I Never Knew Snakes Wore Barrettes

Well, I finished my first quilt of 2013. I must confess that I started this one in 2012, but the goal was to have 20 quilts completed this year, so I'm counting it. 

I did the miter corners on this one. I took a beginning quilting class a year ago and we covered binding, but it didn't really stick. The instructor was great, but she must have given me lots of little pointers that I didn't remember. I searched through a dozen YouTube videos and didn't find one that showed her method completely. All her parts were found but never the entire combination. Her methods were very similar to the ones described by Joelle Hoverson in Last-Minute Patchwork + Quilted Gifts. Unfortunately, her 2 pictures weren't enough. Through trial and error I figured it out. Thank goodness for seam rippers!

Did you know quilting involved a ton of ironing? Well, it does. This includes making the binding. You actually iron each piece flat then iron all the seams open so that they won't bunch up and create a little too much bulk on the edges.  

You then fold in half the entire binding to make one long piece of fabric. I remember my instructor referring to this as a "snake." Not something I usually like to equate with quilting, but since this is a bug quilt, I'll go with it. Of course you need to iron the snake to make the edges crisp.

This gray fabric from Kona changes color with heat and starch. It freaked me out the first time because it is quite a drastic change. I would definitely try ironing a small sample  to make sure the change isn't permanent. 

After machine sewing the binding on one side, it's time to iron again. This time I ironed everything open so that it would make hand binding the back easier. To keep the binding down, I used binding clips. Cue the "I never knew snakes wore barrettes," comment from my witty husband. Whatever you want to call them, they are awesome. 

Here's the finished project that will hopefully make its way to England for a very special little boy.