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Faux Piped Binding

November 29, 2015 2 Comments

I recently learned a very easy way to get the look of a piped binding, with a lot less effort than the traditional method (it’s the little sliver of blue, next to the binding in the quilt above). The best part is that it is all done by machine – no hand finishing! I’m posting it for my friend Laura, who hasn’t seen it yet, and for any of you who are in the same boat 🙂 . Here it is in 5 easy steps.

Cut binding strips 1 3/8″ wide (one and three eighths -sorry, the blog font looks wierd in odd fractions). Cut enough to go around the entire quilt and piece together, end to end. Cut piping strips 1 5/8″ wide (one and five eighths), and piece together as you did with the binding strips. It seems a little wierd that the piping strip is wider than the binding strip, but trust me – it works!
Sew the binding strip (black) to the piping strip(blue), with a ¼” seam allowance.
Press the seam towards the binding strip, then press the strip in half, wrong sides together.
Align the raw edges of this binding unit with the outer edge of the quilt, on the back of the quilt, piping side up, and attach with a 1/4″ seam allowance.
Turn the binding to the front of the quilt and pin or clip in place, mitering the corners. Stitch in the ditch between the binding and the piping, in a color thread to match the piping.Voila! A great look with only a little extra effort. Please let me know if you use this technique – and what you think!

Fiber Art Earrings

November 22, 2015 3 Comments

Greetings from snowy Wisconsin (I couldn’t resist including a picture – large pre-Thanksgiving snows are not that common here)!

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Before I get to my new “topic of the week”, I wanted to thank everyone who commented on my “Closet Clean-up” post a few weeks ago. Many of you expressed a concern that recycling the magazines might deprive others of their value. You will be happy to know that someone did claim them and Mike was kind enough to “dumpster dive”, and put all the loose ones into boxes for me to deliver 🙂 .

Then Judy sent me an email about her own Closet Clean-up adventure which involved a trip to the container store and a clever way of labeling. Here’s what she wrote:

“Chris: I really wanted to tell you how much I admire and am always searching for those perfect solutions to sewing room organization. Last year, I was able to move my sewing room into a bigger space thanks to my really awesome husband. That space came with an enormous walk-in closet!! I wasn’t sure how to organize my stash, so one trip to The Container Store and voila!! Men’s shoe boxes from The Container Store are the perfect size for your stash!! I then bought chalkboard fabric and labeled each box. They are also the perfect size for projects. Here’s a picture to share.”

And here’s the picture:

Chalkboard fabric! What a great idea! It looks so much better than my taped on “scrap paper scribblings”, and the labels are easy to change. Thanks Judy!

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And now for my “topic of the week”:

I have a new pair of hand made, fiber art earrings – and I love them!

I receive many compliments every time I wear them. Here is a little about the earrings:

Now, let me tell you about their maker. I met Sharon Rotz when we taught together at a retreat in Central Wisconsin. We hit it off right away and have become good friends. I’ve mentioned Sharon in a number of previous blog posts because we’ve had the chance to exhibit our work together, and I’ve been inspired by her books and techniques. We’ve also collaborated on 4 quilts together: “Tumbles the Cat”,

“Two Friends Monkeying Around”,

“The Rose of Chris and Sharon”,

and “Goyne Round in Circles”.

Sharon is an incredible talent and It’s been a joy to quilt together. Now she’s on to a new adventure with her hand-made jewelry and, like everything else she does, it is incredibly creative and well done. Please visit Sharon’s website: http://www.bysher.net/bysher/Welcome.html to see her wonderful work.

I highly recommend clicking on her jewelry page, you just may need to own a Sharon Rotz original!

Happy Thanksgiving to you all !!!

The International Quilt Study Center and Museum

November 15, 2015 5 Comments

This past week was a wonderful adventure! I was invited to lecture and teach for the Lincoln Nebraska Quilters. There were so many reasons this trip was special. First – it was a great group!

Second – my niece and her family recently relocated to Omaha (which is less than an hour’s drive from Lincoln). Kaitlin and Marty have 2 adorable little ones and I was able to stay with them for a couple of days.

