THE PEACE OF WILD THINGS

When despair for the world grows in me

and I wake in the night at the least sound

in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,

I go and lie down where the wood drake

rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.

I come into the peace of wild things 

who do not tax their lives with forethought

of grief. I come into the presence of still water.

And I feel above me the day-blind stars

waiting with their light. For a time

I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

— Wendell Berry

As I was blog hopping this morning one of my favorite stops is 'Miss Booshay's' Quiet Life.  She always posts the most wonderful stuff and sometimes the words jump off the page and touch my soul.  
This is one of those pieces.
Thank you Donna.  

I need to go find the wood drake!!

Thanks for stopping by....Linda

How I make my binding

I have been working on bindings (among other things) these last several days to try to get a few of my UFO's off my list.   While I was working on them I thought about how I used to always have such trouble trying to get the strips right when mitering them together. 

I don't like to just sew binding strips together with a straight seam end to end because it causes so much bulk when the fabric is folded over and over on itself when attaching it to the quilt.  
I always use an angled seam (like a miter seam) to join the strips so the bulk of the seam is spread over the width of the strip.
  
I cut my strips 2½" and square up the ends, cutting off the selvages.

Once I have all the strips ready I start telling myself..... 

"Left is RIGHT and Right is WRONG"!

Which translates in my mind that the strip on the left is always RIGHT SIDE UP and the strip on the right is always WRONG SIDE UP.  
   
So I'll pull a strip and turn it wrong side up and I mark the sewing line on the back.   I love the little Olfa 4.5" square for this but you could use any ruler that will help you mark a 45° line.  I line up the 45° angle along the left side of the strip with the point of the ruler at the top of the strip and draw a line from top/left to bottom/right.  

     

I then pull the next strip and lay it right side up.  (This becomes my Left strip)  

   

I'll line them up and carefully pin together like the picture shows.   Then take them to the machine and sew on the line.  

I use needle-down and line the marked point up with the needle to get it under the presser foot.... then sew on the line to join the two strips.

The unsewn strip end now becomes the next "Right" strip.  So I take it and lay it wrong side up and mark the sewing line just as before and continue this until all strips are sewn together and I have enough to bind my quilt.  

Now the seams have to be cut apart and the 'waste' cut off.  I'll just use my scissors and 'eye' the cutoff.  It doesn't have to be precise.   (some people save the little cut off triangles to sew to another color to  make 1½" half-squares.  Sometimes I keep them .... and sometimes I don't.  Depends on the mood I'm in at the time)  ;o) 

Press the seam open.... and flip the strip over and admire the perfectly matched binding strip.  

 

So there you go..... "Left is RIGHT and Right is WRONG!

and I can now make my binding without twisting the strips the wrong way.  

  lol

Thanks for stopping by....Linda

3/23 This post edited to add info:  Now I feel bad that I was so insensitive to not have named "the lady" that did my quilt.  I don't know what I was thinking except that I just wasn't thinking!  Sorry Bonnie!!  And thanks Sandy for the smack down.  I needed it.  




Today I plan to get the binding on this quilt after my granddaughters visit.  

I thought I'd show you some of the quilting that a lady Bonnie Strait did for me.  (Sadly she no longer accepts customer quilts)  

She did a really nice job.   I started with Bonnie Hunters block called Jack in the Box (set them on point) and then made alternating snowball blocks.  When I sent it to my longarmer we talked about doing motifs to represent Redwork.   I think she did a fine job and I'm very pleased.   


click each pic if you want to see close-up.  

Have a great day....
Thanks for stopping by....Linda

It's Monday so that means I can link up to Judy's Design Wall showing you what I have on mine.  I had these blocks and borders left over from the first quilt I made with these fabrics so I decided to put them together in a table runner.
I'm calling this one 'A Terra Twister' and I think it's going to be the last of this fabric line.   Should fit my table nicely.
 <<<< It's #4
I do still have a lot of strings and a few pieces left but they will go into my scraps and worked in with other scraps.




This was on my wall last week and I've finished the top.  It has to wait it's turn to go to the quilters though.    This makes the third quilt I've made with the Aqua Terra fabric from Connecting Threads.   It's a bit smaller than the last one but should make a nice twin size with a good side drop.

<<< This is #1   I finished it in May, 2010.  It resides on my couch.

and this is #2 >>>

I think that's quite a good supply out of one fabric line.  I am more than ready to be moving on.
I might spend some time getting a few bindings added to the last two quilts I've gotten back and pull out a couple of UFO's to try to get finished.
And then again.... I could change my mind.....

Thanks for stopping by....Linda

  
This is the way I left my Terra Tumbler for several weeks.  Sorry about the bad lighting.
At this size I knew I wanted to enlarge it a bit more so I started looking for a border fabric.  The background fabric I have just didn't look right.  It was too light and didn't contain the scrappy blocks like I wanted.

 Nothing I had in my stash worked either.  The blues I have were too pure and the rusts were already taken for the 2nd quilt I'm in the process of making now.
So I decided a nice dark chocolate would be just right.  Off to the LQS (which isn't local at all).  And I found the just right color.  

Two more borders added and this is a finished top and now I'm happy.  
It's about 85"x92" and should fit a full bed nicely.  
Thanks for stopping by....Linda

A quick post to show you what I've been up to when I'm not quilting or reading.
I love to crochet and I ran across a pattern to make a Spiral Scrubbie here.

I had just picked up a cone of Peaches and Cream cotton yarn to make some dishcloths so I sat down and started casting on and following the pattern. It's a simple pattern  but as I got further along with it I decided I really didn't want to make a scrubbie after all.
But I did want dishcloths.  Sooooo

Since I did like the pattern I started making squares (no increasing or decreasing at the beginning & ending).  I'm casting on 21 stitches and working 21 rows.  Single crochet' in the back loop of the stitch to make the ridges.  Quick and easy!
And Oh so nice to use to wash things.

Oh and go check out some of the projects that are being linked here.

Thanks for stopping by....Linda

Sooooo Here I am again and it's Monday.  So that means I can link to Judy's Design Wall Monday and you can head on over there and check out what others are working on.
>>>>> WAIT!!  Don't go yet.  ....... ;o)
  I've made a bit of headway on my latest project....as you can see here.   All strips cut for all the borders, right & left center blocks are made and the top and bottom are almost ready to be sewn together.  I've also made the four corners so it shouldn't take much longer to get this finished.
That is IF this week doesn't wind up like the last two.

Been a bit busy with life things lately.  Five different Dr appt's made and kept along with driving 55 miles one way to get there.... and lunch .... then driving 55 miles back home.  Four of these appointments were for me and the shots I get in my knees so I can push back surgery for as long as possible.  Thankfully they do work for me so I'm more than glad to go through them.  And besides.... any excuse to eat out!!

And since it is Spring afterall (or at least acting like it around here) I've been pouring over the seed catalogs and nursery sites so we can get new plants out front.  Last fall we replaced our porch and driveway and in the process all of the old plants were demolished or ripped out by hubby because we didn't like them any more.
I now have a new flower bed design and have ordered a few plants.
It's going to be nice to have some pretty color out front again.

Oh and I almost forgot..... We bought a new Toyota Camry.  And along with that comes all the running around involved with buying tags, taxes, insurance, giving up our first born etc etc.
It's been 15 years since we bought our last car so maybe this one will last that long too.  hahaha

>>>>>>> OK now you can go over to Judy's.
Have a great day and
Thanks for stopping by....Linda