Friendship Quilts & Labels

My dear friend Julie sent me this little quilt. I don't think she even had a reason! It is so precious. 

I really do feel blessed to have such a great group of online quilt friends! 

And I've even had the bonus to chat with her on the phone. She is as sweet as ever!!

Labels, labels, labels....

I attached the little label that was sent back with my International Quilt Fest quilts. And then I remembered I had an Oregon documentation quilt label that I had never sewn on! Only waited 10 years to do it!!  That is the one on the left with the eagle label. You can see the front HERE

 Last Sunday hubby and I went for a drive to this lovely place! It is called John Day Painted Hills. 

The temperature was perfect. I forgot how stunning this place is!

Thank you all so much for your kind words about my quilt in the magazine!! If you make the quilt, please be sure to show it to me.

Have a lovely weekend. 

Quilt Labels

Someone had asked about the label I made for the 1857 Album Quilt. 

On my 50th signature quilt Lizzy did the most beautiful block and I saved the info she shared with me about it. 

Most of my quilts still have hand written labels, but sometimes I want more info and it looks neater if I run it through my printer. For the 3 quilts I sent off they wanted a label with name, address and phone number. Although the quilts were signed or had a label I made new ones with the info. 

I thought I'd share my way of using your computer.

I ironed muslin on an 8 1/2"x11" freezer paper. (I cut them both to the size of my paper cartridge.)

Meanwhile, on your computer program type the info you want for your label. You can be super creative here! I love Comic Sans font and make my quilt titles bold. 

Then I put one paper in and mark it with the arrow and which direction it is. I only want to put my fabric/paper in one time so this is a test. I hold this up to my fabric/paper and make sure there is enough room to cut and make a 1/4" seam. 

When I'm happy with the placement I put in my fabric/paper and print!

When I was sewing these to my quilt I noticed an error!! Brick of Wabash Co was completed in March 2018, not 2019! I easily changed it with a fine fabric pen. 

Nobody said the label had to be sewn on straight!! LOL 

I press the ink when I'm turning under my seam to set it. 

I ironed all 4 sides under, pinned to quilt and appliqued. 

I hope you found this helpful.

Quilt Labels

Here is my label ready to apply to my Lincoln Quilt. Diane did an awesome job quilting and I'm hoping to get binding made and on this weekend.  Some labels, I have basic info, this one will be used in my lecture, "Reruns: Quilts Inspired by the Past" so I thought I'd give a few more details.

The first time I saw a printed signature  that I fell in love with was by Lizzy on my 50th birthday signature quilt. I treasure all the blocks and the signatures, but thought I could do some labels in a different way than my simple handwriting. 

Lizzy suggests spraying with an acrylic clear to keep the ink on the label through more washings. 

After this weeks post about the "Healing Quilt" heading back to the family I thought it was a good time to remind you about the importance of adding labels to your quilts. Many of mine, have my name, date and city- that's it.

Here's my instagram post for this past week. Lots of snow, lots of dogs! We still have lots of snow, but I think it's done! I'm ready for spring! Maybe next week I'll find some spring when I head north- oh wait! The Seattle and Bellingham area had snow too! LOL

Have a wonderful weekend, my friends!

Simple Monday Post

This is what I've been working on- not quilting at this point!

I am using cherrywood in a variety of blues.. What it needs now is buttons. 

It feels very large even though it is a medium. It is supposed to be a bit of a boy fit, so that must be why it feels large. I need to have it completed before I head off to Houston on the 30th. 

Any suggestions about buttons?

I'm super thrilled to have gotten passed this vest  mess! LOL

We had an amazing weekend out camping and although I still want to add some hand quilting stitches I added my binding and label. I can hardly work on it now because it smells like camp fire. Whew!

I'm seeing some wonderful part 1 and part 2 of Quilters Madder on Facebook! Keep up the good work! Friday is Part 3.

