Projects Galore

 selling sunflowers (again)- this time to help raise funds toward a short-term medical missions trip

Sadie has taken over chicken duty (all 15 made the photo)

 It worked! Two years after planting three vines, we're harvesting and eating red, seedless grapes (with no spray).

 settling in- the smoke house now has a porch, post and stone foundation, stone step and slide. Because what smoke house is not complete without a slide?

this year's garden- mostly weeds and a few vegetables (with a new gate)

preparing for new siding: tearing down an old, unused chimney 

 slowly turning a multi-use barn into a buggy shed (for cars)

assembled hand-me-down trampoline 

the last two weeks of summer- finally some time to start quilting it

constructing a "Children's Zoo"- very important work, indeed

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Gifting {Mini} Quilts

This post is as much for me as it is for you.  My mind is like a sieve and I'd really like to make more of these one day soon without inventing the wheel.

I really enjoy quilting.  Finding the time to quilt is not a favorite task.  My solution this fall was to choose a gift I could give for Christmas that incorporated my favorite aspect of quilting- piecing.  I love choosing colors and patterns that I think work well together and then making them semi-immortal in their pairings. Quilted pot holders are nothing new and there are many different ways of making them.  Sadie's sewing teacher graciously taught me a simple method using bias tape.  While I may have bit off more than I could chew in terms of the number I wanted to make (twenty-one), I thoroughly enjoyed making these.  Scan through the instructions quickly to get the gist or bookmark/pin this post if you'd like to try your hand at these one day, too.

I used only scraps of fabric I had leftover from other quilting projects or swatches a friend had given my from her design firm.  I had to buy the bias tape, some thread to match and a package of thin quilt batting.

I cut out and pieced together nine 3-inch squares per potholder as well as a larger square for the back.  I used three layers of thin quilt batting cut slightly larger.  I pinned together the front, three layers of batting and back then trimmed the edges (before seen above and after, below) so the edges were flush.  Using quilter's chalk and a ruler, I drew straight lines, taking care to make the lines cross the intersections of the squares (and not caring if they came right to the points along the outside where they would be covered with bias tape).

I then quilted over the lines with a beige-colored thread with my sewing machine.

Next, I pinned the bias tape to the back of the pot holder (see below) by opening the tape flat and pinning the left side of the tape to the left top corner of the pot holder.  The corner where I started would become the corner with the loop so I made sure it was also the top of the pot holder- the way I'd want it to hang if any of the fabrics had a picture in it that I didn't want upside-down.  I continued pinning down the side.

Above I'm pinning the corner- keeping the edge of the bias at the edge of the pot holder.  The fold made by the corner will get stitched over- no worries.  I pinned all the way around the four sides, leaving a few inches of a tail at the end.

Then I began sewing a bit to the left of the first seam of the tape (first seam from the left/edge).  It worked well to just line up the left hand side of my pressure foot right along the left edge of the pot holder.

The first one I made I tried to round the corners.  Ha! That was a bit too advanced for me, so I stopped the machine when I got to the horizontal fold closest to the edge of the next side and then pivoted, making a square edge instead.

Stopping (above) and pivoting (below)

When I came around to the start again (below), I flattened out both ends of tape (where I started and where I was sewing) and sewed until I was almost to the edge (where my finger nails are below).

Next, I snipped off the original end so it was flush with the edge but left the long tail which would become the loop.

Next, I trimmed off the corners of fabric and batting (not cutting the bias tape).

Flipping the pot holder over to the front, I wrapped the bias tape around, allowing it to fold on itself so the nice, finished edge was showing.  Next, I pinned the tape to the front, making sure to just cover the stitching I just put in from the back (the seam is uncovered below but covered up and pinned two photos down).

When I pinned the corners I tried to align the fold of the corner with the quilted seam that came into that corner.

Once I had it pinned all round, I bent the tail around to determine how large of a loop I wanted.  I then snipped the tail right along the edge (just to the right of my thumb nail below).

To sew the bias tape on the front, I started at the very end of the tail, trying my best to stay nice and close to the right edge without going off.

Just before I got to the body of the pot holder, I'd stop, lift the pressure foot (but trying to keep it in place with my left hand).  With my right hand, I'd bend around the tail to make the loop, sliding the end of the tail in between the bias tape and the fabric where I was going to sew over next.

Once the tail was in place, forming the loop, I'd put the pressure foot back down and continue sewing just along the edge of the tape, all the way around, pivoting at the corners.

When I got the very beginning again, I stopped stitching just before coming up onto the tail/loop, ending with a couple back-stitches. 

A word of warning: take care not to put your pins into your caramel corn mug instead of your pin tin by accident.

They aren't perfect but they were made with love (and satisfied my quilt cravings).

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A Quilting Project for Now

A little while back I wrote about how it can be challenging to work on projects with all the interruptions of life.  One of my favorite projects/crafts is quilting.  I love putting fabric and print together to form design.  I love the methodical stitching, watching faint lines form and fabric puff ever so slightly.

It really does pain me to imagine that it will be a long time until I'm able to make a full-size quilt again.  It pained me, too, when I really wanted to make a quilt for my best friend and her groom but knew I didn't have the time.  My mom came through with the simplest of ideas and it was as if the heavens opened up and the angels began to sing.  I could quilt.  I could finish pieces.  I could do it!

"Old Home"

And so I did.  This past fall, I made three quilt squares and framed them with Jamey's help.  He made the frames and some of the glass even came from our old windows.  All the fabric was leftover from previous quilts.  I love it when projects come together (and don't take years to complete).

