How big is a good sized sofa quilt?

"Christmas Lights" - Quiltmaker Magazine 2009 Mystery
Designed by Bonnie Hunter
Finished size is 63.5" x 75.5"

Last week there was chat about what is a good size to make for a "sofa quilt" and I had to share about the one I made and gave to my husband for Christmas as he uses it every night for watching TV on the sofa. Not once has he complained about it not being long enough... ;) so I wanted to share with my friend nancyc20 about it - but I couldn't remember the size...

I came to my blog and looked up all my posts about making the quilt.. but no where did I ever mention the finished size. It was a rainy day when I took this photo so the kitchen floor will have to do... and I can't tell you just how hard it was to SNEAK out the measuring tape to measure it - as all 3 of my children love those things and have to play with them anytime they see them which always leads to them breaking it! Thankfully they didn't see it... or rather "hear" it! ;)

So it measured 63.5" X 75.5" which I think is a perfect size for snuggling on the sofa. ;)

For a few weeks, I had been using my Round Robin Quilt that is square - it is NOT long enough and my feet ocme untucked. :( BUT - thanks to JudyL for surprising me with her gift of "Bingo Whirl" I too now have a perfect size for snuggling on the sofa!

Bingo Whirl finishes at 63" X 81" and now that I've washed it - it feels like it's hugging me as I lay under it! Judy is right about that Mountain Mist quilt batting!!! It's wonderful!

binding tutorial ... sortof

Well last post I told you about how I spent a weekend morning out on the driveway bent over on all fours pinning on my binding... :P I forgot to mention that I did manage to get it sewn on too! Actually I was saving it for another post b/c while sewing I remembered to have the camera near by as I worked.

This is not a "real" tutorial but I thought I'd share some tips with you on how I do it.

I'm not sure at what point I noticed the thread.... but it was getting low - very low....

When I'm sewing and nearing the corner, I take out one of the pins and reposition it at an angle like shown in the photo below. Now I know exactly where to stop with my needle down so that I am only 1/4" away form the edge.

Then I stop and lift the presser foot and pivot around so that I'm headed directly towards the corner and then just before sewing remove that pin and sew out to the corner and then cut the thread.

Can you see what I just did? Not sure if I'm wording this the correct way...

and because I have already pressed with a hot iron the folded corners before I got started, the press crease is still there and the binding almost falls into place all by itself! ;)

Next, you fold it back down then put back at the machine... I start about 1/2" from the edge and back-stitch all the way to the edge then come forward.

oh holy smokes, I'm really getting low on my thread!

and this is something I just recently learned!!! I read over on Magnolia Bay Quilts' blog how she uses the Fons & Porter triangle trimmers for joining her binding strips and "CLICK" it made sence to me too! and now I can easily follow her directions and no more marking for when I join strips - but what about that final joining of edges for a smooth finish that you cant' tell where you started and stopped on a quilt... humm... Can I make it work for that to? Why YES I can! ;)

see that piece of light fabric in the photo above? on the cutting mat??? I just used a leftover scrap of binding to create myself a "HELPER" :) and am I ever so glad I did! Now the next time I need to bind, I won't have to go texting my friend jayardi asking her do I add 1/4" or subtract 1/4"??? b/c it seems so far in between finishes that I forget everything I know! :P

See, my little "HELPER" even has a seam in it and I can fold it to know exactly which piece needs to be face side down or up! Isn't that nifty?? ;)

ready to sew! ;) and I took some close ups so you could see where I used a pigma pen to write my notes on it... I think you can click on the photos to make larger.

had to word it "straight" cut as in up and down and not at an angle... you know b/c 100 years form now when I need my "HELPER" again I might forget what I meant.

I even drew out a little diagram of how that Red F&P triangle trimmer sat on the fabric - so next time there'll be no second guessing ... I can just look, line up the same and cut!

did I mention I was running low on thread!!! EEK! This is what I saw as I turned my last corner!!!

and Ta-Da!!! perfect line up! :)

As for thread... do you think it will be enough??

Can you see how far I have left to go -with just a few inches left!!! I started holding my breath at this point....

then I paused sewing to take another photo when I noticed it was off the spool and hanging down before it worked it's way to the tension disks..... do you see it?? look near the end of my rotary cutter! Yikes!

and believe it or not -I made it! WHEW!

With just about 18" left after I back stitched and came to my stopping point. I didn't bother trimming it off! I'll just keep it there and when I'm ready to sit down and hand stitch it down to the back side, I'll clip it off and thread it to use. ;)

as for what I'll use after that - well I'm hoping my black DMC floss will work (single thread at a time) b/c I do NOT want to make a trip to Walmart for thread!! not with two 2 year olds in this rainy cold weather! :P

Love from Texas!

