Tag Archives: quilts

The Moonglow Quilt is Done!

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Last week, I picked up two more finished quilts at the longarm quilting place. They both needed their edges bound, of course. For both quilts, I chose a meander quilting pattern and it proved to be the perfect choice. 🙂 It’s always so exciting to get a quilt back and have it almost finished. I end up trimming the edges right away.

For this one, I had the fabric for the bias tape already. I had it cut up and sewn onto the front of the quilt by the next morning. I’ve been handstitching it to the back ever since. It’s motivating to have a quilt almost done!

I meant to show you this Friday, but it was raining when I finished the binding on Tuesday. My plan was to take it outside then photograph it on the driveway, but no joy. Rain, rain, rain, and then Friday, the snow started. So, we get kitchen pix instead.

Here’s my finished Moonglow quilt.

Moonglow quilt made by Deborah Cooke

My first thought was that the binding could be black, but I thought that was a bit of a predictable choice. Instead, I chose this purple print and kept it very narrow. The backing is a black print with purple.

Moonglow quilt made by Deborah Cooke

I really like how this one came out.

There are a number of posts about piecing this one, which was a kit from Jinny Beyer. I began to piece it in April 2020, apparently.

Moonglow Quilt I

Moonglow Blocks

More Moonglow Blocks

Finishing the Moonglow Quilt Top

The other quilt that’s home to have its edges bound is my Jumping Jax Flash quilt, which has an edge that needs a bit of thought. Because I put prairie points on the outer edge, I asked them to leave the coral border unquilted. So, I’ll need to figure out a binding, then maybe add a bit more quilting myself to finish it up. As my friend, Terri, said, it will have more of a facing than a binding.

Here it is unquilted to show you what I mean.

Jumping Jax Flash quilt pieced by Deborah Cooke

It also has a bit of a ripple around the outer edge, as I added this coral border before I realized that strips cut crosswise will stretch a bit when sewn. Hmm. This one needs a plan – but first, I need to check in the attic to see if I have any of those fabrics still in my stash!

It has so many fabrics that it wouldn’t really matter if I used a new one for the border, but it would be more satisfying to use one that’s already in the quilt. There’s a coral French shirting that I think it in the stash – I just used a bit of it in the points, because I was planning to make myself a shirt with the rest, so I’m thinking there’s 1.5m or so stashed away.

Storm at Sea Quilt

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This is one from the vaults. Last year, I went through all of my unfinished projects and found this quilt top, which I’d forgotten about. It’s a pieced quilt top in the Storm at Sea pattern, which was always one of my favorites. I bought cotton for the backing and folded it up to put it away, maybe 30 years ago.

It’s not a perfectly flat top by any means, so I layered it up to quilt on the machine. I figured it would be good practice. Here’s where I’m at.

Storm at Sea quilt, pieced by Deborah Cooke, quilting in progress

Of course, I had to use a stripe with red roses on the border to liven up that blue and white. I just love red. 🙂 I haven’t decided on the binding fabric yet. Looking at it here, maybe it should be navy.

This might be the test quilt that I toss in the washing machine to see what happens.

You can’t really see the quilting in the photo – maybe a bit at the top right – but it’s about half done. I decided to do a wavy pattern on the diagonal that turns back at the centre – so overall there’s a big X and I never have more than half of the quilt under the arm of the sewing machine. I quilted the Escher quilt that way and it was comparatively easy. Big difference there, though, as the top was absolutely flat. (This one has some puckers and tucks.) That was a good size for machine quilting – as a max – so that will be my new benchmark.

Escher quilt from kit pieced by Deborah Cooke
Finished Escher quilt
Singer 185 sewing machine

I’m using my vintage Singer 185 for this, because it’s such a rock. My stitches are more even this time – progress is made! – so that’s a good thing. The thread is a Gutermann cotton quilting thread in variegated shades of blue.

I don’t love machine quilting. I don’t love how it looks and it’s hard work – my hands hurt after doing a bit of it – so it’s teaching me to make fewer quilts and certainly to tend to smaller ones.

After this is done, I’ll quilt the mermaid quilt, which is a teensy bit bigger. More diagonal lines turning back at the middle, methinks. I’m debating whether I should quilt the blue dragon myself or not. I’m also wondering with those two whether I could do the borders of the blocks on the machine, then quilt inside the blocks by hand. Hmm. So many details to ponder!

