December's Here! BOM 2017 Wrap Up....

It's hard to believe... December is here. This year has sure flown by! It's time to wrap up this year's BOM. Grab a cup of coffee, tea or a diet coke... this posting is going to be a bit long. I have so much to show you! If you have your blocks all sewn together with the border, you can get it all ready to quilt.  Or.... you can add the fun curvy bias edge in the border. When I originally designed this quilt I was planning on making this decorative edge using green fabric. In fact it's listed on your supply sheet. When I reached the point of adding this, I didn't like using just the plain green... I decided to use bits and pieces of fabric I had left to make my bias 'tape'. I have general directions to make Bias Binding on my website. It's a PDF that is downloadable on my website. It can be found under my Quilting Fun tab. This bias tape is wonderful to make up and have on hand.

To make a scrappy bias binding you will first need to piece all of your scraps together to form a 'sheet' that measures approximately 40" x 40" give or take a few inches... I used 4 , quarter yards of fabric of four of my fabrics... I also press all of my seams open to cut down on the bulk in the seam..

I needed to square up my fabric.... you can see I have some excess to cut off....

Then cut your square in half corner to corner to form two large triangles.

Lay the two triangles, right sides together lining up 'straight edges'. (Not the diagonal edges.) 

Machine stitch a 1/4" seam along this edge. You are making a parallelogram.

You can sorta see the parallelogram here.... 

Along the bias edge, mark a line of the width of your bias strip.

Looks like I cut mine to be 2 1/4" wide.

Cut about 6"....

You then will join the top and bottom edges together (these are cut on the straight of the grain, not the bias sides) right sides together. Sew a 1/4" seam. You are making a bias tube.

Use the loose bias strip as a guide to continue cutting your continuous bias strip. As you can see I have a smaller cutting matte inside my fabric tube so that I can use my rotary cutter to cut my strip. Keep cutting your continuous bias strip until the bias tube is all 'used up'...

In no time you will have a beautiful pile of bias binding! I then iron it in half lengthwise.

No onto the tricky part.... making the curving edge. I marked my border with pins to show where the unfinished edge of my bias tape should line up. If you have a 'scallop' template, you can also use that. I referred to the quilt layout sheet as a guide.

I then sew on my bias binding lining it up with my 'line' for the scalloped edge. I am sewing a 1/4" seam. Remember the binding is folded in half. 

After you have sewn the binding scallop all the way around the quilt. It's now time to fold it over on itself. 

I then topstitch the edge down using a buttonhole or blanket stitch that is found on my machine. The same stitch that I used to sew the Dresden plates onto my blocks. 

After I've sewn all the way around, I then sew on the other side of my binding strip using the same stitch.

Here's a close up photo showing you my stitches.

I then sent my quilt off to be quilted by a gal I met at one of my guild presentations. Her name is Mary. A super nice gal who is from my old hometown that I graduated from. She remembered my husband and sister-in-law who had grown up in the small farming community. I felt pretty good giving her my 'baby' to quilt. I just told her that I wanted a scalloped edge, other than that she had full reign as to how to quilt this quilt. 

I am looking forward to showing off this beauty when I am out and about doing my trunk show. I love sharing my trunk show with guilds.

Patterns can be found on the Quilt Doodle website and on Craftsy (Not until the 1st of the month). Did you miss a pattern along the way? The past monthly patterns can be found in my Etsy and Craftsy shops for a small fee.

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone's BOM 2017 quilt. I'm still struggling with a name for this beautiful quilt, so if you have an idea, please leave me a comment!

I am also planning on writing this up into a complete pattern set, it should be out in a month or two.  Do stayed tuned and mark your calendars, a NEW BOM will be on the way January 1, 2018!

I've been busy, busy, busy.... not only have I been sewing for the holidays, but I have also been planning next year's BOM. It's really hard to believe that 2018 is right around the corner! It is closer then we think,  it'll be here before you know it!  It's so hard to keep secrets, but I can tell you I have SNOW much fun planned for 2018! I hope that you are able to join me for the 2018 block of the month quilt! Let me tell you a little bit about this FUN BOM. Well, as you can see from the logo above, I'm using 'jewel tones' for this quilt. I am also using flannel so it'll be so warm and snuggly when it's all done. There will be some applique. I am doing my usual heat n bond method. I will also be offering some extra postings for you wool workers out there too! This BOM will be offered the first of every month. Like always, it's FREE for the month that the block is out, then there's a small fee if you have to play catch up to get the block. To make sure that you don't miss any of it,  join my mailing list. Not only will you get all of the BOM 2018 postings and updates, but you will also hear about all sorts of other fun quilty goodness too!

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          Thank you for following along with this years BOM! I hope that you had as much fun as I did!
Happy quilting!
Cindy