Third – Barb and the guild invited me to take a tour of the International Quilt Study Center and Museum, at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln.

I’d heard about it for years, and it was truly a blessing to be able to see it. Especially since I was given the tour by a guild member who is also a docent at the Museum.

The IQSCM was a gift to the University by Robert and Ardis James, who are famous for their quilt collecting and generosity to the quilt world.

Ardis wanted the Center to be called the “Quilt House”, and this is the dedication at the entrance to the building.

The exhibits were fascinating, from a collection of African American quilts:

through a thought provoking exhibit of Michael James quilts made in memory of his wife:

to my personal favorite – “Covering the War”, an exhibit of quilts made during war time in our nation (very fitting since I was there just before Veteran’s Day). These quilts were displayed with their touching stories:

And this was only a small part of the Center’s collection, and all of it’s other attributes. They often have charity sew-ins in the atrium, and the community is invited to be involved in many activities.

I really admired the Center’s logo – a lovely circle of needles:

And Pat was kind enough to give me her pin as a remembrance of my visit. Thank you, Pat.

If you’re ever near Lincoln – I highly recommend this as a “not-to-be-missed” attraction!

Fourth – I got to share my passion for quilting and two suitcases full of quilts! The night of the IQSCM tour, I presented my “Journey With a Compass” lecture to a large and delightful group of quilters, and the next day I taught my beginning fiber art class entitled “Where Do I Start With Fiber Art”. These mainly traditional quilters had a lot of fun stepping outside of their comfort zones to play with fabric, color and design.

I always learn as much as my students, and it was quite obvious that a good time was had by all 😀 ! What a wonderful guild! Thanks for everything!

I had never been in Nebraska before, but now I’m scheduled to return in March to lecture and teach for a guild in Fremont. I can’t wait!

Closet Clean-up

November 1, 2015 12 Comments

Two years ago I wrote a blog post entitled “Magazine Issues” in which I shared my frustration with my “collection” of old quilting magazines. My system was to put them in boxes and shove them in the bottom of the closet. From there I started just stacking them on the boxes:

(to read that post click here!). Many quilters responded to that post with great suggestions on how to organize my mess, but as of 3 days ago it still looked like this photo, plus 2 more year’s accumulation! Ugh!

A few months ago we had a professional organizer speak to our guild. She helped me face the fact that I hadn’t looked at a single one of these magazines after they found a dark home in the closet. Obviously I don’t need them. What I do need is space! I’ve cleaned and organized most areas of my sewing room a time or two in the 11 years we’ve lived here, but THAT closet had not been cleaned, in fact, it just kept getting more and more stuff shoved into it. I finally reached the point that no more would fit, and I had new stuff piling up in the rest of the studio with no place to put it. Since I just finished my 5 month long competition quilt, and the room was closing in on me, I decided enough was enough. Now what did that professional say I should do???

Oh yeah! Pull everything out of the area you want to organize (that way you can’t quit half way 🙂 )

cleaning my sewing room closet — I didn’t think to take the picture until after I had folded my medium/large quilts and re-filled a shelf with them – progress already!

I emptied the closet during the kid’s naps last Thursday. When Trey woke up I went upstairs to get him, that’s when Mike came home – looked at my studio – and asked me who I was mad at (it was a fast and furious mess). I guess the answer would be me, for letting it get so out of hand.

Since I hadn’t looked at a single old magazine, I decided it was time to “release” them. Most of my friends already have a lot of magazines of their own, so I “bit the bullet” and dumped them in the recycle bin. Actually, there were so many, and they were so heavy, that half will have to wait until next recycle day (the boxes in front of the bin).

closet clean mags gone — The recycling doesn’t get picked up until Thursday. If anyone wants them, let me know and I’d be happy to pull them out for you to pick up.