It's here!! Christmas Lights Photos

As promised here are the photos of my quilt after quilting....... sorry I've been keeping you waiting for photos. My fault. sorry.

The box arrived last Tuesday however last week was crazy - starting on Monday with both of the twins being sick. Paul Thomas had a few episodes of diarrhea, while Olivia ran fever all day and night and vomited half a dozen times :( Thankfully I had a big store bought quilt near by all day for her to vomit into and just tossed it into the washer b/c there would have been no way to make it to the potty each time. It was a horrible day for all 3 of us last Monday. Poor babies!

We went to the doctor Tuesday with Olivia and found out that she had a big infection in her thumb that she sucks. You can read more about all that over at our family blog. Thankfully now she is doing better and it's healing.

Anyway - back to the quilt!!! ;) This is what it looked like when I opened it up Tuesday night. It was folded up with love can't you tell? ;) Oh lookie there are my handsome snowmen just as excited to see me as I am them!!

The next few photos I took the following day outside on the driveway. Notice anything about that strip on the backing? Mmm-hmm... a mistake.

And you know what??? I knew about it the day I sewed the backing together. I was in a hurry that day to get it to the mailbox place on time and as I was sewing the 2nd snowman piece on (THE FINAL SEAM) I noticed that a part of the zig-zag was turned around backwards...

and as I noticed it I told myself, "You know what Bonnie, this quilt is called "Christmas Lights" and this my dear, is one on the back side is a stubborn strand of tangled Christmas Lights! And right now, it's just not worth the time to untangle it! :P So box it up and mail it as is already!"

Margaret Gunn over at Quilts Of Love was the one who I sent it to for quilting after I read about her special offer for introductory offer ;) and I upgraded for a low upgrading charge of $20 more and got lots of fancy feathery quilting for the borders and boy oh boy it looks wonderful!

The next 2 photos I copied from her flickr page that she took of the quilt when she gave me a sneak peak :) I didn't get around to getting the quilt trimmed and squared up until Saturday this weekend. Would you believe it was in the mid 70's here and I was back outside on the drive way in my PJ's on all fours pinning on the binding. :P Wonder if any neighbors saw me?

I'm so happy with it, and although I've not shown it to David since quilting - he's seen it along the way as I've been working on it. I know he's going to love it when he opens it up on Christmas. So that means that I'll have to work on it during the day while he's at work and the twins are napping b/c it's TOO BIG to work on behind the steering wheel while I wait in the carpool line at Nora's school. :P

Love from Texas!

Christmas Lights is quilted and headed home!

As you all know a couple weeks ago I found a steal of a deal on longarm quilting but the catch was that you had to have it to her in just 7 days. Well lucky for me all I had left to do was the boarders on my beautiful Christmas Lights Mystery Quilt.

Mrs. Margaret has been so great keeping me updated on the status of my quilt since she received it and notified me earlier this week that it's making it's way back home to me! I'm not sure when exactly it will arrive but I'm hoping either tomorrow or Monday? She did give me the USPS tracking number and I checked it but it appears that recently all they do is show the date it was accepted and then never again update it :/ What's up with that?

She did share with me 2 close up photos for me to see while I wait.... and I can tell that I'm in love already! Funny thing is I went to show my husband last night and the page would not come up while I was clicking on the link - I tried 4 times while David stood over my shoulder... but nope. No pic, nothing. Timed out.

Then he left the room and the page came up and I could see it - so I guess that is a sign that he's not meant to see it until he opens up his package at Christmas this year!

I asked Mrs. Margaret if I could copy and share them here on my blog - and I don't think she will mind, but I haven't heard back yet... so stay tuned. ;)


Love from Texas!

Just a few pics to share

Well guess who now loves her Mini Mouse polka dot dress...! Only a week and a half AFTER Halloween ;) She did love the Micky suit too and it was well worth letting things work out the way they did however I still wish I could get Paul Thomas into the suit if only for long enough to take their photo together... for the scrapbook to look at years down the road. :(

and have you ever seen such a head of curly hair that Olivia has??? ;)

Here below are a few photos I took of the extra blocks that I had left over from making my blocks for the Christmas Lights mystery. As you can tell... depending on which way you turn them they can make for some neat designs!

