Binding my 1st quilt

I finished the quilting of the top this morning.  Here it is.  It looks pretty good, of course I can see issues, but hopefully the recipient will not notice.

That wasn't too bad.  It took me two mornings, but I wasn't in any hurry.  This morning I put together the binding strips, ironed and clipped to the quilt.

So now it is time to start putting on the binding.  

Hope I get this done without the need to rip out.  Positive thinking this will be easy, take my time and it can be done.

Quilting my first top

Over the weekend I started to quilt my tops for Hands 2 Help  It was some trial and error.  Many wonky lines and some tearing out.  

So I decided to try the painters tape way.  Found it on google and gave it a try.

It looks pretty good for a first timer.  Only had enough time to do half, so I plan to finish the quilting today,

What did I sign up for? Hands2Help

Being new to quilting, I spend some time (ok way too much time) browsing the web for quilts, patterns, fabric and lots of other stuff.  So I came across Confessions of a Fabric Addict  and saw some very nice quilts.  She also has been doing for years quilts for charities.  So I signed up for her newsletter.

Well a few days latter I get an email welcoming me Hand 2 Help and thanking me for joining and agreeing to make a quilt.  Whoops!  I did what.

So I had started a quilt and didn't really have a owner in mind so I decided I would give it a shot.  So here is my quilt so far

 I chose Cool Blueberry Park charm pack by Karen Lewis for Robert Kaufman

 I used the She Quilts Alot layer cake coin pattern.  

Once I had the top and bottom part done, I decided to also add sashing between them, since my piecing didn't line up correctly.  The sashing is a great hiding tool.

Here is the completed top.  Now on to the backing.

I had some left overs from the layer cake and some plain white and decided on this for the backing.

So here is the backing all done.

Now it was on to doing the sandwich.

I finished up the sandwich and now need to quilt.  I know it will be lines, I just hope and can do them straight.  This will be the first quilt I have quilted on my machine.  I have sent all other quilts out for quilting.  I've practiced on the table toppers, but this will be my challenge.

So wish me luck.

Table Toppers

So I wanted to try quilting on my machine, rather than always sending things out for quilting.  I've wanted to try my hand at triangles too.  So thought I would do them both at the same time.

Now that I have it all pieced I see that it needs to be a bit bigger for my nightstand.

I added sashing to add to the size.  I kind of like it with the sashing.

Pinned up my sandwich, now on to my first quilting.  

It didn't take too long and it looks great.  I can see a few spots that aren't quite straight.  But overall first time, looks good.

Then I moved on to the binding.  That wasn't fun.  I used store bought 2 1/2" double fold tape.  Sewed it on to the back and folded over.  I attempted to sew the folded over piece on the machine, but that just didn't work.  I wasn't always hitting the back tape and it looked messy.  After about 4 iinches, I decided to do it by hand.  It wasn't too bad to do, although I had sore fingers after.  It worked out great.

Now I'm going to do one more for my dresser top in the bedroom.  Same colors, just going to do bigger traingles.