2015 Row by Row finished!

Today I turned in my quilt to Ellicott City Sew Vac in Ellicott City, MD. I didn't have their row in my quilt so I didn't win a bonus prize. All 9 shops that I went to for these rows have already had a winner so I had to take my quilt elsewhere. The reason it took so long for me to complete this quilt this year is because I spent all summer trading for row kits all over the USA that I loved but couldn't go pick up in person. The traded rows are the BACK of my quilt. The rules of the 2015 Row By Row Experience are on their website.

I posted this photo on my Susan's Quilt Creations FB page. 

I like the split photo because it shows the front and the back of the quilt together!

These 9 rows are from 9 (of the many) shops that I visited this summer. These rows are from: 

Bonny's in Stafford, VA

Lindarella's Quilt Works in Southern Pines, NC

The Crazy Cousin in Fredericksburg, VA

Traditions at the White Swan in Hagerstown, MD

Patches Quilting & Sewing in Mt Airy, MD

Cary Quilt Co in Cary, NC

Serendipity Quilt Shop in Dagsboro, DE

Studio Stitch in Greensboro, NC

Sew Original in Winston-Salem, NC

These rows are ALL swaps or trades.

Gone Quiltin' LLC in Bandera, TX 

Scruffy Quilts in San Mateo, CA

Maui Quilt Co in Kihei, HI (Thanks Earl & Katie!!)

Quilter's Paradise in Mt Pleasant, IA

Sharky's Vac & Sew in Wildwood, FL

Sweet Bee's Fabric in Charlotte, MI

Purple Frog Quilt Shop in Jefferson, OR

Susie Q's Quilts in North Fort Myers, FL

The Sewing Studio in Martinsville, VA

Special quilt label!

Two sided label because it's a two sided quilt.

Love the button eyed fish and the Kaffe Fassett crabs!

Special license plate designed for our FB swap group!

Stanley didn't have a plate for his shop so I used the above plate for him.

This shark always makes me smile.

Love silly frogs!

Ah Honeymooning in Hawaii!!

Silly geckos.

More silly frogs with smiles!

And more frogs.

Kaffe Fasset fish.

Cabanas under the palm tree. Ahhh

Cute weeping willow and stone wall.

Crazy ducks.

Singing daisies.

The blue spider is watching the swan.

This quilt was SO much FUN to make!!

Thanks to all who helped to make it possible by trading, swapping, purchasing, road tripping etc.

Linking to Finish it Friday.

Double Binding for Quilt-As-You-Go

I always have to refresh my memory on how to do the skinny binding to hook my row by row quilted rows together.

Step 1: Cut binding 1 1/2" x length of row plus 2". Since the rows ended up about 48" long with the license plate added I needed to cut 2 lengths and piece them together.

Step 2: Iron binding in half with wrong sides together.

Step 3: Baste binding 1/8" from edge on one side of quilt.

Step 4: Sew binding 1/4" from edge on other side going through the basted binding also.

Step 5: Pin "bridges" to hold both sections to be joined.

Step 6: Zig Zag as long and as wide as possible to hold both sides of quilt together.

Step 7: Iron binding TOWARD the quilt piece just joined. Do this on BOTH sides.

Step 8: Pin binding well and make sure it catches the binding on the back side.

Step 9: Sew binding down to cover the raw edges where the quilts are joined. I use the serpentine stitch. Sew through both bindings.

Now for visuals....

Step 3 Baste 1/8" seam.

Step 4 Sew 1/4" seam.

Step 5 Pin bridges.

Bridge is pinned in both directions.

Step 6 Zig Zag.

Step 7 Iron top binding and....

Step 7 Iron bottom binding.

Step 8 Pin binding well....

Step 8 ...make sure pin catches BOTH bindings.

Step 9 Sew the binding down to cover the raw edges where the sections are joined.

Serpentine stitch.

Both sides stitched at the same time!

This side of the quilt has beach sand for binding.

This side of the quilt has water blue binding

Linking to Finish it Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.

Sue Stocking

The summer Row By Row Experience is AWESOME fun for quilters across the country.

I have joined several Facebook groups that swap license plates and the row kits.

I've made many friends and met many fine women who share my passion for fabric, patterns and the camaraderie of trading and swapping within the quilting community.

This stocking was designed as a THANKS to everyone who traded with me this summer.

This stocking will hang in my sewing room all year. It's not a "Christmas" stocking for me. It's a stocking shaped bag to hold things--like extra license plates!!

The Sue Stocking pattern ($5.00) is available in my Etsy shop here.

Preserve 2 of your favorite license plates forever! 

The "Sue Stocking" pattern makes a 7" x 16" stocking.

The outline, the top horizontal line and 2 diagonal lines are drawn onto the muslin.

After piecing SECTION 1, baste on the diagonal lines, then from the backside baste on the outer line. Now you can see the excess to trim away. 

SECTION 2 has the appliqué tree. 

(You could substitute the foundation pieced tree here.)

This section looks odd because a lot of it will get trimmed away.

The corner of the tree goes on the DOT marked from the pattern.

Baste across the bottom then flip over and baste the rest of the section from the back.

Basted sections.

Excess is trimmed away from the basted line.

Piece SECTION 3 and lay it across the bottom.

(You can substitute the foundation pieced shop here.)

Baste top diagonal line then baste the rest from the backside. Trim.

Double fold a length of fabric to make the seam covers.

Lat over the raw edges and top stitch down bot sides of the cover.

There should be about 5" leftover from the top seam. 

Sew both edges and use this piece for the hanging tab.

Detail of topstitching and machine appliqué.

Prepare to quilt the front and back.

OOPS!!! I forgot to cover the raw edges at the bottom of the name plate! 

So I added that when I did the quilting. No worries!

Both sides are quilted. Lay right sides together and sew.

Zig zag seam to finish and TRIM the top excess seam allowance to 1/8" before binding the top.

Add the hanging tab by sewing through both layers.

Haha now you got to "See Sue Sew!"

These stockings were made the same way but I used selvages for all the strips and the names are appliquéd. The tree and house blocks are foundation pieced.

To see the blog post about how I made these see the Christmas Stockings post on this blog.

Finish it Friday link up at Crazy Mom Quilts.