I am so very close to the completion of a quilt (have I said this before?) that I have been working on for some time now. So close. Very close... I was derailed by attempting a new binding technique, and to be honest, I hate it... which is why it is taking me so long to finish! After every few stitches I stop, take stock of the situation, and ponder ripping it out and defaulting to to my standard technique. But at this point, I think doing that will cause too much damage to the blanket, and I will be better off finishing it with the method I began with. What's the point of creating a blanket that looks like it spent the afternoon in a wood-chipper, only to have perfect binding? That seems about as practical as dressing up a sweat suit with a pearl necklace.
My stitching paralysis on this quilt began one day, several months ago, while I was out fabric shopping. I had finished the piecing, and was well on my way to completion, only lacking enough of the fabric I wanted for the binding. While having the fabric cut, I was chatting with one of the ladies in the shop. I let slip that I really hated the binding stage of the process, because I didn't like hand stitching (it's very tedious!). She adamantly told me that I was crazy to be hand stitching my binding, and convinced me of what she described as a much better, faster method. I had used the method she described before, to attach the bias tape around the sides of my 1950's apron (machine-stitching to the back and top-stitching on the front). It had worked out well with the apron, mostly because what the wrong side of an apron looks like is entirely irrelevant. They're not exactly a reversible garment, under ordinary circumstances.
At least my paralysis on this quilt has not stopped me from breaking ground on the next; the first quilt to go into my Etsy shop. I've continued with the sock monkey theme, but this time I brought in some bold pinks and yellows, making this one a bit more appropriate as a gift for a baby girl. I have finished the piecing, and pin-basted it this morning. Needless to say, this quilt will be bound following my usual method of choice: the double-fold method; machine stitching my binding fabric to the front of the quilt, and then blind stitching the fold to the back of the quilt by hand. I'm looking forward to creating my first quilt listing, and seeing how it all goes!
So, it's been six months and....Drumroll please: I have finally posted my very first quilt listing in my etsy shop! This crib-sized quilt (approx. 34” x 44”) was made using a selection of Moda 100% cotton, quilting weight fabrics. . It features ‘funky sock monkeys’ in pajamas in the framed windows on the front, and on the back. The monkeys are framed in a yellow print with small white dots, and those frames are framed with a banana print, cornered by the same dotted yellow fabric. The outer quilt border is a deep pink with polka dots in many colors, including one matching the yellow framing the sock monkeys. The quilt was machine-pieced and quilted, using unbleached, 100% cotton batting. It is bound with the yellow fabric using the double-fold method; machine-stitched to the front, and blind-stitched to the back by hand.
