Square One Quilt - Christmas Quilt

I recently saw a quilt at Quilt Vine's blog that I really liked.  It seemed so simple, sort of like a log cabin, but only wrapped on two sides.  They called it "Square One".  I did a smaller version based on the fabrics I wanted to use, all Christmas fabrics in 1 - 1/4 yard cuts.

I drew my own pattern using a 5" square as my "square one"( 5-1/2" with seam allowance).  Since my fabric had words on it, I decided to turn them all the same way. 

We've probably all seen the fabric cutters at the stores clip and then rip the fabric instead of cutting it.  Don't always trust that the rip gets a straight edge.  You still need to square up your fabric before cutting.  See in the picture above how off my straight edges were from where the cutter ripped my fabric.  I normally don't wash my fabric before using them, but this time I should have.  This red bled into the white fabric when I got it damp to remove quilt markings.

I had three colors from this fabric line WinterBerry Lane by Terri Degenkolb of Whimsicals.  I cut each of the solid/snowflake design into 1-1/2" strips.  (see my handwritten design on a post-it?)  Then I simply started sewing them in the order of their layout, just like you do a log cabin design (side-top-side-top).  The finished block measures an 8" square.  If you look at the picture above, I have the sides strips to the right of the block but I actually sewed them to the left of the block.  Not that it really matters, just keep it consistent.

I added a 3 1/2" white border between the blocks.  If you look closely, the white has words in gold printed on it.  I only had enough fabric to make a small quilt, 44/50".  I used the left over 1-1/2" strips sewn together to make another boarder and the binding.

This was a Christmas gift which the recipient is planning on using as a wall hanging, so a hanging sleeve will need to be added to the back.  It would also make a cute baby quilt or add more blocks to make it a lap quilt or full size quilt.  It's a very simple design and goes together quickly.

When Guys Create

Creativity isn't just something that the women in our family are known for.  The men have their own fair share.  So I have to brag on my son, Adam, for a bit.

Adam took some wood working classes in high school and found out that he was pretty good at lathe wood turning.   He made some bowls and rolling pins.  Since then he just keeps creating things.  My daughter, Sally, asked for a desk made from one of our vintage treadle sewing machines that we collect.  All we had to do was show Adam some pictures off Pinterest and he did the rest.

 First he took the machine apart and scattered it all over my living room!  He decided to keep the base in tact and rebuild the drawers.  The treadle got a good cleaning and fresh coat of paint.  My father had been storing some 100 year old western pine that he brought back from Colorado. 

 

Adam rebuilt the drawer bases onto the bottom of the new top and gave everything a coat of sealer, which brought out that beautiful art work on the sides of the drawers.



Yes...he just might take orders!  Didn't he do a great job?

 

 Then he turned to doing something for me.  I collect rolling pins but have never figured out how to display them.  I tried  with some hooks, but they needed a base built behind them so that they stood out from the wall.  Adam attached the base and hooks behind my sink to display my mother's rolling pin.

Adam made me this rolling pin with his lathe and was able to display it under my cabinets for easy access...for making pizza dough!  But I needed something for all the other pins.

 Here's what Adam came up with.  A split log with the hooks placed on each side.  He angled it to hold the largest to the smallest pins.  He even added the family symbol (the cross L) and an extra hook for an apron or some "other womanly thing" (he said).

 The top & bottom rolling pins were whittled by my grandfather (Lewis) and used by my grandmother.  Adam and Sally used the little one to roll out their play dough when they were little.  The second one was my mother-in-law's and all the others were gifts or finds in antique stores.  I love it and I love how he presented it to me.

 

Give a guy some wood and tools and watch out...their creativity just might shine through!

 

 

"Unfinished" Quilts

My quilting heritage and legacy is very important to me.  It' a part of my memories of my childhood, becoming a wife and mother, and remembering my mother, my grandmothers, and my aunts....basically, the women that surrounded me.  My memories include sitting on the floor playing dolls while these women worked with needle and thread around me.  My secret hiding places were under quilting frames and sewing machines.  I hung my clothes from a quilting frame suspended from the ceiling of my grandmother's attic.

