After all that work getting ready for the Christmas tour of my house, I woke up sick the morning of the tour. It may have been a reaction to the Bactrim I was on, or it could have been the sinus infection that just got worse (until I switched to a different antibiotic), or maybe it was a virus. Whatever it was put me on the sofa for two days. Luckily I was able to go to mom's sofa during the tour and Steve took over.
As it was, I'll bet the folks who came through enjoyed having the man of the house there to talk to. Steve assured me that it went well and I think he enjoyed it. Today I am happy to be back on my feet with my house decorated and nothing on the calendar for a few days.
In other news, I did finish quilting the Chain Reaction quilt. It's a Christmas present so I couldn't put it off.
The quilting was simple and not particularly dense. It went fast and is perfect for this quilt which is intended to be used and loved. I put the Larkspur big print on the back…
It is entirely possible that Ashlyn will like the back better than the front which is something I'll just have to get over. Note to those of you who never buy this kind of print… this is why I do buy them. They make great backs!
In other Christmas-related sewing, my neice, Rachel, requested a stocking for her daughter. I had this Christmas fabric from Michael Miller and it seemed perfect – bright and festive and girlie!
I couched Annabelle's name in two different threads, sewed on some bells (of course!) and was able to use a sparkly trim that I've had in my stash a long time.
This sort of stocking is really easy to make. I admit that I referred to the directions for the lining and the cuff in our Quilt A New Christmas book rather than making it up as I went along, but if you don't have the book, you could probably do this without a pattern.
Oh, one other thing! I got in a new brown polka dot that I love. It reminds me a lot of a brown dot that Linda and I did with P&B Textiles years ago. A yard of this one is going in my stash for sure.
Piece O Cake Blog 
Kim said your house was the best!
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Im glad to hear that! My friend, Marian, said that there was another way cool house that I would have loved to have seen. She said it was modern and spare in its ornamentation. Sounded nice to me but I, unfortunately, could not make myself move off of the sofa. Sigh.
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Hi Becky,
Glad your feeling better.
I love the big prints used for the backs! The stocking is so cute. Did you use a free motion couching foot?
Merry Christmas.
Suzanne
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I probably should have used the couching foot, but no, I did it by hand. I sort of forgot I had that foot in my Bernina box which goes to show how often I do this sort of thing.
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Your fortunate that Bernini has that free motion foot. I think they may be the only one who does. I have seen some home altered free motion feet, but never tried it. I have just recently got the sweet sixteen. I know you like yours. Did you quilt the Hexie quilt on that?
It sure looks nice.
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Yes, I did quilt the hex quilt on the Sweet Sixteen! That is where I do all of my machine quilting these days. I do love it!
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Any tips on binding the hex edges. I have a quilt in the works with hex edges that I’ve been worrying about. I’m good with normal square mitered corner binding, is it similar? Thanks,
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Hi Janet:
I recommend that you make bias binding, not straight-grain binding. While my normal binding strips are cut 2 1/, I think I cut the strip 2 1/4 for the hex quilt I recently made.
The outer corners are done much as you would do on a 90° angle, you just dont fold it quite so far. Follow the 60° angle instead.
For the inner corners, sew to the point where you need to turn and stop with the needle down. Pivot the quilt, move the binding into place, pin as necessary and sew to the next corner. OR you can stop and backstitch instead of pivoting, take the quilt out and pin, and then start again. The binding is going to bunch up a little on the inner corners and Im not sure there is a way around that. If your binding isnt too wide, though, its not noticeable.
Another option is to finish the edge with cording. That must be made and sewn to the outer edge of the top before you begin quilting. You would quilt most of the quilt, leaving the outer 1 or so unquilted all the way around. Finish the corded edge, then finish the quilting.
Hope this helps!
Becky
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