Bali Wedding Star - The Binding

"A journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step"

or in this case a single stitch

I shudder to think just how many miles of stitching has gone into making this quilt.

My Bali Wedding Star has now been beautifully quilted by Desley, and
 I have finally laid it onto my machine for the last time.
 A very careful hour later the binding had been sewn all around.

Before I started I did some research and found a tutorial
(from the Missouri Quilt Company) that suggested taking the machine off on an angle at each corner - rather than stopping 1/4" short or sewing straight off.....

Wow - what a difference that made!
The stitching created a firm 45 degree angle to fold the binding against.
I have never had corners so neat.


All that is left to do is hand stitch the binding and remember a label.
- And a photo -

My Beautiful Rose

Shakespeare wrote in Romeo & Juliet

 "A Rose by any other name would smell as sweet"

It has long lost it's label so I can't tell you what it is

It grows on the fence beside the garage -

Never watered or fertilized.

Yet I wake some mornings with the heady fragrance 

of this beautiful bloom

on my pillow.

Everyday is Valentine's Day.

Mariner's Compass - The Rings

Goodness - was my last post almost a month ago?

Things have been pretty hectic here but in between the Chaos and Catastrophes I find some small spots of Calm when I can pull aside to do something for me. (Even if it IS a Quilt for someone else!)

Since my last Blog post I have been working on THE RINGS of the Quiltworx Mariner's Compass.

There are two sets of rings, designed to look like ROPE.  The Inner ring weaves it's way through the major elements of the quilt locking the Spokes together with the Sails and skipping in and out of the Feathered Star points.


The Outer Ring sits behind the design, giving the illusion that the Compass is resting upon it and forms a circular outer border before being tied together with the background fabric.

I have spent a LOT of time trying to get the colours and fabric right for the 'look' I want this quilt to have and when I got to the rings I wanted to make the chosen colours appear to be consistent as they disappeared and then reappeared out the other side.

The process I used to make sure my rings did just that involved a lot of photocopying, sticky tape and colouring in with highlighter pens!

The inner ring I used 4 fabrics, keeping the colours consistent with 2 being completely hidden under the feathered star and 2 for the Spikes.
The larger outer rings were a bit easier - I found 5 fabrics worked well with just 3 colours hiding under the points of the Sails.

I am now at the point where I start sewing it all together - but THAT will have to wait for a day or two when I can concentrate!


In the meantime - I am toying with colour selection for my NEXT quilt............