Jaybird Quilts: December 2010

Friday, December 31, 2010

Raise Your Glass

Some of the many many quilts, bags & things I made in 2010.

Goodbye 2010 Hello 2011

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Binding Flange Tutorial

Binding Tutorial Posts
Perfect Binding	Basics Post #1
Binding Flange	Basics Post #2 - Bias Binding
How to bind curves	Basics Post #3 - Scrappy Bias Binding
How to bind 120° angles
Single Fold Binding (for mini quilts & small projects)
What do you want to know about binding?

A few weeks ago I when I showed my Stash Stack Quilt I showed the binding with a flange. I got a few questions from people asking how to do it and decided it was best to take photos for a tutorial and share the info with everyone.

1. To demonstrate I put a flange on a mini quilt. Quilt your quilt as usual. Trim off the excess backing and batting.

2. After trimming off the excess batting and backing I suggest basting around the edge of the quilt with a scant 1/8" seam. This is especially helpful if the quilting is not dense around the edges. (I actually do this on all my quilts, not just those with this type of binding.)

3. I use a longer stitch for this basting step as well as for basting the flange onto the quilt top as described below in step #9.

4. This is the result of basting around the edges of the quilt.

5. Cut fabric for your flange. I cut mine at 1" wide. Subcut strips to be the length and width of your quilt top. If your sides are more than 40" piece strips together to get desired length.

6. Fold the flange fabric in half along the length and press with the wrong sides together.

7. Pin the flange fabric to the quilt top matching the raw edges. This will feel very similar to how you attach the binding.

8. Pin all four sides in place. One side will overlap another at each corner. You can choose to have the top and bottom overlap the sides or vice versa.

9. Baste the flange in place with a large stitch length and a scant 1/8" seam. Remove the pins as you go.

10. This will be the result.

11. Attach your binding as usual. Basic Binding directions are available on my first binding tutorial page.

12. Pin binding in place to the back of the quilt as you usually would using binding clips. Hand sew binding in place to the back of the quilt to finish.

... the result!
Binding Flanges are great for when you need a tiny bit of pop from a color before your binding. They also work great when you need contrast between a combination of a busy border and busy binding as shown here.

I hope you enjoy this tutorial!

want to link to this tutorial?

grab a button!

{144 x 144}

{250x250}

enjoy!!

No part of this tutorial may be reproduced without written consent of Jaybird Quilts.

For more information visit http://www.jaybirdquilts.com/

Monday, December 27, 2010

Have you checked out BlogHer lately?

Blogher.com Review
disclosure: this is a sponsored review

Have you checked out blogher lately?
You should!

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Before I started my own blog I really didn't know much about BlogHer. I'd see their ads from time to time on people's blogs but I didn't know much past that. BlogHer is a publishing network, an advertising network and so much more. Below the ads you see on many blogs like mine are links like this...

The links are to blog posts by other bloggers in the BlogHer network that you should check out. From time to time my posts get featured in the links... like my Sunday Stash Report post above.

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BlogHer also does Syndicated Posts of content from bloggers in the network. What does that mean? BlogHer has editors that search out great posts by members of the BlogHer network. Then if the blogger agrees the post is re-posted on BlogHer to a much larger audience than the blogger herself probably has.

Earlier this year I was syndicated on BlogHer.com with my Spiderweb Potholder Tutorial.

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A few months ago BlogHer added a new feature to posts on their site called Sparkle. Sparkle is great for when you enjoy the content but don't have the time to leave a comment. You click "Sparkle" at the end of the post and it's similar to "like" on facebook or giving a positive vote about the content. Posts that get a lot of "Sparkle" then end up on the BlogHer sidebar section. This is what it looks like...

You really should read about The Bloggess and Her Christmas Miracle... it's a great post.

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You can also join BlogHer (for free) and setup a profile. After doing this you can connect with other people in the network through chatter, groups and so much more. This is one area that I haven't used to it's full potential and plan on using more this coming year.
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BlogHer often has exclusive offers and giveaways. Take a few minutes to check out some of the offers & giveaways that the network has to offer. Right now you can win a full pass to one of BlogHer's Conferences

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So take some time to check out BlogHer & all of it's many features.
Once you do I'd love for you to come back here & leave a comment. Tell me what you like... what features you use... what you don't like... and so on.

Friday, December 24, 2010

A Little Birdie Told Me... All about Pillowcases

My new post for the swatch and stitch is up!

Super Easy Pillowcases to match Elijah's Stash Stack Quilt

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Sunday Stash Report - Week 50

Below is a catch up of the past few weeks of Sunday Stash reports.... hopefully I didn't forget anything. If I did I'll add it to next week's report.

8 yards of Parisville by Tula Pink

Another 6 yards of Parisville by Tula Pink

2 yards in of new spoonflower labels

an order from hawthorne threads that i didn't get to photograph

penn state fabric for quilt shown below

OUT

one yard of Dr. Seuss for this wip

one yard out to finish pockets on a bag

backing for Elijah's twin quilt
binding for Elijah's twin quilt
fabric for 2 new quilts
fabric for some new binding tutorials
fabric to make this quilt

8 yards total for Elijah's Stash Stack Quilt

A bunch on this Penn State version of Dot Party with extra large blocks that I made for my former boss.

the back of the quilt

so the past few weeks...