Well, yesterday I had an entire rainy, “non-babysitting” day, and this is what my studio looked like after one trip to the store for bins, and before Mike took me out to dinner to celebrate a hard day’s work:

And here’s the pile of stuff that’s going to my guild’s rummage sale:

There are still a few odds and ends to be put away, but many of my closet bins now have breathing room in them. Ahh! Next, I need to clean up the rest of the room once again. I think I’ll take a week off. And, oh yeah, there’s another challenge quilt I was thinking of making 😀 !

Cleaning does make one feel virtuous, but a person can only clean so much before they deserve a reward!

PS I still love quilting magazines. So, for a short while now, I’ve been much better about what I do with my new issues. I read them, copy anything I want out of them, and place the issue on the “share” table at my next guild meeting. This way I don’t have to “clean it up” later, and my friends benefit.

Blocks, Blocks and More Quilt Blocks!

October 11, 2015 1 Comment

In my series of posts about my Lunch Bunch quilt, I asked you all to send me a picture of your stack of challenge blocks. These were the three photos I received (thanks ladies – and no names are included so as not to induce guilt)!

Joyce Egle blocks — These blocks were made by an Amish friend of the owner, in all different sizes, and are kept in the vintage Santa box.

I hope this may encourage you to put them together, and I can’t wait to hear all about it 😉 . If you have been meaning to send me a photo of your stack of blocks – there’s still time – just email them to me.

On this same topic of bunches of blocks that are waiting to become a quilt, a few weeks ago I did a class on Repliqué for the Chocolate City Quilters in Burlington, WI. They are a really fun group and they did a great job creating their house blocks. Whenever I teach my Architectural Repliqué class I make a sample house block along with the students. During this class I actually counted them only to reveal that I’ve taught this particular class 70 times!

If a person made that many of the same block, they probably would get a bit wacky with their fabric selections. And I’ve done just that. I have many seasonal themed blocks, and I chose these four as close-up examples:

I thought you might like to see some of my more “interesting” ones up close.

You may have noticed writing on the blocks. Each time I make one I ask the students to sign the block, and then I write the name of the guild, location and date on the paper backing. I think you can tell I’ve really enjoyed making these blocks. I have so many wonderful memories of these classes and students. When I finally put them together I will have one REALLY BIG Autograph quilt (or maybe two normal sized ones 🙂 )

Who knows when that will be? If you are interested in my Repliqué technique, you may purchase either of my books on the subject at: http://www.chrisquilts.net/books/.

If you’d like to have me present a class for your guild, please send me an email at .

Madison Quilt Expo 2015

September 27, 2015 2 Comments

I think this year’s Expo was better than ever! They say attendance was up 4% over last year and everyone seemed to be having a wonderful time. It has really become a national level quilt show.

I headed to Madison the day before the big show began to hang a special exhibit of quilts by the Milwaukee Art Quilters. As I pulled into the parking lot I saw the Ducky car. It’s here every year and lets me know the fun is about to begin!

The Marq exhibit was entitled “Color Wheel Opposites” and the quilts looked great (if I do say so myself 🙂 ).

From there I checked into my hotel room and set up a mini-studio.

I spent the afternoon happily stitching away on my latest challenge quilt. I don’t tend to get much quantity/quality quilting time while watching 2 small children, so this was a treat. My husband is amazing – he had Sommer and Trey all to himself for three days and did a great job – while I ran away to the Quilt Expo. I’m very blessed!

Wendy arrived late in the afternoon and set up her machine. We had a lovely evening of eating, sewing and giggles.

The next day the show began. I presented my Great Finishes lecture each morning of the show and then taught a class I call “Quilt, Slash, Create” in the afternoons. This class is a crazy way of playing with fabric that turns 4 fat quarters of fabric into 2 reversible art quilts! The students were fantastic! Here are a few pictures of the fun:

The quilts in the show were very inspiring, the Fall Challenge quilts were delightful,the vendors were enticing, spending time with friends was the best, and … I can’t wait for next year!

Did you make it to Expo this year? What was your favorite part?

A Lunch Bunch Quilt – Part 3

September 20, 2015 1 Comment

Binding an Inside Corner

Every so often a quilt comes along that has an odd outer edge – the question is “how do you bind it?” This was a problem I had to overcome in the Lunch Bunch quilt I’ve been sharing with you. Because the quilt was done “quilt as you go” style, in columns, I ended up with an interesting bottom edge.