I guess it was a natural thing for me to be given all the unfinished projects of these women when they passed away.  I cherish the unfinished as much as I do the finished.  I see the beauty in what was to be as much as what was.

But I know that I am little different in that.  So, my goal is to finish not only my projects, but theirs.  So for Christmas, I started around October pulling out my mother's and grandmother's (Carathers) unfinished projects and seeing if I could make quilts for my children.  I take after my grandmother in that there is an abundance of unfinished projects to chose from in her treasures.  My mother was more about finishing what she started, so I only had a few blocks that had been left over and one of her very last projects she was working on during her final days.

Mother's Unfinished - Adam's Quilt

My mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in July 2010.  As she began to take chemo and radiation, she became weaker and weaker.  Her favorite past time had always been to hand piece during her "resting" times during the day, usually late afternoons or evenings.  Even though she was weak from her treatments, she still picked up needle and thread and did a few things.  I know that she made me a set of placemats and a table runner for my daughter.  She pieced another set of placemats, in red, for her own table, but never got them quilted. She had planned for them to be her Christmas placemats.  Mother spent several days in the hospital in December and left us at the end of January 2011.

I took the placements and a few other pieces, left overs or unfinished, and laid out a quilt.  I sewed the placemats together and added some borders to get the quilt large enough for a quilt for my tall son.

Quilting this was nerve racking.  I kept thinking that I was going to mess up my mother's work.  I finally had to just forget about that and put it under the needle.  I want to improve my quilting, so I decided to do some different quilting techniques or patterns throughout the quilt.  I did circles and stippling and a mixture of writing and loops.

My mother signed all her quilts with the "cross L" symbol.  It represents that everything she did was for the Lord and her last name, Lewis.  It is also the cattle brand for our farm.  Recently my son, daughter & I got the symbol as tattoos.  So, of course, the symbol had to go into the quilt.  I "wrote" the words and symbol into one of the borders, "faith, the cross L, family".  I also embroidered the symbol on one corner block and added a tag my mother put in clothes she made for people (years ago) stating that it was made "especially for you by Frances Lewis".

I really thought it would have been the saddle that we gave Adam that had belonged to my father, that would have brought him to tears....but it was the quilt.

Grannie's Unfinished - Sally's Quilt

Grannie Carathers was almost 97 years old when she decided that she had lived long enough.  She lasted 2 months after my mother left us and then she joined her little girl in March 2011.  I guess it doesn't matter how old your children are, it's hard to live without them.

I have several boxes of unfinished projects of Grannie's.  She worked constantly, all day long, on her quilts.  Her quilting frame was only taken down during Christmas, so that the family could gather.  I have several of her journals and she would note on a daily basis "quilted a reach today".  It took me a while to figure out what that meant, then I realized she would quilt the length of her quilt frame (queen size, made by my grandfather) as far as her arm could "reach" each day, and then she would turn it or roll it forward.  As soon as she had a quilt finished, she had another one ready to go in.  She estimated that she had quilted over 500 quilts (hand quilting and hand piecing) in her life time.  This is how she brought in money for her family.  She sold almost every quilt she made and was commissioned to make quilts on a regular basis.  What quilts didn't sale, my mother would buy.  Grannie got to where she couldn't quilt any more several years ago.  She still tried to piece at least 30 minutes a day, usually longer.

It seemed fitting that I make Sally's quilts from Grannie's unfinished projects.  Grannie always wanted a little girl named "Sally" and even called me that until it confused my brothers what my name really was.  It was a surprise to her that I named my daughter "Sally".  The two of them always had a special connection and seem to have similar interests in all things arts.

Grannie had already appliqued 4 large blocks with the 8-petal flower design and had a bag of petals ironed or basted/turned under ready to applique.  The problem was finding domestic material to make two more blocks that matched the other blocks.  I'm not sure when Grannie made her blocks, but the fabrics all look to be of the 1960's era and for all we know, were made during that time frame.

