School auction quilt 2013

When I received the email from the PTC organization for my daughter's school about help with the auction, I almost disregarded it. I try to read most of these mass emails, but sometimes it get to be a little too much.

This particular email was asking parents to help with a project for the school auction that came from the class. Projects, such as 'wine baskets', 'gift certificates', and 'quilt' were suggested. When I saw that a quilt had been suggested, I thought, I can do this! I have a quilt nearly done that I could donate!

Quickly, I emailed the organizer back saying I had a quilt ready for the auction-but she stopped me dead in my tracks and reminded me that this had to be a quilt that the children made. Since I had already reached out to volunteer, I was on the hook for this quilt.

I will be honest, I wasn't too thrilled about starting another quilting project with the busy schedule I already had, but kept a positive attitude about this. This would be the first time I had ever really participated in my child's school functions, maybe I would enjoy it?

Within a few days of accepting this project, I received an email from another parent of my child's class offering her help in sewing. How fortunate I felt in suddenly having extra help with this! Now it was time to make a plan in how this quilt would be made.

The next challenge would be to figure how to integrate children into making a quilt. Initially the email suggested 'hand-stamping' on the the quilt from the kids. Being that I work for an art supply distributor, I receive generous discounts on paints and crafty supplies. Hand-stamping seemed like a possible option, but what if a child was allergic to the paint? What if the children drew on the fabric instead? Aha! My employer sells fabric markers that are meant to not fade or run when the fabric is washed. Problem solved!

That weekend, I purchased all of my supplies-markers, fabric, and batting-to make a lap size quilt. I chose bold pastel colors, and got as much of a variety of markers as possible. Normally, these markers cost about $3 each, and I purchased 18 of them! I paid less than $20 with my great employee discount. I used coupons from Joann's to buy the fabric and batting.

Now, the fun would begin. Each child would receive a fabric block that measured 8.5" X 8.5" to draw on, and sign their name. The drawing from the special markers then would be set by a low heat iron, and my partner would sew up the blocks.

I had already scheduled a few days off from work around spring break, so I was able to come into my child's classroom to help guide the kids on drawing what they wanted. This was a huge moment of joy for me, to see the children happily drawing on the fabric and being a part of something really cool.

We did this project on the last hour before spring break, so it was a nice way for the children to start their time off. I left with 30 blocks, including one from the teacher, to have my partner sew up into a quilt top. She then returned the top to me for quilting, and within a few days we had a finished product for the school auction!

I am so glad that I volunteered for this project. It was so rewarding to see the children get so excited about quilting!

19th Annual Airing of the Quilts in Milwaukie Oregon

Finally did it-I entered my Double Wedding Ring quilt into a quilt show. Technically not a 'judging' show, most of the quilts in this show were top notch.

The show was held Friday March 22nd and Saturday March 23rd. I went down on Saturday to see my quilt on display for hundreds of admirers to see. You can only imagine the gratification I felt standing several feet away fidgeting with my camera when I heard a woman admiring my work say, "This quilt is gorgeous".

Moments later as I kept touring the show, I came across the Oregon Quilt Project table. I inquired about quilt documentation and mentioned my quilt was in the show. One of the hosts asked me which quilt was mine, and after describing it, she knew exactly which one it was. There were only two wedding ring quilts in the show, so it's not a wonder she recalled which was mine.

There were over 100 quilts in this show, and so many were beautiful. This one was super 'scrappy', and I have a fondness for this type.

Another challenging pattern I will attempt to tackle in my lifetime is the Lone Star. I think this one would be more challenging then the Double Wedding Ring.

Now that I have my first show down, I hope to continue making textile works of art for more shows!

Wedding Ring Quilt

The current quilt on my frame is on hold temporarily so that I may prepare another piece of work to enter into an upcoming show. Technically not a judging show, the Airing of the Quilts is a show of local quilt owners and artists displaying their prized possessions. This year will be my first attempt to have my wedding ring quilt accepted for display. 

The past few days I have spent repairing any small flaws, ironing the quilt, and trying to get out some dreaded chalk marks when the quilt was hand-quilted. I am trying the Mr. Clean Magic Erase to get these orange marks out, but it isn't working as miraculously as I had hoped. I do have a few more methods to try getting them out. For future reference, don't use Dritz quilter's chalk, especially in orange!

The next goal for this quilt is to have it documented by the Oregon Quilt Project. Quilts are inspected and logged into the Oregon Quilt Index. I can truthfully say that this is a quilt made with fabric that was purchased in an exclusive Oregon fabric store, made in Oregon, by an Oregonian. I chose the wedding ring pattern to give myself a challenge, and the first quilt I ever fell in love with was a wedding ring quilt. Although blue isn't my top favorite color, I chose it because it is my husband's favorite color. The blues remind me of the summer sky and ocean as we were married in July at the beach.

This quilt was meant to be a queen size for our bed. Unfortunately, it is better suited for a full size. I didn't purchase enough fabric initially to make that extra row of rings. It is currently kept in an airtight bag to preserve the color from fading now.

I love this pattern, and hope to make it again with black as the background and bright colors for the rings. It is a challenging pattern, this particular quilt has heard a few four letter words that I don't repeat in front of kids! But like a solid marriage, it is a work of patience, tears, and love.

Doll Quilts

I took a week break from my blue scrap quilt to complete a set of four doll quilts. These will be a gift for a long distance friend's daughter. A simple patchwork design makes these vibrant and fun, and were a quick project. Pillows and cases were sewn to match.

These were specifically made for an American Girl doll bunk bed with a trundle. For those who know what an American Girl doll is will also tell you how expensive the clothes and accessories are for this classic toy. Fortunately, there are plenty of crafty folks who make accessories and trinkets for this 18" doll and sell online (usually on Etsy).

Below are the four quilts made in the past week:

I used fat quarters mostly to save time at the cutting counter. Quilt batting was used to stuff the pillows, and I made a separate case that comes off the pillow. A simple 'X' machine stitch quilt pattern was used for the blanket itself.

Originally, I made this item for my own child's American Girl doll using scraps.

Blue Scraps-Handquilting

Quilting is not an inexpensive hobby. Fabric can cost $5-10 per yard, plus the batting and backing. It can cost well over $50 or more to make a simple quilt.

This is where saved scraps come in; it greatly reduces the costs of the quilt top (maybe even the backing or batting) when saved from previous sewing projects. I don't have a large a large scrap stash because I use my scraps to gratify the quilting urge when finances are lean. Now is such a time, and it's quite amazing what can be produced with what is already on hand.

I have produced a few scrap quilts, some donated to the Linus project, and others given to family members. The great challenge in scrap quilts is to get them to appease the eye. It requires coordination of the right colors and of course ensuring enough scraps will make the right size product.

My latest scrap project was very gratifying. It blended many scraps from other quilts that had a lot of calming blues. I like blue, but it seems that I have done so much with it lately. This quilt has eaten up a lot of my scrap stash in blue so I can count on not feeling that obligation to do another blue quilt anytime soon.

This quilt will be about 54" wide by 67" long, not quite a twin size, but a large lap quilt. Since the size is just too much to quilt on my machine, I am hand-quilting it on my Ulmer quilting frame. I have only used this frame once for my prized wedding quilt, but it is a tool I will use for the rest of my life (at least as long as I can quilt).

Next post hopefully will show the finished product!

Introduction

For the past ten years, I have made many quilts. Some large and extravagant, and some small and plain. I have never had a formal class and am completely self taught in my skill. Among my circle of friends, I am the only one who makes quilts. This blog is for the sole purpose to share and engage with others who have an appreciation for this craft.