Carolina Christmas Borders and Basting

The pieced border that Bonnie Hunter designed for this quilt is absolutely perfect.  The border really sets off the quilt very well! I was quite surprised that the border went together so easily.  I was very careful in my measurements, pressed and trimmed each block to the exact size before stitching it together.  The extra care made all the difference.  The border blocks fit together perfectly and attached to the inner border exactly as they were supposed to fit.

The quilting step that I really dislike doing is the basting.  However, since I adopted the method used by Sharon Schamber, basting has become much less of a hassle. You can find Sharon's basting videos on You Tube. There are 2 videos to watch which are easy to follow.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhwNylePFAA

Now that my basting is finished, it's time to start the quilting on my Elna Pro Quilter's Dream.

Carolina Christmas

Last week I took out the blocks that I made after Christmas for the Bonnie Hunter Mystery called Carolina Christmas.  After laying the blocks out on the floor, I realized just how gigantic that quilt was going to be.  I really didn't want another huge quilt, so I rearranged the blocks to make 2 large snuggle-on-the-couch quilts.  I think these twin quilts will be nice to use in our 5th wheel when watching TV on cold nights. 

Now that I have the blocks sewn together, it's time to start working on the borders.  Bonnie designed a patchwork border that I think I'm going to try.  I've never done a pieced border so this will be a new adventure and learning experience for me.  I just hope I can get the border to fit since I changed the large quilt into two smaller ones. 

Carrying Case for Hope

The carrying case for my 1936 Featherweight, Hope, does not have a carrying handle.  Some previous owner tried to refurbish the outside of the case by removing the black covering.  I suppose the old owner didn't know what to do after that; therefore, nothing was done, and the case is down to bare wood.  I definitely didn't want to fool with the outside of the case, and the inside of the case is in very good condition.  So, I found a pattern on the Internet to make a cloth carrying case that the old wooden case would simply slip into.  I wasn't particularly pleased with the pattern.  I found it to be hard to follow.  The diagrams and cutting directions were not clear, so I made some of my own modifications and am basically pleased with the outcome.  At least now I can easily pick up and carry my Featherweight.