My Frank Lloyd Wright Inspired Quilt - Happy42

I have always had an interest in Frank Lloyd Wright and have admired his vast and varied accumulation of work.  I like to make different types of quilts so I thought it would be fun to make a quilt using inspiration from Frank.  I love his stained glass windows made for the Avery Coonley playhouse in Riverside, Illinois in 1912. Some of these windows are displayed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

This is my Frank Lloyd Wright inspired quilt. 

I have titled it Happy42.

This was my inspiration.

Designing The Quilt

I took photos as I made this quilt.  Proof for myself that an idea can turn into beauty.  Or as Frank once said, "An idea is salvation by inspiration." And so my journey began with a 3 inch grid the size of my desired quilt.

I gathered the tools to make this quilt: fabric, glue, iron, thread, scissors, and Mt. Dew.

Once the color placement felt right I added the 1/4" biased tape.  I made the quilt in quadrants so that I could manage them easier.

When the left top and bottom where done I sewed them together. I hung the left panel on a wall for awhile so I could judge the balance of colors.

I was then ready to work on the right side.  Laying the right side next to the left side I could get the correct length.  I wanted the two sides to interlock so that there would be no obvious connection seams.

Making the lines straight at the beginning was one of my biggest priorities. 

When both sides were completed I pinned them together, fan folded them, then sewed them together.

Once the two sides were sewn together, I added biased tape to cover my seams.

Quilting The Quilt

It was finally time to quilt my quilt.  I chose to place an 80/20 cotton poly blend and a 100% cotton batting in the quilt.  Why two layers? I wanted definition for the quilting. I started with stitch in the ditch.  

Then I added long lines in the white areas. I varied the width to keep it interesting.

In the colored areas I sewed fun fills to add a playful look.

When every inch of the quilt was quilted I blocked it so it would be nice and square.  The binding was the last step. I spent about 200+ hours making my Frank Lloyd Wright inspired quilt. Was it worth it? I think so. 

Thank you Frank Lloyd Wright for the inspiration!

I Made My Website

I am a quilter, a mom, a Nana, a beginner blogger, a small business owner, and now a web designer? What? I think I am pretty good at some of these things, and a pure wannabe at the rest.

I Am A Quilter- I have been a seamstress for ever. This is a photo of Mark and I when we were so young and in love. Back then I really did make a lot of my own clothing. It was the late 70's and the frilly peasant look was in.  I moved from making dresses to quilting.

I think this is the pattern I might have used.  An Etsy Shop called Sydcam123 had patterns like this for sale now. It has vintage patterns all the way back to the 1940s.

I Am A Mom- My kids are my joy and my inspiration.  They are also part of the reason my hair is this color.

Me.

They have each become people that I am lucky to know. I just adore them.

Look at them smile!

I Am A Nana-  I have three wonderful grand-kids and two more on the way.  This another cute picture of them.

This picture is one of my favorites.

Beginner Blogger- I have only written four posts. This makes five. I still have to really think about this process.  I can compose great content when there is no computer in sight. Then I completely blank out when I locate my computer and find the button with the pencil on it that prompts NEW POST.

This is the smallest button ever.

Small Business Owner- Quilting42 is the new name of my quilting business.  I used to be named The Longarm Lady. I know it is weird, that's why I changed it to a more understandable Quilting42. I will blog about the number on another post.

Quilting42

Web Designer?- Not really, I sort of filled in the blanks on Squarespace.com.

 Squarespace.com 

I have new found respect for all webmasters. They deserve this title. I could have never made this website by myself. The Squarespace video tutorials held my hand and helped me through the process. I also watched a 2 hour YouTube video called:

Create an Insanely AMAZING Squarespace Website! - 2014 - YouTube

I think the name is what sold me with all of the empowering words. I watched a portion of the video, paused it, did what they did, un-paused the video and then watched some more. It took me way longer than two hours, and I am still working on my site, but it is out there, waiting to be noticed.