26.5 in

40.83 out

YTD totals

purchased: -713.94 yds
busted: 582.27 yds
net: -131.67 yds

Only 2 more stash reports to go for 2010...

Check out how everyone else is doing this week!

Saturday, December 18, 2010

Bloggers' Block-A-Palooza

By now, many of you are busy making the final push towards the holidays. But what are your crafty plans as we enter 2011? Well, clear your plate, because we have a great quilt-along planned that will begin in January!

18 quilt bloggers have collaborated to bring you the first-ever Bloggers' Block-a-palooza. We'll jump from blog to blog making 2 quilt blocks per week, wrapping up with a custom setting and layout design to help complete your quilt. I am so excited to be one of the participating bloggers & can't wait to show you what I have in store for you!! John aka Quilt Dad is the mastermind behind all of this and has created a page that will be updated to have all the details.

We're calling this quilt-along "Waiting for Spring" because we'll be using the brand new Sunkissed line by Sweetwater for Moda, and the bright colors and botanical prints should help you (or at least those of you in the Northern hemisphere!) push through the cold winter months and have a fresh new quilt ready for the Spring.

More details will be available soon, but in the meantime feel free to grab our button below and spread the word.

Oh and if you are one of those over eager people who needs the fabric right now... my personal suggestion is to order the fat quarter or fat eight bundle from the line. As soon as we have the final fabric requirements will provide those as well as info on where you can order a kit.

Grab our button!

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Why I've been a bit mia...

I have avoided making this post. Despite having a blog I'm a pretty private person.

I'm getting on an airplane in a few hours to fly to LA. My 3 year old nephew Elijah has Leukemia. He was diagnosed two weeks ago today. The initial shock has passed and now we are all adapting to a "new" normal life. After 13 days in the hospital Elijah was released on Monday. My brother asked me to come out to LA for a few weeks to help out and be another set of hands. We have lots of treatments and challenges ahead of us but I'm confident in Elijah's strength. The love and support from family, friends, co-workers and so on has been amazing over the last 2 weeks.

Remember the Zig Zag quilt that I made for him a while back? Well my brother & sister in law discovered that this had become his favorite of all the quilts I made because it had a "fuzzy backing." Since I made it for Elijah the quilt is only 36" x 48" big. My brother & sister in law asked for a new larger version.

The result was the Stash Stack Quilt that I posted about a few days ago. It's 54" x 72" and big enough that it can cover the bed when mom or dad cuddles with Elijah.

Karin & Elijah with his new Stash Stack Quilt

I was told that upon receiving his new quilt... he said

"it's my favorite daddy"

and that was all I needed to know.

While I'm in LA I might blog a lot... I might not... I'm not really sure yet. Karin does have a sewing machine and her stash grows with every visit I make to LA. The GPS in the car might just drive me to Robert Kaufman's offices one day... who knows. Either way please understand that if it takes me a bit longer to get back to you on an e-mail it isn't because I don't care about you. Also my amazing mom is going to take care of shipping out any orders that are placed in the shop. Patterns & Magazines will be easy... everything else might take an extra day or two.

Thanks for all your love & support.

-Julie

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Modern Relief Winners

....and the grand total collected is:

{PayPal balance: $5,852.36 USD}

Thank you so much for making our first Modern Relief a success!! If you are one of our lucky winners… please hang tight your Quilter will be contacting you soon to get your info!! Have a wonderful holiday season!

We had 621 donations!! All winners were picked via random.org with a range of 1-621

Heather from { House } of A La Mode --- 263 --- Fat Quarter Shop
Amy from Amy's Creative Side #1 --- 378 --- Michelle E.B.
Amy from Amy's Creative Side #2 --- 210 --- Eileen D.
Elizabeth from Oh, Fransson! --- 371 --- Suzanne G.
Nettie from a quilt is nice --- 43 --- Trish P.
Aneela from Comfortstitching --- 95 --- Lesley E.
Brioni from Flossyblossy --- 337 --- Lori M.
John from Quilt Dad --- 215 --- Karen A.
Kate from One Flew Over --- 594 --- Jane L.
Ashley from Film in the Fridge --- 93 --- Megan H.
Katy from i'm a ginger monkey --- 24 --- Nicole M.
Tacha from Hanies --- 248 --- D'Ann P.
Amanda from Sasikirana Handmade --- 111 --- Monica H.
Jennifer & Jessica from Twin Fibers --- 550 --- Burgundy Buttons
Nova from a cuppa and a catch up --- 279 --- Judith D.
Ryan from I'm Just A Guy Who Quilts #1 --- 358 --- Maeve B.
Ryan from I'm Just A Guy Who Quilts #2 --- 469 --- Steven B.
Julie from Jaybird Quilts --- 108 --- Merryl F.
Jacquie from Tallgrass Prairie Studio --- 86 --- Katy J.
Alissa from Handmade by Alissa --- 515 --- Kate S.