Mermaid Quilt pieced by Deborah Cooke
Mermaid in blue jeans quilt
In the Beginning Dragon Quilt Kit pieced by Deborah Cooke
In the beginning blue dragon quilt

I still have a couple of quilts that I’ve started to quilt by hand, which need to be finished up. The pineapple star has corners now and is about half quilted – in lime embroidery thread. 🙂 The ourobouros dragon banner needs more quilting on the black background. The dragon is done.

Pineapple star quilt pieced by Deborah Cooke
Pineapple star quilt in progress
Ourobouros quilt banner by Deborah Cooke
Ourobouros quilt in progress

Then there are two big ones to go to the long arm quilting place. Phew. I think I’ll leave that until the fall. I got all the borders on the Moonglow, so it’s ready to go, as is Jumpin’ Jack Flash.

Finishing the Moonglow Quilt

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I last posted about my Moonglow quilt in November 2020, so this project has been in limbo for a while. I started to post about this quilt in April 2020, and had been working on the piecing for about a year before that, so we’re at five years on this project.

It’s also been two years since I did any machine quilting myself. My goal this spring was to get some things done that have been languishing in my sewing room and this quilt top certainly made the list.

Moonglow Quilt by Jinny Beyer

Here’s that official image of the quilt again, just to remind you. 🙂

When I pulled the Moonglow out this time, I had five blocks left to piece – the four corners and the middle block, which are the most complicated ones. After that, there’s the assembly with the sashing and the final quilting. This one is going to a long arm quilter to be finished up – my plan in March was to keep at it until it was ready to go to the quilter. I did pretty well with that goal!

The idea behind the quilt is that it should take a year to piece. There’s a block assigned to each month, then in month twelve, you piece the intermittent blocks and assemble the quilt. Of course, I didn’t follow the sequence – I did the courthouse steps blocks that go in between the stars when I was tired of paper piecing, so they were done already.

There are two different designs for the corner blocks and you make two of each. I’d already cut out the pieces for the pair that are top right and bottom left, so finished them up first. These are month nine’s project.

Moonglow quilt kit by Jinny Beyer pieced by Deborah Cooke

It’s a dingy day today, so I had to take the pix inside, which means they’re a bit underexposed.

Then, top left and bottom right:

Moonglow quilt kit by Jinny Beyer pieced by Deborah Cooke

And finally, the central medallion – I need to hand-sew the central octagon, so it’s pinned in place here.

Moonglow quilt kit by Jinny Beyer pieced by Deborah Cooke

Next up, the assembly. I’m not going to repiece any of the blocks (I had thought I might, and there’s enough fabric leftover for that) but I am going to restitch one of those central octagons to make a neater job. I’m also going to change the borders on the star blocks so that the seam allowances all press outward. I did that on the central medallion and it makes for a flatter finish. Then I’ll put it all together and take it to the long-arm quilting place.

I’ve never had a quilt quilted at the long-arm place, so I’ll take the dragon quilt to be finished first. This one will make the trip second.

I am pleased with this top and am sure I’ll like the final quilt. It’s a beautiful design and the colour selection is magical. I wish there had been more explanation of why each hue was chosen for each place – I assembled the quilt, but I still don’t understand what makes it work so well.

I did learn in the piecing of this one to step back when I was getting tired instead of pressing on. That’s probably why I wasn’t enjoying it so much at first – I was product-oriented instead of process-oriented. When I slowed down and just sewed for as long as I found it satisfying, the process was much more enjoyable. So, there’s a lesson learned.

I’m also done with kits. Both this one and the dragon quilt top were kits including both the fabric and the pattern. While I like them, I don’t feel the same sense of satisfaction as with the quilts I’ve either designed myself, or the quilt patterns for which I’ve chosen my own fabrics. It certainly could be argued that the designers do a better job of selecting the perfect fabric for each section, but I prefer when my quilts are unique – even if they’re less than optimal!

This one, for example, was also paper pieced, and there are sections that I’d make another colour if I did it again, but I like it better than either of these kits. It’s one of a kind. 🙂

Jumping Jax Flash quilt pieced by Deborah Cooke

The pattern is Jumping Jax Flash by Judy Niemeyer. I pieced it probably twenty years ago. (Maybe thirty. Ha!) It’ll be heading to the long-arm quilter too, but it’ll be third and last to head there.