penny-studionotes-2

I spent a satisfying day sewing yesterday, adding a sawtooth border to my appliqué quilt.   The colored triangles are mostly the very dark blue that predominates in the appliqué, but I also used a smaller number made from the other colors—green, light blue, brown, and orange/red (more visible in detail below).   The next step will be a 6" border, repeating the light gray background with some kind of appliqué design.   So, the next step is to figure out a border design that will work with the variety of motifs in the squares.

This Saturday I got together with several quilting friends from the Chicago area for a day of showing our work recently completed or in progress.  We had a great time sharing ideas and getting feedback on our work.  The issue of machine stitching binding came up, and I mentioned that I'd been helped by some online tutorials.  I thought I'd share the list here, in case anyone else is interested too.  I've listed a number of tutorials below--one video, the rest photos and text.  How is it I have ready access to a list like this?  They're all things I've saved as I've come across them to "tada lists"--a nifty site for saving lists of one sort of another.  I searched for the term "binding" in my list for tutorials, and easily found what I was looking for.  If you're curious to see what other tutorials I've collected, you can see my full list at: http://pgold45.tadalist.com/lists/1291659 Start by sewing binding to front sew binding to...

 (about 36 x 42") I'm pleased with the finished quilt!  I had fun with the machine quilting of this one.  I quilted the dots first, with several different patterns used.  Then I came up with an overall design for quilting the background that I'm very happy with.  My favorite design in the dots is this " Flower Ball " design from Leah Day. The light blue dot below has another Leah Day design: " Stomach Lining ." Thee rusty red dot has a maze, and the olive green dot has a lily pad design. Next: The final design I used in the dots is a bunch of spirals, below in the light blue.  The background design is a maze (like in the navy blue dot below), but with the occasional curved line thrown in.  That made it more interesting to do, and I like the look, too.  Double-click on the image for a better view. And here's the back, a piece of snow-dyed cotton I did last winter.  While I am very happy with the quilt as it turned out, I wouldn't do this desi...