Good Binding Gadget, and "Jody Blue" Finished

  I LIKE these little binding clips.  They are easy to use, if you drop them, you can FIND them, and no more sticking myself with pins.  They hold the binding well.  (My binding is always the same size - a cut strip 2 1/4 inch, folded.  If you use really narrow or really wide binding, I don't know if they would work. )  I remove them as needed and clip or unclip them to my shirt or cuff - no reaching for the pin cushion.  There are 10 in the package - that's enough.

Below I'm getting ready to sandwich Jody Blue, on one of the last days of summer, in the garage.   Jody gave me many of the blue scraps, and it's almost exactly like a recent copy, RED, finished about May.

Here it is, DONE.  I LOVE the tree shadows. and I also LOVE the perky reds and some lavendars from  my stash.  The large dark HSTs that make up into a square? - I had originally planned them to be one/same color, but they ended up looking like BLOBs, so I made them scrappy as well. 

I also used chunks for the border - supposedly I'm using up scraps.  Yeah, right!  The quilting in each of the border chunks are of various designs - some look great, some less desireable, but the quilt is a a good sample item.  My binding is a dull red. 

Below is the back - again, trying to use up what I have - I LIKE it.  Despite carefully measuring, I ended up with narrow bits of fabric on each side of the backing - exactly what I thought I would avoid!  Jeeeeesh, Elaine, focus!  But the squares at the top and bottom ended up straight and half-blocks - no slivers.  I enjoy using 10 inch squares of fabric, but on the back, a person has to be careful to keep it all straight and true - like using stripes, you must keep it straight, or it looks amateurish.

 A little closer shot on the fence.  IMHO, the reds, and creams and brighter blues give it twinkle and depth.

(Below) I am starting to think more about "modern quilts" and really like this kind of straight line quilting.  It's easy and good for filling large areas. 

I quilt on my DSM, a Janome MC6500 - it NEVER fails me.