ATCs

I swapped these...

...for these.

Aren't they lovely!

This is what we did this month. You'll have to wait to see what I turn it into.

How to make my clown quilt

I tried to get a better photo of this quilt. Here he is hanging on the washing line!

I played around with my iPad and made this video showing how to do needleturn applique on freezer paper.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-
NuXEFYiZc

Theses are links to all my posts about this quilt.
http://layer-upon-layer.blogspot.co.nz/2013/08/clown-mystery-quilt-finished.html
http://layer-upon-layer.blogspot.co.nz/2013/02/mystery-quilt-revealed.html
http://layer-upon-layer.blogspot.co.nz/2012/12/mystery-quilt-blocks-finished.html
http://layer-upon-layer.blogspot.co.nz/2012/10/mystery-quilt.html

Clown mystery quilt finished

Isn't he marvelous!

I quilted the background and border on a friend's quilting frame (thanks Raewyn!) and quilted the clown on my domestic machine. Most of it was just outline quilting but I tried to do more interesting things where I could.
Like stamens on the flowers...

 Curls in his hair...

Spirals on his nose and shoes...

Ruff pattern on his braces...

And I used some of the red fabric in his trousers for inspiration and quilted my signature meandering hearts. I've used that quilting pattern in so many quilts!

I tried a new type of binding on this quilt. It is 100% machine sewn! I saw it on a blog but sorry, I can't remember which one and google didn't find it for me. There are plenty of tutorials out there though. Search for 'binding with false piping'. Here is the way I did it.

Cut the binding fabric 1 3/8" wide and a contrast fabric 1 5/8" wide. Sew them along the long side. Press the seam allowance to the binding fabric.

Fold the binding in half. Match raw edges and sew to the back of the quilt with a quarter inch seam allowance with the contrast fabric facing up.

Bring the binding to the front. Stitch-in-the-ditch between the binding fabric and the contrast, matching the top thread to the contrast fabric and the bobbin to the backing.

 Mitre the corners just as you would for a regular binding.

Click to enlarge