Craftsy BOM 2012 - Blue Quilt Done!

Finished binding this rather large quilt yesterday evening, and took some photos of the finished blue quilt on the ironing board.  Maybe I can get someone to hold it up over their heads so I can take a photo of the full quilt front and back.  In the meantime, here's my too-excited-to-wait photos...

The quilt is bound using DIY binding made from backing fabric scraps.  Since the blocks were medallion-style quilted, then sewn together, this made for a LOT of scraps.

I'm really pleased with how the blocks came together. Doing the free-motion quilting in smaller chunks really let me explore different motifs and techniques.  For new FMQ-ers like me, I found Leah Day's motifs, tips, and tricks to be invaluable.  Her main website is free, and her first Craftsy course focuses specifically on this quilt as well as generally handy techniques for free-motion quilting on a regular home sewing machine.  Those Machinger's gloves that she recommends are not a gimmick.  If you have perpetually dry hands like I do in winter, those gloves saved me a lot of muscle aches. They helped me grip the quilt-sandwich open-handed - letting the machine do it's job without fighting the weight of the fabric.  I'm now using the gloves for all kinds of sewing, not just quilting.

I bought this binding foot off of e-bay to sew on the binding, but I couldn't figure out how to turn corners with it.  So, it's great for straight binding, or continuous binding, but not so much for corners.  Maybe there's some kind of trick I don't know. (?)

 I don't like it when my blankets have a lip or any edge that can snag a toenail.  So, I ended up doing a second pass on the binding with a zig-zag stitch.

Next up... finish the twins knitted blankets and a whole host of  holiday projects!  I think I'm going to wear this quilt over my shoulders while I work on the knitting machine.  It's cold today!

Happy crafting, everyone!