"Robbing Peter to Pay Paul"

The project was quite simple.  I pieced the top and used thin batting (to sandwich between) and leftover (less-than-lovely) fabric for the back (which no one will ever see).  I quilted the square, then wrapped it over a piece of sturdy cardboard, taping the edges to the back of the cardboard with masking tape.  Jamey hammered in flat little brackets to keep the cardboard-covered square in place, then we covered the back with brown paper, gluing the edges to the back edges of the frame with rubber cement glue and attached a picture frame hanger.  We chose not to use spacers to keep the quilt off the glass.  Some feel this is important.  We did not.

Don't give up.  Find a manageable way to keep doing the things you love.  Let's not completely extinguish the talent and joy God gave us.  It doesn't have to be all or nothing.

Giving Idea: Sewing Kits

photo credit: mcc.org

"Sewing kits provide basic tools to make and mend clothing. These tools will be used often and must be of good quality. People in such countries as Bosnia, Haiti, Liberia, Nicaragua, Russia, Serbia and Ukraine receive sewing kits from Mennonite Central Committee." 

Go here to learn what's needed in each kit and where you can drop off or send the contents.

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Quilt Piecing Tricks of the Trade

Just because a person is born into a Mennonite family, does not mean she comes out of her mother and immediately picks up needle and quilting thread. No, it does not. Just like everything else I do, it has come with a lot of practice.

I mentioned my short little history of quilting here. During those first couple projects, I was winging it. I had a couple quilting books passed down from my grandmother and I kind-of read them. I asked my mom some questions. Then, I just went ahead and stumbled along. On Sam's quilt (the first I actually quilted), you can totally tell at which end I started. The stitches look childlike compared to the ones I stitched at the end. But, you see, this is how we learn.

Practice.

Another way I've learned is to watch experienced quilters and ask them lots of questions. Much of this has occurred while sitting around a quilt frame at church. Our old church holds a sewing circle during the Sunday School hour. A sewing circle is when a group of women (it's almost always women) come together to quilt for the purpose of donating the quilt (and it's proceeds) to a charitable cause. Sewing circles are great places to get practice and to glean quilting knowledge.

Here is a picture of my great grandmother, second from the left, at a sewing circle. She made the cover of a magazine. I have not.


Let's get some quilting jargon out of the way. To "piece" a quilt is to sew together the pieces of fabric that make up the top or back of the quilt. To "quilt" is to use special quilting thread to make small stitches all the way through the top, "batting" (the fluffy stuff inside) and back, to get that nice puffy effect. "Quilting" also allows you to make designs in the quilt (More about that later).

Here are a few of the things I have learned along the way.

Organization helps. I use a fishing tackle box. It's not an original idea, but it works so well. I've vowed to have no more small quilting supplies than what will fit in this box. So, there. Oh, you'll also need a sewing machine (minor detail), unless you're going to hand piece your quilt top. It can be done, Lord, have mercy. In this photo, you can kind of see my machine, an old Singer we bought for me years ago. I love this machine, but Jamey has been trying to convince me to move on and buy a newer model. It's just come home from the shop. Again.


An iron is a quilt-piecer's best friend. There are a couple reasons for this. First of all, it helps immensely to have your fabric completely flat and smooth when you cut your squares, triangle and trapezoids (Ok, most probably don't use trapezoids. I have trapezoids on the brain. I teach second grade math). The second reason will be evident in a minute.

A rotary cutting tool and mat save much time. This rotary tool can cut through several layers of fabric at once and cuts way straighter than I can even with my best shears.

Iron open your seams. Do you need me to say more? No problem. I didn't get it at first either. I had been complaining to a sewing circle friend about the fact that when I piece (sew) part of my quilt top to another part of my quilt top (both parts being made up of smaller pieces already sewn together), I have so much trouble getting the seams to match up.

Let me try to show you what I mean. Here is a picture where my seams (in the center) have come together pretty well. Imagine that they are, like, a quarter of an inch off target. It wouldn't look so nice, now would it?

Or, here. How would it look if this point, instead of pointing to the seam below, was pointing a half inch off to the side of the seam?

That is what was happening to me. I'd tear out the thread and try and try and try again. I was thoroughly frustrated. Don't cry like I did. Instead, listen to this. The kind, advice-generous quilter told me to iron my seams open. When you sew two squares or pieces together and look on the back, the extra 1/4 inch of material is laying off to one side. The idea is to iron the seam open, like this...

See how I splayed open the back of the seam and ironed it flat? This way, when you lay your two sections of fabric together face to face, you can SEE your seam from the back of the fabric instead of having to guess just where it is. Oh, I do hope this is making sense.


Note in the picture above how I can then fold the top down and line those seams right up. Then, all you need to do is pin it carefully and move on to the next pair of seams that need to be matched. If one of your next set of seams down the line doesn't match perfectly, you can at least SEE that and adjust things further if you need to.


Are you as exhausted as I am? Just take a deep breath, sit back and relax.

I promised to give you a peek at Miriam's quilt. Here are a few.


My iron wasn't so effective on this next fabric square.



The fabric above is actually cut into 10 1/2 inch squares. Since I'm not allowing myself to buy more fabric, I cannot make the back of her quilt all one print. Instead, I am going to try something new (for me). I am going to piece together the same number and size of squares (and borders) for the back as I did the front. The squares in the back will be whole squares of one fabric print while the ones for the front (shown further above) are made of simple designs (squares and triangles). My hope is that if I match them up carefully, as I quilt I will get the same quilting designs on the top and the back, making it a reversible quilt.

Now, if you've read through this entire post, please tell me. That is, after you've woke up from your quilt-talk induced coma or have untwisted your head on your neck.

I'll post more photos as I go along, but wanted to share some things I've learned in case you find yourself with the New Year urge to quilt. Pin It