HELLO Friends! I hope you have been well. In case you haven’t kept track, today is the 96th day of the year! I know because I have posted 96 quilts on Instagram for my A Quilt A Day series! I just posted the 96th quilt. If you haven’t checked out my feed on Instagram, look me up there at ivory_spring, or just do a search on my name “Wendy Sheppard”.
Jan 7: Announcement post
Jan 21: Planning, basting, batting, etc
Jan 28: Stabilization quilting or just to catch up
Feb 4, Feb 11: Inside center panel
Feb 25: Top and Bottom Rectangles
March 4: Top and Bottom Squares
March 11: Left and Right Side panels
Mach 18: Narrow Sashing
April 1: Outside (wider) Border
**April 8: Binding & Hanging
MAKE SURE YOU READ THROUGH THE END FOR GIVEAWAY INFORMATION!
We are at ROUND 11 and our last round today! It’s been so fun to quilt along with my dear friend, Karen, and YOU. I hope you have had an enjoyable time exploring the ins and outs of domestic machine quilting.
My main take away, besides enjoying machine quilting on my machine, has been the time I made to keep in touch with Karen! Karen is a busy lady — she does a lot as far as educating machine quilters. So, it’s been a blessing to chat/text with her about our quilt-along! SO — as you can see, just grab a friend or two, local or by proxy — and you will have a fun common project to work on to improve your machine quilting skills, as well as keeping in touch with friends!
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In the event of you might still be gathering your supplies, don’t worry! That’s okay — jump in when you are able to. Click HERE where Karen keeps a list of shops where you can purchase the supplies.
I have heard positive responses from many regarding my book. THANK YOU!
You may order my book from:
or email me for signed copies!
I will be using Aurifli 50 wt threads from my Subtle Strings collection. You may read more about the collection here, and here. You may order your collection here for $99.99 (regularly selling for $140)! DO TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THIS GREAT PRICE!
Meanwhile, you may also order the collection HERE and HERE.
My Subtle Strings colors 50wt threads that are specially selected to achieve a subtle contrast effect in the quilting. That is to say, we get to quilt with pretty colors on our quilts, but the colors aren’t really visible from afar and are not competing with the overall look of the quilt, until one looks at the quilting close up. These colors are also perfect for piecing, machine or hand applique — definitely my go-to! Why limit yourself to using only beige and light brown, or white?! LIFE’S TOO SHORT!
Today, we are finishing up our quilt by attaching a hanging sleeve and the binding!
If you remember, we left off with this last week — with a wonky quilted quilt because it’s been handled in various ways during the quilting process.
What I normally do is to lay the quilt down on a tile floor, spritz the quilt damp with just water from a spray bottle. Pat down the bumps on the quilt, and let the quilt dry overnight at least. You might have to tug the quilt a bit sometimes to make sure the quilt lays down flat when being dampened. By the time it’s dry, the quilt should be flat!
THEN I square up my quilt using my 12 /12″ x 12 1/2″ ruler. Some of you have the 20″ x 20″ — that’s even better. Here you can see that I have squared up a corner of my quilt.
Once squared up, I zig zag to finish the raw trimmed edge of my quilt before attaching the binding and hanging sleeve. Finishing the raw edge helps me achieve a “flat” effect after the binding is attached, and crisp corners.
I handstitch my binding down — with a John James #7 long darner and Aurifil 28wt thread. I like the strength of the heavier weight of 28wt for binding.
Here I have quilt, bound and everything! See the crisp corners?
Friends, this has been SEW MUCH FUN!
The textures from machine quilting never ceases to dazzle!
AND NOW ABOUT THE GIVEAWAY:
Karen and I have some fun giveaways for those of you who complete your quilt! Email either of us pictures of your completed quilt between now and 4/26. And on 4/29, we will announce winners! The goodies will be GOOD! You won’t want to miss out.
And with that, let’s go visit Karen — click HERE to go to Karen’s blog!
Have a great week, Dear Friends!
Ivory Spring 
Wendy, such a dazzling finish for a simple panel. I have a couple of panels….the “why did I buy this?” …..in my stash and plan to utilize your and Karen’s instructions. Thanks for the wonderful ideas. Redbuds are beginning to swell and dogwoods won’t be far behind. Fayetteville is ahead of us about a week or so. Do you miss spring in the Ozarks?
Hi Wendy By finished you mean with binding? I’m going out of town tomorrow in hopes to find fabric for my binding. I like the black polka dot you chose if I can find it would you mind if I copy? Thank you so much for the fun quilt along. Kathleen Ross (horsenut2 on IG)
Love the finished product!