In the midst of all the items that came to me after Grannie left us, was a single pillow case.  It had bouillon flowers along the trim and some simple embroidery and thread weaving in the stitches.  The case had been folded for many years and the exposed area had some age spots.  The case was also very worn, tearing easily where someone had once laid their head.  But the fabric matched exactly with that of the blocks and was the same width.  I cut the back of the pillow case to make one block.  For the other block, I cut the edges of the pillowcase and sewed them together, leaving the embroidery work.  When did we stop putting so much detail into the pillow cases!?

 

Grannie did the top 4 blocks and I did the bottom two.  I also appliqued the centers of the flowers on each one.  

For the border, in Grannie's sewing basket, I found all these 4-patch blocks.  There was enough to do two borders, I only have to make a few extra out of her vintage stash of fabric.  The solid border was fabric from my mother's stash.

In that same sewing basket was a cutting from one of my grandfather's uniforms.  There was barely enough fabric to turn under, but I appliqued it on one of the corner blocks.  Grannie also had a signature that she used on all her ceramic work, a windmill.  She was a Texas girl and always called it home even though she moved to Tennessee when her children were very young.  I embroidered her signature on the same corner block.

Again, wanting to improve my quilting techniques, I tried something new for me, over-all stippling, around the flowers.

It went really fast and was very easy.  I got nervous about the flowers, again, not wanting to mess up my grandmother's work, but I closed my eyes and moved the needle to the center of each flower and quilted a swirl and some type of leaf design in each petal.  Doesn't the back always look better?

I did some loops and leaves in the borders and then "wrote" in the outer border.

I might have seen some tears in Sally's eyes too.

So...that makes 6 quilts I've done since October.

Appliqued the "umbrellas" on Matt's quilt.

Then I did a couple of small things:  the barn and a small Christmas quilt for my daddy's friend, Ms. Mary.  The barn was for my family's dirty Christmas present.  It got stolen a few times.  My nephew, Michael ended up with it and plans to put it in his semi-truck for a touch of home while he's traveling.

Last, but not least, I put the white border on this hexagon quilt that a friend gave me and quilted it for her.  I cleaned up the edges and then just added the white corners.  She had given me a box full of vintage unfinished projects and asked only that I make her something from them.  This was all hand pieced.  Can you imagine?!

 I've always said that every quilt has a story and these were the stories with this year's quilts.  Grannie always said that your dreams will come true the first night you sleep under a new quilt.  Sally has added that the quilt isn't yours until you cry under it.

My prayer is that each person will have great dreams and happy tears.

Oh...I almost forgot!  In 2011 our family had several quilts in the Hickman County Quilt Show, TN.  The guild makes a book of all the quilts each year.  They just released the book for 2011 and my family is represented greatly.  I did a slide show and the details of who everyone is and how they are connected to me is in the details.  Enjoy.

Building a Barn

On my Facebook status this week (Piney's Needle, find me and "like" me there), I mentioned that I was building a barn.  Well, it's done!

I used Eleanor Burns' pattern from her book Quilt Blocks on American Barns.  I read the book first and then watched her video and that helped a lot for me to see her putting it together.  It really was fairly easy (although I don't see how she does a quilt in a day!).

I changed my layout up a little, adding some rolling hills in the background and some extra barn doors.  My son oversaw the production and has decided this is his (Christmas secrets!!!).

I've never been a fan of fusible items on a quilt, but since this is going to be a wall hanging, I gave it a try.  When, yes "when" because I am doing this, I make the quilt, I'll do the windmill with applique.  I didn't take any pictures during the process, but here is one of the ways that I varied from the instructions.

I almost didn't put the windmill on there, but it really makes the block.  The instructions call for black fusible bias tape, which I didn't have.  This and a few of Eleanor's rulers will need to be added to my supplies when I do the full quilt.   What I did have was these binding bars, used for applique, and I used them, along with my zipper foot on my sewing machine, my stiletto, and very sharp scissors.

I'll have to do an instructional post on using those bars, but I love them for adding very small stems to your applique.  In fact, I started to applique the legs of the windmill down, but did go back and sew them down (simply adding top-stitching to both sides).

