Posts Tagged ‘quilts’

I was chatting with a friend who recently retired and she mentioned that she has been sewing for years but would like to learn to quilt. Her words have been tumbling around in my mind and I thought I would jot down a few ideas for her. I am by no means an expert quilter but will list a few things that I have found to be helpful.

1. Start with a very simple, small project--nothing larger than a baby quilt.

2. Try to choose a pattern with just a few fabrics. If you choose something too complicated it can be overwhelming.
This book by Ursula Reikes is my favorite book for baby quilts:

3. Choose the right batting. I love the needle punched batting that's available just about everywhere now. (Hobby Lobby and Walmart carry it in my area.) This batting is thinner than some I first used and it's so much easier to stitch through with a regular sewing machine.

4. If you are going to quilt your project yourself be sure to purchase a walking foot for your sewing machine. I tried to quilt things in the past when I did not have a walking foot and was disappointed by the puckering on the back of the project. The walking foot has feed dogs on the foot which enables all the layers to go through the machine at the same rate and really helps to eliminate wrinkling and puckering. These feet are rather expensive (about $100 for my machine) but they are worth every penny. Some of the newer machines come with a walking foot.

5. Choose a very simple design for your quilting too. You can stitch in the ditch, use tape to make lines, use clear thread, etc.

6. Don't expect perfection from your first project. Look upon each quilted item as a learning experience. Try a new technique, tip, or tool with each new project. There are many books, classes, and websites which contain a wealth of information to help you learn. I learned a new tip recently about using a post it note as a seam guide:

7. Have fun! Quilting is a wonderful way to express your creativity and to get to play with color, pattern, and fabric.

I surprised myself by already finishing the quilt for my new little grand-daughter. It's not really a baby quilt but it does match the colors in her room. Because of the size I didn't think I would finish quilting it before her arrival this month. I made it from a kit and I used spray adhesive to "baste" the layers together before machine quilting. I followed the directions in the kit and quilted it in rows of straight stitching about 1 1/4" apart. Some rows were horizontal and some were vertical. The quilting went very smoothly and I will definitely try the spray adhesive again.

Here's a picture of little Miss M's quilt:

Would any of you readers who quilt like to add some advice that you think would be helpful for a new quilter?

Becka

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I've been keeping busy around here, but unfortunately I can't show you pictures of most of my projects right now. I've been working on a few things for Christmas and for the upcoming wedding in the spring.

One thing I can show you is this little baby quilt that I've been working on. It's for a new little great-nephew that is due to arrive any day now. The top is all pieced and layered and partially quilted. Maybe, just maybe I'll get it finished up before the little fellow arrives.

Can any of you share what you have been working on this month?

Becka

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Update on Nora: She has had a slight improvement since receiving the epidural last week, but is still in a great deal of pain. She is waiting to be contacted by her doctor about what the next step needs to be. Please keep her in your prayers.

Since I was banished from the kitchen for a couple of weeks this summer while the renovations were going on I was able to work on another baby quilt from the book in this post. I highly recommend this author's books. The designs are simple and the directions are very clear.

I was able to make this little quilt for a baby girl who is expected to arrive in the home of some friends from church in just a few weeks.

I'm still not comfortable with free-motion quilting so I ended up stitching in the ditch for the quilting. It was a lot of fun working with the "girly" colors and this design went together quickly.

Have any of you been working on sewing projects recently?

Becka

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DH was at a conference at church Friday night and nearly all day and evening on Saturday, so I puttered around the house. Here are a few things I worked on:

I made another batch of granola. This time I tried a tropical blend with chopped dried pineapple, coconut, banana chips, and chopped cashews. I didn't know if we would like this combination, but we've found it to be quite tasty.

I worked on quilting another baby quilt. This one is made from a remnant of Thomas the train fabric and an old curtain from DS Mark's bedroom. I just need to add the borders and it will be finished. I adapted an idea from this book:

I had read about the book on a sewing blog and checked it out of the library. It was still in print and DH got it for me for Valentine's Day. All the quilts are simple without a lot of fussy piecing and are planned to go together quickly and easily.

I made a Ham Loaf for our Sunday dinner using some of the leftover Easter ham that I had ground up and frozen. My Aunt Nana used to make Ham Loaf and it had been years since I had eaten any. I made the loaf on Saturday and cooked it in the Crock Pot on Sunday.

DH got up at 5:30 AM to turn it on. It was perfectly cooked by lunch time. I had read this tip about putting the strips of foil in the crock pot in one of those little Pillsbury cookbooklets.

This is all that was left when I remembered to take a picture!

Here's the Ham Loaf recipe:

Ham Loaf

1 1/2 lbs. ground ham (about 3 cups) (I chopped it in the food processor)
1 lb. ground fresh pork
1 cup dry bread crumbs or cracker crumbs (can use graham cracker crumbs)
1 cup milk
2 eggs
dash pepper
1 Tbsp. finely chopped onion

Topping Sauce
1/4 cup catsup
2 Tbsps. brown sugar
1 Tbsp. Cider vinegar
1/4 tsp. dry mustard

Mix all ingredients well and form into a loaf. Top with some of the sauce. Bake at 350 degrees for about 1 1/2 hours or in crock pot for about 7 hours on low. (I added another portion of the sauce about 1/2 hour before the cooking time was up.)

I served the Ham Loaf with these green beans, which are also very tasty:
(note, I hadn't added the bacon in at this point.)

Skillet Green Beans, Tomatoes, and Bacon

6 slices bacon
1 large onion, sliced or diced
1 bag frozen green beans or about 1 lb. fresh, cleaned and snipped
1/2 cup chicken broth
dash pepper
1 large tomato, chopped (in the winter I use about 3/4 cup drained, diced canned tomatoes)

Cook bacon until crisp. Drain and crumble. Set aside. Sauté onions until slightly browned. Add beans, broth, and pepper. Cook until beans are tender, about 10-15 mins. Add tomatoes and cook briefly. Add bacon and serve. These are very tasty and attractive.

I hope your weekend was equally full and blessed.

Becka

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I have had some inquiries about the mini quilt, so I thought I would post a little more information since some people can't get to the original instructions.

My grandson, Drew, loves animals, so I wanted to feature large pictures of animals in his quilt. I purchased a few pieces of fabric that had several different animals on one piece of yardage. I made a frame out of cardboard and placed it over the animal pictures and then marked the cutting lines through the inside of the frame.

The post where I got this idea from used a variety of kid-themed fabrics with smaller prints so they didn't need to fussy cut them. This would be a more economical way to make the quilt, but I really wanted to feature the animals for Drew's quilt, so I was willing to splurge a bit.

I found that both Walmart and Hobby Lobby had a lot of animal and children's prints to choose from.

I cut out thirty 4 1/2 inch blocks -- 2 of each print and then stitched them together in six rows of 5 across using 1/4 inch seams. I then layered the backing (right side down), the batting, and the quilt top. I pinned these layers together with safety pins. (I cut the batting and the backing larger than the top.) I tied the quilt at the intersections with perle cotton. After it was tied I trimmed the batting even with the quilt top and cut the backing 1" larger than the top. I then turned the backing over toward the top to form a binding and stitched it down by hand.

This shows the tying at the intersections:

This shows the backing folded over and used as binding:

This is definitely not a family heirloom -- I just hope it will be a fun little gift for my one and only grandson. It was a lot of fun to make and I'm hoping to make more in the future. If you have other questions I would be glad to try to answer them. Perhaps when I make another one I can do a tutorial.

Becka

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