More of my 'Journey'

As I was quilting Journey, (full shots of finished quilt here ) the quilt did not yet have that name.  Matchstick quilting takes a long long time on a home machine, so I have old shows on the television and I think about the name of the quilt, if it doesn't have one yet, and my mind wanders to other topics; guild work, my job, my family, and this time I kept thinking about where I started in quilting and how different my little quilting world is now.  

For example Binding 

Scared of binding ~ avoid binding, have quilts that aren't even bound ~ binding looks like a 3 year old put it on ~ I can bind a little bit ~ oh, look, machine binding ~ machine binding looks like a 3 year old put it on ~ practice practice practice ~ I machine bind all my quilts now, even the ones I am considering entering in shows or exhibits.

I used the background Chambray for the binding on Journey with just two slices of the yellow Chambray from Andover Fabrics

My machine binding has improved in the last year.  I read other blog posts with tips, and then worked at it until I had a technique that works best for me.  I cut the fabric strips 2 1/4" for machine binding. Sewing the binding to the front of the quilt with just less than a 1/4" seam, making sure to never go over the 1/4".  I press the binding toward the back after it is sewn down, and then stitch right on the edge of the binding on the back of the quilt.  I use thread in the bobbin that matches the front (that is where that thread will show) and I feel for the edge of the binding on the front as I feed it through the machine, trying not to catch it in the new seam.  I end up with a seam line that should be very close to the binding fold on the front.  

Is it perfect?  No.

Do I make it right every time?  No.

Will some judges not like this?  Probably.  

Will other quilters judge me on this?  Maybe.  

Am I happy with this technique?  Yes.  

And that last question's answer is all I need for my quilts.  

Journey

I named this quilt Journey for a few reasons - and after trying for almost a week to photograph it, I almost wanted to call it 'Journey of rain, weeds, poison ivy, too sunny, and unavailable tall quilt holders'

I don't have many progress photos on this one, they were taken late at night, with my phone, and look crappy, so I'm not even going to bother with those.  You just get to see the finished project!

I'm a big fan of the Chambray collection by Andover Fabrics, and the background on this one is printed Chambray by Alison Glass, from the Ex Libris collection.  I found the background color difficult to photograph, the color wanted to blend into any outdoor setting. 

I did a little journeying around to find a couple of spots I thought the quilt would fit into.

Journey measures 84" x 71" - I needed to very tall holders.  Luckily, my son and future son in law are well over 6' (they come in handy and usually are good sports about these shoots).  Although the poison ivy and possibility of snakes in this area had them watching their toes.

I wanted to talk about my journey with quilting, but I am still putting together my thoughts.  I will post again with a narrative of why I wanted to name this quilt, with a few close up photos of the quilting, those didn't happen today.  I was lucky to get these guys after work with enough light and no rain for these photos. 

The printed fabric is Handcrafted by Alison Glass, the first collection.  There will be a new collection of Handcrafted coming out soon.

Quilted with Aurifil #2975 Brass in 28 wt, bobbin thread Aurifil #2600 Dove (my favorite color) in 50 wt.  The quilt top was 88" x 74"  after quilting it is now 84" x 71"  who knows what will happen after washing!