I know that just making the site is not enough.  I now have passwords for Google Analytics, Bing Webmaster Tools, Google Webmaster Tools....and Password Padlock.


If you have ever wanted a website all your own, go ahead, dive in and make the website of your dreams! Or go see mine. Quilting42.com

Life Has Been So Good

So many good things have been going on at the Bingham's! Late in September Mark helped me with a project that I have been dreaming about for years.  It involved about $20 dollars and a trip to Home Depot.  We purchased two 6 foot x 1inch strap steel lengths, and 6 magnetic clips.



Strap Steel

Mark was ready to help.  By that I mean he did everything.

Mark secured the strap steel about 5 inches from the ceiling with screws. We tested the design and then Mark painted the steel the same color as the wall. Now I can hang and photograph all my customer quilts and all of my own quilts.  It has been fantastic. Thanks Mark! 

This was our test quilt. The clips held up great!



Now I can photograph the whole quilt without distortion.

 

 

This quilt was my wedding gift to my son Connor and his new wife Amy. 

 My baby got married earlier this month. The wedding was in Arizona.  All of our family was able to come to the wedding.  We rented a house through BookMyVacay.com.  It was great to be all together. We spent a great deal of time hanging out at the pool.



 Connor and Amy were married in the Mesa Arizona Temple.

Mr and Mrs Bingham

The next day I took some family photos. We had a great time even though it was the

middle of a very hot day.

Brian, Skyler and Ada

Kyle, Aubry and David

Brandon, Kalynda and Gavin



Connor and Amy

I'm so Lucky!

Binding Your Quilt

I have been binding quilts for about 3 decades now and I think I have landed on an easy, fast binding. I had a stack of quilts that needed binding, so I thought I would share how I bind my everyday quilts.

Now this is all done on my sewing machine. I only hand sew binding if I am planning on hanging that quilt on my wall.
 

 BINDING THE EASY FAST WAY

1. Cut binding 2.25 inches x width of fabric.  Make sure your quilt it trimmed and free of strings.

2. Join binding by taking two strips right sides together at a 45 degree angle. I chain sew all strips together in one go.

3. Trim off excess fabric to 1/4 inch and press in one direction.

4. I sew my binding first to the back of the quilt, then to the front. Fold binding in half and line it up with the edge of your quilt.

5. Start sewing at about12inches from the bottom of any side of your quilt. Leave a generous tail of binding which will be used to connect to the other end. Begin sewing binding to the back of your quilt using a quarter inch seam.

6. When you get to 1/4inch away from the end of the quilt, STOP. Place the needle down and lift your presser foot. Turn the quilt 45 degrees and sew off the quilt.  Cut thread.

7. This is the fun part! Because you have sewn a 45 degree angle, the next step is super easy. With your right hand fold binding away from quilt, making a nice 45 degree miter, then fold the binding back onto the quilt. Line it up with the edge of the quilt.

8.  I start quilting about 1/4 of an inch in on this new side. Repeat until you have completely circled your quilt. Stop sewing when there is a 12inch space from where you first began. Move the quilt to a flat surface.

9.   Now I make a ruler out of my binding. This is done by cutting off an end or selvage.  Make sure the tail is trimmed and is longer than half of the empty un-sewn area. 

10. Lay the tail flat onto the edge of the quilt. Place the other end of the binding on top of the tail.  We need an over lap of the exact size of our binding. By using the fabric ruler as a guide we can cut off the excess binding.

11. Now take your quilt and fold it together at the gap where the binding has not been sewn yet. This will make the next step easier.

12. Take both end of the binding and lay them at 45 degree angle. Sew, then trim seam allowance to 1/4inch.

13. Finish sewing binding to quilt.

14. Turn your quilt over and sew binding to the front of your quilt.

BEAUTIFUL 

 Using the extra leftover binding as a ribbon, this quilt is ready to be a well loved treasure.