All the corners are right angles. The “outside” corners are easy – they miter like the corners on a square or rectangular quilt. The “inside” corners are a bit trickier, but not too bad if you know the “tricks”.

1. Begin by stay-stitching, inside the seam line, about 2″ from both sides of the inside corner “pivot point”.

2. Clip to the stay-stitching “pivot point”, stopping a few threads from the stitching.

3. Attach the binding down one side of the inside corner, stopping with the needle down at the binding “pivot point”.

4. Leave the needle down, lift the presser foot, and pull the quilt straight (the clip will allow you to do this). Lay the binding strip even with this new edge and continue stitching the binding to the quilt.

5. The binding will be standing up on this corner.

To create the miter on this first side, fold one side flat, as in the picture:

Then fold the other side until a 45° miter is formed.

Pin or stitch this side of the miter to secure.

6. Turn to the other side and fold this new miter – fiddling until it looks good. Repeat to pin all inside corners and then stitch the binding to this side of the quilt, using your preferred method.

It really is quite simple and the effect is worth the effort!

And now (drum roll please!) Here is the finished Lunch Bunch Quilt!

Almost 20 years in the making – and finished! It was even juried in to be featured at the in the Fine Furnishing Show held this weekend in Wauwatosa, WI. It was hung in the entry to the show and I was very pleased – praise the Lord!

So, are you considering sending me a picture of your blocks? I hope so!

A Lunch Bunch Quilt – Part 2

September 13, 2015 Leave a Comment

This past weekend was the Madison Quilt Expo. It was a great show! I’m inspired, and exhausted 🙂 . I’ll post about that soon, but this week I want to continue the lunch bunch quilt story:

Last week I introduced you to my Lunch Bunch blocks and the idea for using them in a bed-sized “Log Cabin Quilt With Attitude” (if you’re new to the blog this week, please click here for the original post). Once I made all the wonky log cabin blocks, I stitched them into columns, and decided it would be a great idea to layer and quilt these columns individually, rather than make and quilt the entire top. It was so enjoyable quilting the long skinny pieces!

Once all the columns were quilted, I connected them with the “Reversible Quilt as You Go” technique I used in my grandkid’s quilts. (click here to read that post).

I decided to use 2 different backing fabrics on the columns, this made the back of my quilt quite interesting.

You may remember that the blocks were all squared up to 10 ½” in width, so that they’d fit together into the columns, but the lengths were all different. As you can see, this left me with a very unusual lower edge. Sharon showed this bottom edge effect in her book, and I like it! But how does one bind such a quilt? That will be the “topic of the week” next time. I’ll show you the finished front then too.

Don’t Forget the Block Stack Challenge!

I’ve had 2 pictures of exhange blocks sent in. Others emailed that they didn’t know if they’d have time. There is no time limit and no one seems to have an abundance of time. So, if you are at all inclined, please send a picture of your blocks. It may be a ways off into the future, but you just might get yours together and win. Here is the challenge once again:

Do you have a stack of exchange blocks just waiting to become a quilt? I’d like to challenge you to send me a picture of your stack of blocks (feel free to arrange them any way you like – thrown all over the room, or in one tall stack, or artistically draped, or… ???). I’ll then post the pictures (without naming names) and challenge each participant to put them in a quilt. The first one to actually make their blocks into a quilt will get their name and photo in the blog, along with a wonderful prize of my choosing!!!

Faux Piped Binding

Fiber Art Earrings

Happy Thanksgiving to you all !!!

The International Quilt Study Center and Museum

Closet Clean-up

Blocks, Blocks and More Quilt Blocks!

Madison Quilt Expo 2015

A Lunch Bunch Quilt – Part 3

A Lunch Bunch Quilt – Part 2

Don’t Forget the Block Stack Challenge!

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Happy Thanksgiving to you all !!!

Don’t Forget the Block Stack Challenge!

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