Mitered Corners - Memory Quilt - Crown Royal Quilt

While I was putting the binding on the Crown Royal Memory Quilt, I decided to snap some photos of how I do my mitered corners (so which I had a way to video this).  But here goes and hope it is helpful.

 

I use 1 1/2 inch strips for my bindings, all sewn together.  I cut them in straight strips (no bias cut) and then sew them together with the mitered technique (picture of that when I finish the binding below).  I start about half up on one side of the quilt, sewing the binging right sides together to the front of the quilt top, leaving a "tail" not sewn down.  I don't fold my binding in half, if I did, I would make it at least 2 inches wide.  I sew with a 1/4 inch seam.

 

When I get to the corner, I mark the end of the side at the 1/4 inch spot and sew to the pin, do a back-stitch and end my sewing. 

 



Then taking the quilt out from under the needle, I fold the binding strip at an angle from the corner.

Then holding that fold in place, I fold the strip back down over the fold.

Sewing from the edge, back-stitching to hold the thread, I simply continue sewing until the next corner and then do this process all over again.

When the corner is binding is turned to the back, the mitered corner appears.

Knowing how much continuous binding to have is sometimes the hardest part of the process.  Always have a little extra for these mitered corners since you will be folding some of the strips over itself.  When I get close to where I began, I end my sewing and then see where I need to add my finished mitered seam.

I leave a tail on both ends so that I have plenty of room to work with the pieces.

I lay one piece down at a angle, just like the corner, with a fold and then lay the other strip over that.  I finger press that fold to so it hold's it's fold better.

Where these two intersect is where I want to sew.  I place a pin to hold it in place on the side where I want my seam to be. 

Now, moving the quilt top out of the way, I lay these two pieces down to sew across the angle of the pin, keeping right sides together.

Trim away the "tails" leaving 1/4 inch seam and simply place back on the quilt top.  It should fit perfectly in the space you have left.  Sew it down and finish off.

Normally I hand stitch the binding down to the back, but this time, I folded up a bit of the strip and sewed it down on the previous stitching where I attached it to the front.  I used black thread and it worked perfectly and I have it done very quickly.

 

This is a queen size quilt, made from Crown Royal bags.  I purchased the yellow fabric and the purple fabric for the wide strip on the boarder.  All the other purple fabric came from the bags, even for the binding.  I used 32 bags for this quilt.  I posted about the process of preparing the bags and the pattern on A Purple Cloth.  It took a little over a month to make.

Technique Tutorial for Art Journaling or Bible Journaling

There are so many beautiful art journal pages out there and videos showing you "how-to" create or recreate techniques.  I'm still learning to do the layers of mixed media, but I am having fun with drawing and stamping.

I learned to do art while watching my mother and grandmother work with oils and with oils, you do a lot of blending, so I like to blend my colors to get just the right effect.  But with colored pencils and markers, even acrylic paints, that's hard to achieve sometimes.  I want my drawings in my bible journaling to be more than just coloring book pictures.  So I'm practicing and learning how to "blend" with colored pencils.  (My next project is to get colored watercolor pencils...but for now, I'm using what I have.)

Here's the page I was working on.  Below it is a video showing how I did this and even the problems I had doing it....trial and error are always the best teachers.

 

Link to Karla's Etsy shop: https://www.etsy.com/shop/karladornacher

I thought I would show a picture of the wall in front of my work-space and would you believe, that I found a set of small alphabet gel stamps that would have been perfect, but I had forgotten I had them.  So they will be added to my wall!

Hope this helps and encourages you in your bible or art journaling.

Bullion Stitch in a Button & Needle Turn Applique Technique

I've created a couple of videos to share.  The first one shows how to add the bullion stitched on a button and how to do needle turn applique.  The second video is showing the quilt blocks I've already made for the Tumbling Baskets, Flower Pot quilt I'm making.  You can find a post with detailed pictures of the process of making the block by clicking this link.

Vintage Bible Page with Art

I may be having way to much fun making videos!  This one is how I add art to a vintage bible page and then to canvas.

Crochet Edgings - On Paper

Crochet edging is no new thing, but I'm adding it to paper...so that might be a little different.

Here's how I did it:

Since I was having so much fun making videos, I also did one showing one of the art journals I made (no talking, just me flipping through the journal).  It and this journal (when it is done) are available to purchase on my Etsy store.