To make the legs of the windmill, I cut a strip of material 1-1/2 inches wide and about 10 inches long, folded it half, pinned along the edges and then slipped one of these bars into it.  Using my zipper foot, I stitched closed to the bar (not too close, the fabric needs to be able to twist on the bar).  I used the stiletto to help hold/guide the fabric into the machine.  Then I twisted the fabric so that the seam opened flat on the bar and I ironed the seam open.  I also ironed the other side before removing the bar.  Then with those very small, very sharp scissors, I trimmed as close to the seam as I could.

For the blades and the bars on the windmill, I did do the fusible technique and then went around all the rough edges with a satin stitch, but no matter how good you are at this technique, there always seems to be some frayed edges (the reason I like applique better).

I added extra barn doors too and since that was an afterthought, I fused them on, satin stitching the raw edges.

Tonight's project will be to frame the "picture".  I want to used mitered corners to give it a framed look and here's a slideshow of how to make those.  I needed a refresher course before I got started.

Hope all your Christmas gift making is done.  I've got one more project to finish up...but I still have 4 days!!!

Making some Slideshows

I'm playing around with some slideshows, trying to organize the thousands of pictures I have.  I wanted to see how this would work, so I made one of quilts of my grandmother.  These were taken during a photo shot for the book Traditions:  Tennessee Lives and Legacies.


After watching the slideshow, I realized that I had also included quilts that my mother and I did. Each quilt holds a story and memories. I wish the pictures could tell those.

 Ashley...this one's for you!

Quilt Sizes & Other Helpful Info

I found this reference on quilt sizes and how to determine the size of batting needed for your quilt top.
 

Quilt Sizes

Baby Quilt	36" x 54"
Afghan/Lap Size	54" x 72"
Twin Quilt	54" x 90"
Double Quilt	72" x 90"
Queen Quilt	90" x 108"
King Quilt	108" x 108"

Standard Batting Sizes
To choose the proper batting size, add 4" to the size of your
quilt top and pick that or the next higher batting size.

Crib Quilt	45" x 60"
Twin Quilt	72" x 90"
Double Quilt	81" x 96"
Queen Quilt	90" x 108"
King Quilt	120" x 120"

Standard Mattress Sizes

Crib Quilt	27" x 50"
Twin Quilt	39" x 75"
Double Quilt	54" x 75"
Queen Quilt	60" x 80"
King Quilt	72" x 84"

I've seen different variations on the information above.  If you are making a quilt for a specific bed in your house, it's best to measure the top of your mattress and add the amount of overhang you want on each side, then you will have the perfect measurements for your bed. 

And here's some information on how much fabric you need for different size blocks and how many blocks or strips you can get from strips.

Number of Squares from a Fat Quarter
1 Fat quarter (18" x 22") =

99	2" squares
56	2 1/2" squares
42	3" squares
30	3 1/2" squares
20	4" squares
16	4 1/2" squares
12	5" squares
12	5 1/2" squares
9	6" squares
6	6 1/2" squares

Yardage Chart
The numbers are based on 44" wide fabric. This should help you estimate the amount of fabric you will need for whatever number or size blocks you choose to make. The approximate number of patches you will get from this amount of fabric

Patch Size	1 yd	1/2 Yd.	1/4 Yd.
2"	357	178	89
2-1/2"	208	104	52
3"	154	77	38
3-1/2"	108	54	27
4"	80	40	20
4-1/2"	63	31	15
5"	56	28	14
5-1/2"	42	21	10
6"&6-1/2"	30	15	7
7"	25	12	6
7-1/2"&8"	20	10	5
8-1/2"	16	8	4
9" to10-1/2"	11	5	0
11"	8	4	0
11-1/2" to12-1/2"	5	2	0

The approximate number of strips you will get from this amount of fabric

Strip Size	1 Yd.	1/2 Yd.
1-1/2"	23	11
2"	17	8
2-1/2"	13	7
3"	11	5
3-1/2"	10	5
4"	8	4
4-1/2"	7	3
5"	7	3
5-1/2"	6	3
6"	5	2
7"	5	2
8"	4	2