Delectable Mountains

 Most of you will probably recognize this quilt. This is the quilt top I made from Fat Quarter shop vintage and classic block series.  I got it back from the quilter this week. It was my first time sending out to Sharon, Grass Roots Quilt Studio, but I had seen her work and knew we would be on the same page. 

 We had a facetime conversation and it worked out great as she was able to show me a few different classic options of quilting.  I wanted to keep this one very traditional.

We also have had masses of rain so there was no hanging this one outside for photos. 

 Isn't it lovely?

 This photo was my inspiration. I get to see these mountains on a regular basis. 

 I also decided to try and sell this quilt at the Sisters show this summer to raise funds for my trip to Peru. I thought it would be a bit nicer to have a more formal label. (I'd also be interested in selling it right now! )
So, I printed what I wanted on paper.

 Taped fabric over the top of it, held my breath, then printed on my fabric. (darn smudge!)

A sprayed lightly with a clear coat, then washed it to check the stability. 

I will attach my binding, then applique the other two sides of this label. I'm actually pretty thrilled with how it turned out. Thanks Lizzy- Gone to the Beach blog.

Happy Wednesday!!

New Year Sewing

It was nice to stay indoors a bit on New Years Day with no work and no schedule, to get some prep work done in my sewing room.  The first of the year is my time to get some quilts completed and look ahead to this years quilting and sewing projects.

In preparation for my Stars in a Time Warp quilt I needed 2 more blocks. Corrine from Cocopatch blog sent me some lovely purple fabric (bottom star) that I wanted to include in my stars quilt and  I decided to use some of my French fabric in it as well. Here are those blocks. I hope to start cutting/sewing on it this weekend. 

In preparation for quilts I've sent out I got labels made...

and binding. 

Not super exciting, but at least I'll be ready!

The sewing machine man called and my machine will be in for about 2 more weeks because of some part that was missing. It wasn't even a part that was causing the problem. Aargh! 

Happy winter Wednesday to ya'll!

Another Label, Mabel!

Since the response and comments about my quilt label post were many and varied, I thought I'd show a few other label options. Please, label your quilts!

You can purchase some like this. Iron a bit of freezer paper to the back to stabilize, then fill in the blanks and sew to your quilt. Easy, but not always appropriate for your quilt.

I have lots of books for ideas and tracing. I mostly use these for special occasion quilts that I'm giving away.

Sometimes The "label' is writing on the back of the quilt. 

I'm giving away a recently made quilt and *gasp* it didn't have a label! I've added this to the back adding a small little flower copied from a tole painting book. (there is a reason I never did tole painting!)

A simple no-hand-sewing label can be made like this. Take a square of fabric you will use for your label. and fold in half diagonally.

I always happen to have freezer paper in my sewing room, so for this professional photo I grabbed a used piece and ironed it on one half to stabilize.

Write what you will. (My lines were made with frixion and ironed away later) 

Put in a corner of your quilt, pin, then add your binding and it will be sewn right in. It doesn't get much easier than that!

Happy Monday!

Label Mabel

I was surprised to hear how many of you do not label your quilts. It doesn't have to be a long, drawn out chore. Mine are usually super simple and easy in my own messy handwriting.

 I adhere my label fabric (usually muslin) to freezer paper to stabilize it as I write.  I've always been known to write uphill, so I draw lines with my Frixion pen using a ruler.

Then I write whatever I want. If I made the quilt for someone, I write their name and the occasion. I usually add who quilted it as well, and I know some designers would like you to add their name as the designer. If you were entering it into a show that would be an excellent idea.

 Then I iron away my lines made with the frixion pen. Look how crooked it is even when I used lines! lol

 And this is how I apply it to my quilt. The raw edge will be sewn in as I apply the binding and I will applique the other two edges down. Done!

I picked up this book from Amazon and now I wish I would have made my sampler block more like Karen's, imitating these wonderful quilts. I do plan on adding more cheddar!

And if you aren't following me on Instagram this week, here's a few photos of what you missed!

Have a great weekend!