged binding, first because I like the crisp look and second because I did not want to hand stitch (88 + 92 + 88 + 92) = 360 inches along the perimeter. There is a full tutorial on this binding technique at Susie's Magic Binding. I've used it previously on my Fun Guys quilt (6/17/15 post), my E_I_E_I_O quilt (12/9/15 post), and my Whirligiggles quilt (3/23/20 post). For a ⅜" wide binding with an ⅛" flange I cut a white strip 1⅝" and a striped strip 1⅜" wide then sewed them along their length with a ¼" seam. I chose the black and white stripe as the main binding fabric as a graphic accent.  To me black and white fits in with a masked ball.

I made sure to stagger the bias seams of the two fabrics when I joined them, eventually...

... nearing the end. Finally!

Pressing along the 10 yard length of the binding took three passes of the iron: once to set the seam, once again to press it open, and a third time to fold it in half revealing the ⅛ flange.

At the tapered end of the ironing board, the length of binding kept slipping off to the front or back. The pressing process went much more smoothly merely by placing a square board with a straight edge over the pointy end of the board. Then the binding was able to hang straight down from each end of the ironing board.

I used Clover Wonder Clips® to hold the folded over binding and checked periodically for a uniform ⅜" width with a hemming gage.

Using a stitch-in-the-ditch foot, I sewed within that white flange all around the quilt. The bunched up quilt made quite a pile on the surface of my sewing cabinet.

Along the edges with the inserted isosceles triangles, here is the way the binding looked. The white thread is neatly camouflaged within the white flange. The parallel quilting lines in the triangular inserts were spaced apart a similar amount to the stripes on the binding. For the binding around the four quilt corners, I navigated two 120° angles at each of the four corner hexagons. 

I put the labels on the back in the lower two corners, angled to parallel one edge of the corner hexagon. The two corners are folded in to meet each other in the next photo.

It is about time to reveal the completed quilt, right? As soon as I put on the hanging sleeve I will be able to display it all at once, take some pictures, and publish my final post on Masquerade. I am so looking forward to completing this one!

Pre-Thanksgiving Color and Stitchery

What are you thankful for at Thanksgiving? Many things of course. But for me, from the vantage point of my quilting world perspective, I need to add to that list the rich colors and textures of the holiday. I love pumpkins in many shapes and types and here is the variety I have on my hearth for tomorrow. From left to right there is the rough woven straw, the crisp plaid cotton fabric, the nubby cable knit, the gathered silky smooth velvet, and bright, slick, hammered copper.

My younger son Alex absolutely loves a lighted tree so yesterday I assembled our 6' tall pre-lit Walmart tree and placed just a few gold ornaments on it to represent the tones of Thanksgiving. Last year was the first time we did not have a freshly cut live tree and I was a bit wistful that purchasing an artificial tree would signal us letting go of a "real" tree tradition. However, being able to erect this tree in less than 30 minutes, when the inspiration struck me, has a lot of benefits. Alex can double his holiday enjoyment. Alex is a special needs adult, but one of the perks of his situation is that he continues to enjoy typical childlike pleasures. (You can see Alex enjoying his birthday quilt in my post for May 26, 2014.) I do not want to rush Christmas, so I will wait to add the red and other bright ornaments later, in a week or so. For now, we have lights and golden hues for Thanksgiving.

For the Thanksgiving holiday, I enjoy setting a pretty table more than I enjoy the cooking part of things – and much, much, more than dealing with the cleanup and all those turkey leftovers. Here are some plates I bought at T.J.Maxx several years ago. The pattern is Royal Turkey by Maxcera but I did not know that was anything special at the time. I just liked them with their scrolls and ripply edges and bright orange-reds. I love that although there is a turkey, the colors are not just browns. The painted fruits brighten up the plates, too, as if that striking border were not enough!

The burgundy tablecloth underneath that plate was also a discount store find many years ago, but this is the first time I have used it.The quilters out there may enjoy the embroidered and appliquéd leaves at the edges and corners. Those leaves are what attracted me to it when I bought it. The low price for such detail was a pretty good incentive, also.

