Travelling and stitching

Am I the only one here who spends more time preparing to travel, fussing about what sewing I am taking rather than thinking about what shoes or jacket?  On Thursday I am off to Toowoomba in sunny Queensland to visit with Penny, and teach some classes. 

So far I have come up with two versions of the Broderie Perse for the Di Ford BOM from Quiltmania.  I am just going to put all the cut out flowers and leaves in a bag, and play with them when I get there.

I knew that I would have to take along my Little Sisters quilt, as the quilting is not yet finished and I have 6 weeks to get it done.  So, today I decided to put the binding on.  Bit risky sometimes when the quilting is not complete, but I think it will be ok.

Before I start the binding process, I run a long stitch quite close to the edge of the top, thought the 3 layers.  this will hold the stray bits together.  It also helps if you have a tiny bit of a flared edge happening - it settles it down a bit.

I cut my binding 2 1/2" wide, join all the lengths, and press in half.  I use a walking foot and a 1/4" seam.  Don't cut away the excess binding and batting just yet.

Once it is all sewn in place, I use my ruler to measure 1/2" from the sewing line into the batting.  This is where I cut it off. 

fuzzy photo, but you can see that the batting is now about 1/4" wider than the edge of the quilt.  When I turn it to the back, the binding will be filled with the batting.  No floppy bindings!

Turned to the back of the quilt, the pressed edge sits neatly onto the machine sewn line, and this is where I will slip stitch in place.

This is not meant to be a tutorial, just a few hints.  When I started quilt making the bindings were always a chore, and just threw them together, not thinking about the final result.

Until......entered in a quilt show and the judges comments were "watch your bindings"  .......ok......time to do a better job at it.