Rose Hughes - Quilt Artist: October 2016

Hi All,
It has been a while since I last sat down and shared stuff with you, but I want you to know that it has not been for lack of stuff happening or lack of thinking about sharing. Time has just been flying by.

Today though, I am hoping to share something that may be of interest to some of you and useful...especially as we approach the holiday season.

For several years I have added a stretched and mounted quilt finishing method to the others I use. Once completed these pieces hang nicely on the wall as would any framed art item.

The quilting remains the same.... though if I know I am planning to mount a piece my backing fabric does not have to be anything fancy, for it will not be seen. Once the top is done, I create my quilt sandwich and quilt and embellish the piece. With the piece done the mounting process begins by first selecting the size pine wood you want for your frame (I use 1x2s-but note these are not really 1"x2"-more 3/4"x1 1/2") then:

1. Trim the quilt to the size desired.
2. Cut binding strips. (for the 1x2's I use 3" wide straight of grain binding strips)
3. Attach the binding as 4 separate strips. 1 to each edge of the quilt. Starting 1/4" from each edge. Leaving about an extra inch unstitched on each side.

4. With all the sides stitched into place I fold back each corner, right sides together, matching the binding edges. This creates a 45 degree angle on the quilt edge and lines the the binding up below. From that corner point of the quilt edge I drawn a line straight down to binding edge.

5. Once it is lined up, line drawn I stitch on the line, then trim it back to 1/4". Repeat on each corner, and turn the corners out to complete.

With the corners done, I move on to building the frame.

1. Measure the inside dimensions of the prepared quilt. Note the measurements of the width and length.
2. Cut width pieces of wood to the dimension noted.
3. Take 1 1/2" off the length dimension (for 1x2s), and cut length pieces to this size.
4. Line up frame pieces widths to the outside with lengths on the inside to create the corners. Use wood glue and nails to hold frame together.

For the mounting and stretching:
1. Cut batting approximately 3"s bigger than frame all around.
2. With batting on flat surface, place frame in middle and starting in the center of each side stretch batting around the frame, while either gluing or stapling in place.

3. Lastly, slip quilt over the batting covered side of frame, and again working from center of each side stretch the binding around frame and staple in place.