Since there will be only four of us tomorrow at a table big enough for six or eight, I draped a table runner crosswise at one end. I'd picked up the leaves runner at an antique store. Again I was drawn in by appreciation for the stitchery. Those tea light holders shaped like leaves were a random find at a dollar store. My son will have a blast blowing out the tea lights and having us relight them repeatedly for him. It is gratifying to watch that such a small thing gives him such great pleasure.

I love dragging bits of items from my closets, collected a various random times, and putting them together in a fun way. After gathering it all together, this is what the table will look like, pre-food. Tomorrow I will add a few red carnations in the individual mini-vases or tuck them  in with the gold utensils at each place. Those mini-vases hold pumpkins, leaves, and candy corn stick decorations within.

Shortly after taking a quilting class in fall 2014 at Alden Lane's Quilting in the Garden I bought those stick decorations at their Christmas shop. The whimsical candy corns make me smile. The pumpkins may have faces on them making them Jack O'Lanterns but I still think they add to the ambience and friendly tone of the Thanksgiving table.

My son's mini-vase is customized more to his taste. Those Tootsie Rolls pops remain true to the red, orange, and brown color scheme.

There is no food yet, but our dog Daphne is practicing for her food coma tomorrow.

Hopefully there will be moderation for us, and not a food coma. This is the first time ever that for a Thanksgiving at home, I will not be cooking. We are buying a holiday feast from a local restaurant. A single adult friend will be joining my husband and son and me. Not cooking gave me time to do this fussy table decor stuff that I love.

I am thankful that tomorrow promises to be a low-key day for us to relax and count our blessings; catch the Macy's Day parade on TV... watch a little football... blow out a few candles... do a jigsaw puzzle. I am blogging today instead of frantically baking. Whooo, knows? Maybe we will do it again this way next year.

I am joining up now with Freshly-Pieced's work in progress pre-turkey link party.

What's In a Name?

In my previous post I revealed the smiling crawly critters that were to go with the checkerboards of my soon to be revealed quilt. It gave me a happy feeling to have these five smiling faces watching over me from my design wall. Next up was naming this grinning crew.

The fabric line was Backyard Safari and the quilt kit had the same title but I was not fond of Backyard Safari for a name. It was too advanced a vocabulary, especially for a baby quilt. Here is one checkerboard block next to one critter block. I wanted something with bugs in the title or something that hinted at the smiles on the critters and perhaps checkerboards.

I could not let go of trying to find a name. I was driving my husband crazy. In fact, when I went to bed at night I could not fall asleep as possibilities kept running through my mind. Counting bug titles does not work like counting sheep! I finally had to resort to an old trick of writing things down on a pad by my bed to let go and let slumber take over. I rejected a whole collection of potential names.

Names that rhyme
Bug Hug, Snug as a Bug,  Hug-a-Bug, Bugs with Hugs

Names that are alliterative
Bucket of Bugs, Bunch of Bugs, Bug Bounty, Bug Brigade, Snips and Snails, Bug Buddies

Names that convey a message that is not very friendly (especially if you google their meaning)
Doodlebug (sounds cute but it is a gross-looking larva of the ant-lion or a woodlouse, yuk!),
Bug Off, Bug Out, Bah Humbug, Bugaboo, Quit Buggin' Me

Names that convey friendship
Friendly Bugs, Bug Games, My Bug Friends, Smiley Bugs, Bug Grins, Happy Bugs, Bug Friends

Names from movies
Love Bug, A Bug's Life

Names that hint at non-creative desperation
Bug Medley, My Bugs, Bugs and Me, Checkerboard, Bugs

Alas, none of the previous options seemed quite right. But, by the following morning, I think my subconscious had stumbled upon a winner. Eureka! I found it! I hit upon a name that just felt right.

The name will be Bugs R Us. Yes. Bugs R Us is just right. I cannot do a backwards R or an apostrophe on my sewing machine, but the idea is still there. The name hints about toys or fun things and suggests camaraderie because of the "us" part.  I wrote it down quickly before I forgot it. I used the alphabet stitch on my Pfaff to embroider the label on grosgrain ribbon before I changed my mind.

I am linking up now to this week's WIP Wednesday at Freshly Pieced. Then I am back to work on Bugs R Us. Aah... it feels must better now to say Bugs R Us then to stumble over saying "my checkerboard/bug/smiley-critter/mystery/soon-to-be revealed quilt."