Block of the Month

Lucky 13?  Well completing this UFO Block of the Month quilt, or in quilting lingo - BOM, had a challenge with every block.
A  few years back a local quilt shop offered this quilt as a kit.  Each month I received directions and the fabric to make two blocks.  I must say that they did a great job with the fabric coordination.  There are fabrics I would never have picked to coordinate with these blocks, but their selection blended beautifully.  I love the nice rich tones.
Some of the techniques for assembling these blocks were very different.  I remember one square called loosey goosey.   It was a technique for making a flying geese by folding fabric.  With crazy names like loosey goosey it made it even more fun.  I added the dark brown border to the quilt after it was done.  Remember I like my quilts bigger.
This week as I quilted this quilt I found that these folded fabrics were extremely hard to sew over without catching the fabric and curling it over.  I ended up using scotch tape to lay over the open folds of  fabric and my machine glided right over.  Afterward it was very easy just to pull the tape off.

Do you put your name on your quilts?  With all the great stitches that our sewing machines offer these days, mine also sew alphabet letters.   I do not have an embroidery machine, but I do have a few basic fonts.  I decided that it would be good to add my name to my quilts using these fonts.  If I know the exact year it was made I also include the year.   

Once I prepare my binding and iron it in half,  I sew my name on the binding before it is attached to the quilt.  I keep the sewn name side to the back of my quilts.  I guess I could also sew my name to the backing, but it is a little harder to figure out where to place it before it is quilted and once its quilted it's too late to add.

Now I just have to remember to sew my name on the binding before attaching it.

This time when I attached the binding on this quilt I used my walking foot.  I've owned a walking foot for years and with each of my three sewing machines ago, but only used it when I was machine quilting - which wasn't very often.  After reading so much about the "walking foot" I decided to give it a try with the binding.  Wow, what a difference that foot made.  I've always pinned my binding to the quilt first and than would sew it on.  Needless to say I would always end up with a good five inches more binding than what I originally pinned on.  With the walking foot the top binding fabric didn't move and my binding was exactly how I pinned it.

Walking feet are a little pricey, but I think it's a great investment.  You get nickel dimed with all these sewing gadgets and sometimes not even use what you bought.  However, I think you'll get your monies worth with this foot.  For now on, I will always use my walking foot to attach and sew on my bindings.