Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Creative solutions???


 I seem to be spending a lot of time fixing things that shouldn't be broken in the first place.

When I finished quilting the border around the rainbow quilt, I decided it would look better if it had a one-inch border on the outside edge rather than bind it directly.

On three edges it was quite easy because the backing extended beyond the quilt top.

One edge across the top was a problem. When I laid it out on the floor for basting, I placed the backing, then the batting, and then tried to position the top in the center. It might have been helpful to have someone assist me to lower the top onto the batting but I had to roll the top out, adjusting it as I went along. Meanwhile, the backing which I had taped to the floor, became un-stuck. That alone caused a few problems when quilting but I was able to get things smoothed out as I moved the quilt in the hoop, removing the basting when needed.

The only real problem when adding the outer border was that the backing edge, though OK with the cable border, was short about half to three fourths of an inch. As I was sewing that last strip, I was thinking I could add another inch of backing along that edge.

Then I got another plan. I decided to cut the binding for the top a bit wider so that I could turn it down to meet the fabric where it was short. You can see how it looks on the back in the above picture. I quilted it along the sewing line on the front so the total effect is no different from the regular binding.


I couldn't make a mitered corner with two different sizes of binding but I think this solution is working and will hardly be noticeable. (at least by a man riding by on a fast horse).

Two edges are now finished ... two more to go. 

I have to admit that I probably would have finished this up today had I never been tempted by windows 10 last week. One thing has not returned to normal yet.
In the past, when I wanted to download pictures from my camera, I would plug the camera into my laptop and turn it on, then go to the picture file. In the list would be the name of the camera and when I right-clicked that, I got to the place to download any recent pictures. My computer looked over the camera files and just took the new stuff, giving me the option to put a title on the download. Oh, so simple!
Since returning to windows 7, my picture section does not recognize my cameras. When I click on the import icon, a window pops up saying to plug in the camera and turn it on. Well, it does not work from that point on but there is a message saying if you don't see the camera identification, push refresh. No amount of refreshing would fix the problem.

After hours of working at trying everything to get the pictures to download, I took my camera to my husband at his computer and asked him to download those two pictures on to his computer and send them to me by e-mail. 

Well, they came in the mail by Jpeg and the next three or four hours were wasted getting them into a file where I could locate them to download to the blog. As a result you can see the pictures of my quilting solutions. The camera issues are still remaining. Please enjoy the pictures and appreciate the hoops I jumped through to do what was once a no-brainer. I really need a resident guru who speaks English. There has gotta be an easier way.

And another solution that seems to work ... you may recall that when Ben requested purple as one of his favorite colors, I had almost no purple fabric. Thanks to friends to the rescue, he will now have purple and lime green on the back.,,, but, when I went to my thread stash to find something for sewing the binding ... no purple there either! I did find a blue that is very close so that is what I am using . The blind stitching doesn't really show and I am not going to go out in the rain to find a store that carries purple thread. 

My #1 rule is ... if it works, it is the right way.

11 comments:

  1. I love creative solutions to quilting (and other) problems. Nice work!

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  2. Very clever solutions - I like them. The quilt colors are amazing.

    How awful about the computer/camera conflict - those things can be so annoying. Sometimes rebooting the computer fixes things and sometimes it doesn't - hope it all smooths out soon.

    I like your rule - I think I'll adopt that one.

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  3. Ah well, you are good at fixing, making do and figuring stuff out. Without a problem you would be bored, I think ;-) Of course you'd have time to work on all that fabric in your stash...

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  4. Great way to finish the binding, and use it on the back too. Windows 10, I have the option to install, a friend has it after Windows 8, and I like the layout better. Maybe I will try and download some photos and see if it works well.

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  5. Quilt making is good for the brain, I think. I hope your problem with the pictures sorts itself out. with my present camera I have to click OK on the camera itself when PC appears on its viewing screen. Thank you for going to such trouble - we don't like to let computers get the better of us.

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  6. hope you manage to sort out your computer problems as well as you sorted out the quilt xx

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  7. I do like your added border. It looks much better. and well done for solving binding situation. You are very wise :) Hope pc starts behaving soon.

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  8. It looks wonderful to me and you did a wonderful job on adding the outer binding and the colors.
    I am sure he will love it.

    Debbie

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  9. I like your creative solutions - VERY clever! And I do appreciate the hoops that you go through with your computer to get your photos posted - what a chore for something that should be so simple! AND I like your rule - whatever works - ;))

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  10. Persistence wins! Great solution. I'm currently trying to figure out what I will do with the quilt I am working on where the backing did not go all the way to the edge in some places (quilting in 4 sections). I think I may trim it all the way around and add the same amount on all the edges before I quilt the border, just so it doesn't look like a mistake. I had a similar problem with a lack of purple thread. At the last thread sale, I bought several shades so that I would not be without the next time I'm looking for some.

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  11. wow ! if you make all of this by hand , you are good!

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