Tuesday, June 18, 2019

Ring Me Finish

It doesn't feel like I've made very many quilts this year, and I haven't. I've made four wallhanging-sized quilts, but this is the first big finish. "Ring Me" (because I can't think of a better name) is an adaptation of Amanda Jean Nyberg's quilt from her book No Scrap Left Behind. It's 70" X 82".

I managed to coerce DH outside, in between rainfalls, to hold up the quilt for about 20 seconds to snap a few pictures. This is the best photo, and shows off - to the right of the quilt - the glorious Bismarck palm in our front yard. Those bay windows on the left are my sewing room.
Ring Me, 70" X 82"
I'm pleased with my decision to quilt concentric rings across the quilt, though I thought it would never end. The quilt has 49 full-size ring units, and 22 partial-ring units along the sides. Each unit is six rings. Whew. But who's counting?

The top quilting thread is white 40-weight YLI, with light gray 50-weight Aurifil on the back.

I appreciate everyone's suggestions for removing color bleeding in several places where one particular raspberry-colored, hand-dyed fabric stained the white background. I'll be trying a few of your ideas.

That black and white striped Riley Blake fabric makes a good binding, don't you think? Usually I sew striped binding on the bias, so it looks like a barber pole (Do you even know what that is?), but this time I wanted the angularity of boxy-looking binding to mimic the pieced solids.

This is the status of quilting on my selvage quilt, though it's difficult to see. I am using 50-weight Aurifil thread and a low curve ruler (and Bernina ruler foot) to stabilize all the pieced and selvage areas before I begin big stitch hand quilting in the white squares.

I'm using about 18 different thread colors to match each selvage unit. While using the needle threader to change out a thread color, the threader stuck in the needle's eye and started making a noise and vibrating. I quickly turned off the machine, and just as quickly the entire needle threader sprung apart into pieces.

I learned from my friendly Bernina dealer, Sharky's, that a needle threader isn't warrantied (I bought the machine last November), and that they keep replacement threaders on hand for $34. It's easy to swap out that piece of light gray plastic, so I'll be doing that myself. Darn it anyway.

Still, I'm lovin' this machine, especially for ruler quilting. I made a video of myself using The Low Curve ruler by Amy of AmyQuilts.com and quadruple sped it up. I really, really wish I could do ruler work this quickly! The video includes repositioning the fabric and ruler, and removing basting pins.

I expect to finish machine quilting this week, and hopefully start big stitch hand quilting. 

Tomorrow (Wednesday) I'm teaching my Modern Wedge Quilt workshop from 9:00 am to 3:30 in a member-to-member workshop for Quilting Guild of The Villages. The workshop is limited to 18 people due to space, but thus far only 11 have registered... out of more than 1,200 members of Quilting Guild of The Villages! I'm surprised the class isn't full, but maybe $25 is too expensive. Or quilters aren't into making a modern design?
?? Hmm 💭 Linda

17 comments:

  1. I love everything about this quilt, especially the texture you have created and the binding sets it off! Thank you for taking the time to blog and share everything with us. I apologize for not commenting, I really do appreciate all the time you put into your writing and blogging.

    Rondi
    rondiquilts@yahoo.com

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  2. Linda, I love your quilts. So glad I found you on Bloglovin. I've had luck with Grandma's Stain Remover, which is available in the fabric department of Hobby Lobby. It's usually on the cutting counter. Good luck with the bleed. Keep quiltin'!!!!

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  3. Wow, this is a very pretty quilt.
    So many circles. This one is a treasure

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  4. Lovely quilt Linda. I must say I was really nervous watching you quilt with the ruler. Your hands looked so close to the needle. They Probably weren't but it looked like it. You made it look very easy! Was the video speeded/sped up?

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  5. I love it! I think the quilting and the binding are fantastic.

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  6. Love every part of this post. I try to use striped fabrics for binding as often as possible. A few years ago, I scheduled a series of quilting classes during the summer months, and the turnout was far less than expected. Turns out that between the Florida heat and storms, plus traveling or house guests, many of the quilters I expected for class didn't want to join in. Now I schedule my classes for Sept - March. Have a great week of sewing/quilting and creating.
    D. Weeks

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for commenting! I hope you read this. You are a no-reply commenter. :-( Yes, perhaps attendance was low for the workshop because of so many people traveling at this time of year. Still, I think many quilters just aren't aware of the classes available to them, especially if they don't regularly visit our www.QGOTV.org website. Certainly, it would have been nice to have more quilters take advantage of this opportunity, but dates for offering my class were limited. QGOTV does these member-to-member workshops every month, year-'round. Happy to know you're a striped binding-lover too!

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  7. Really enjoyed the video. The black and white binding is perfect for the rings quilt. And yes, I do remember a barber pole. We still have a couple around town.

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  8. Please don't use Retayne on that quilt. Retayne was developed for hand dyers to help more dye stick to the fabric. It will guarantee that that bleeding is permanent. As a fabric dyer, I've done a lot of testing on bleeding fabrics and all your quilt needs is a good soaking in hot water with Dawn detergent. I wrote all about it here: https://www.colorwaysbyvicki.com/save-my-bleeding-quilt.html

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  9. You certainly have patience to quilt all those circles, but totally worth it! It's fabulous and your binding choice is perfect!

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  10. I loved loved watching the video of you quilting--Oh, don't we all wish we could go that quickly!!

    Your Ring Me turned out wonderfully, and I'm am so glad you chose the circles design as it really contrasts/compliments the piecing of the top. Another finish--woohoo!!

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  11. Two great quilts! That is a LOT of selvedge!

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  12. Great quilt and the concentric rings are a great motif I haven't seen before. Amanda Jean has a post on her old blog about removing dye and I found the technique successful. Wishing you success, it's a beautiful quilt.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for your comment, Robby, but you are "no-reply" so I can't email back to you. Thank you for liking Ring Me, and the concentric rings design. I think curved quilting suits the angularity of this quilt, and it's sort of a pun to have "rings" across the quilt. :-) I appreciate your suggestion of reading Amanda Jean's post about removing dye. I will sure look for it.

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  13. Ring Me is finished with rings! I love it! Love the straight binding, too.
    Thanks for sharing the video. I think it's so helpful to actually see people working. I notice your quilting gloves aren't really gloves but leave you with complete fingers exposed. You've probably talked about them before so next I'll be looking for that post.
    Congratulations on your big IG win! What a fabulous opportunity to play with Liberty.

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  14. It's gorgeous. I LOVE the quilting on it. I've been waiting to have time to do circles like that with one of my quilting templates and haven't tied up the longarm frame that long yet. It looks like it was definitely worth it in your case! Stunning. The striped binding is gorgeous too! A winner!

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  15. Circles were the perfect choice for Ring Me. I still can't believe they are all free motion. It turned out beautifully and looks so light and airy with all the white. Hope some of those suggestions will help get the color fading out. It was also fun to watch your video. If only it were that fast!

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