The photo above on the right is what I ended up going with to make a row to join in between the two backing snowman pieces ;) I love a little something extra on the backing ;) don't you - makes me feel like I'm doing a "Bonnie" thing as Bonnie Hunter often includes scrap blocks and pieces on her backings. ;)

That zig-zag piece on my table above will go in between the two snowman pieces for backing for my Christmas Lights on the back side.

Oh and one last photo before I leave ya... A little sneak peak of what I've pulled from my stash to use on my Christmas Mini Quilt exchange with Crazy'boutquilts! ;)

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Oh and one last thing before I forget about the Christmas Lights Mystery - ATTENTION TO EVERYONE WHO MADE THIS QUILT - I just read last night, over on Quiltmaker's Magazine's BLOG they have posted asking for people to post photos of their completed quilts (or tops) onto their Flickr group.

For everyone who uploads and shares a photo of their Christmas Lights Quilt, they will be entered into a drawing! Ooough, doesn't that sound exciting?

I told Miss June, I'd be happy to spread the word and that all of you would "hit the ground runnin" right over to share and post your photos!

For those of you who use Google Reader and want to add their page - their regular home page is: http://www.quiltmaker.com/blogs/quiltypleasures/

Love from Texas!

Christmas Lights top is DONE! ;)

Some photos taken outside today - here is the view that I have when I'm walking out of my gauge. Can you see that tiny little peek of red leaves?? I'm so glad that the land owner didn't bush-hog that away the last time he came thru as it's my only colorful tree for me to look at for fall. My part of Texas just isn't very colorful for this time of year. Pitiful isn't it - but I really do enjoy those few red leafs!

I love that our neighborhood is right in the middle of town but that our home is on the backside of the neighborhood and we only have houses across the street and one home to the left of us... Directly behind us and to the right of our driveway we are surrounded by nothing but pasture....acres and acres...

You may have seen my post last night, and I really thought I'd be getting my Christmas Lights done, but I was too tired to do the back and forth limbo from the sewing machine to the floor to pin and sew borders on so I waited until today to do that... thankfully the twins enjoyed a show while I sewed and then after lunch time they went down for their nap and I could finish up.

As you can see, as planned I didn't go buy any large print of red/green fabric to use for the largest border - but unlike my plan to use the red... I had to go with the black b/c I was 17" short of the red. But I think it turned out GREAT! ;)

The sun didn't' come out but someone else did... can you guess... take another look.

see those black dots in the background behind my quilt thrown over the BARBED wire fence (what was I thinking?? - so glad it didn't hang and snag the fabric or get caught in the loose threads of this top)

Did you guess cows??? Yep I was lucky to get their photo today! The land surrounding us is so large that we don't see them everyday but rather maybe only once a week!

What is it about cows that they can't help but be nosey and stare at you the whole time you are near them? I grew up on a small farm in KY - and remember standing there just looking at them as in a stare down... never did I win :P Probably b/c as a kid I would give up and go play in the sandbox or something more fun that staring - but I did give them a good 5 minutes or so before I gave in.

Shoot, they pose FIVE THOUSAND times better for me than my own kids do! Think people would notice if I just took their picture for the Christmas card instead this year? :P

and here is just one more of those beautiful red leaves... The trees behind the cows have an orangish tint to them when the sun is brighter - but today was rather cloudy. Still in the high 70's - not cold at all despite the no sun...

Speaking of cows... I talked to Daddy and Clara over the weekend, and my Daddy sold all of his cows last weekend. First time in my life that he's had no cows at home, but he has been considering it for a long time and thought it was time to get rid of them... I think it was a good choice for him. I guess now when he comes down to Texas to visit there won't be any rush to get home to make sure his cows didn't get out or not! ;)

And one last photo of the top thrown across my kitchen floor with the cute snow man fabric I already had in the stash (some 6 yards) that i will use as the backing :) I am pretty sure I purchased this when our local Hancock's went out of business in 2007 when I was pregnant with the twins. I must have bought all that was left on the bolt to get an additional 10% off that they were offering... and I'm so glad I did! It's gonna be perfect!

And because I don't like to cut and resew back together the same fabrics with large prints for backing fabric - I hate when they have an obvious don't match up line... I'll use some of my scraps and pieces to put a strip of them in-between the two large pieces of snowmen ;)

I can't wait to get this on it's way to Maine for Miss Margaret to get it on her longarm machine!

EDITED TO ADD -
I'm so excited that this WHOLE quilt front and back was made using STASH!!! I did collect the scrappy 4 patches thru a swap I hosted but the ones I made to swap were all from my stash so I'm counting it as 100% stash! ;) Whooo Hooo! ;)


Love from Texas!