Wordless Wednesday ~ Wild Fabrics From Current Project

 

Charity Quilt #5 2023

 After many comments saying my ugly charity quilts are not ugly I decided maybe I should look for a different charity for these quilts.  With a quick internet search I found a shelter in Indy that houses homeless women with children.  This shelter gives them a place to live and provides resources for rebuilding their lives.

The added bonus for me is I won't need to drive as far to deliver them.  And we won't need to go into the not so safe part of the city.  We can drop them off at one of there donation drop boxes.  Mr. Podunk will still be going with me for safety reasons.   

It's nice to know the quilts might survive longer than a few weeks and provide comfort to those looking to better their situations.

I'll keep making them for the next two weeks.  Then take a short break for a week or two before starting back on the charity quilts.  My plan is to make the first delivery of charity quilts sometime in October when the weather starts turning colder.  The charity says November 1st is when they start seeing a need for more blankets and cold weather items.  As long as I have franken batting and no so loved fabric I'll keep making them. 

 The scraps from these quilts are piling up fast.  I think the quilt made from the scraps will fit the guideline of an ugly homeless quilt.  I'm on a mission to make a quilt that you all will find to be absolutely ugly.

Until next time...

I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet!

Charity Quilt #4 2023

 Oh my this is a bright one!  A few years ago I went crazy buying yellow fabrics.  Everyone was making yellow and gray or yellow and black quilts.  Some how I was pulled into the frenzy and made one quilt top in this colorway.  It still needs to be quilted.  This charity quilt is the same as the others, just large squares sewn together and minimal quilting.  The binding was made from the scraps.

She's a bright one that's for sure.  I Wouldn't exactly call her ugly either.

A few of these prints are from my days of making Vera Bradley style purses.  Does Vera still make handbags?  There's a internet rabbit hole for me to go down later today!  If she does I'm sure I'll spend way to much time looking around the website.

The backing is a navy blue sheet.  Why?  Someone gave it to me years ago and it's the right size today.

It's not my best quilting job and I used the same pink thread as I did on the other three charity quilts.  I'll keep using the pink thread for all the charity quilts. These quilts are supposed to be ugly so  don't worry about thread color. Now I need to stop worrying about the fabrics matching.  It would make the process go much quicker.  I've even been worrying about the same prints being next to one another.  Oh well, someone might get a quilt they love because it's somewhat pretty.

Until next time...

I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet!

Quilter Spa Day

 Hey Friends!  I wanted to share with you a quick tip today.  While giving my quilter a good cleaning I decided I needed a new way to store my scissors while quilting.   Having them on the left hand side of the quilter in a magnetic pin bowl just wasn't optimal.  My first thought was a google search for sewing machine scissor holders.  I found several but thought they were a bit overpriced for a small piece of plastic.

Then I had a brainy idea to tape a small section of a straw to the side of my machine.  It would look tacky but be functional.  Thankfully my brain kicked in again and remembered we have a huge supply of Command Hooks.  I don't know about you but I'm obsessed with Command Hooks.  The Light Clip Command Hook worked perfectly for my small Karen Kay Buckley scissors.  

After finishing the cleaning and oiling the machine, a quilt top was loaded and the new scissor holder worked out great.  I can't believe how much nicer my machine runs after a good spa treatment.  Now to convince hubby I need go for a spa treatment day too! 

Until next time...

I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet!

 

Time to Stitch Up Something Sweet

 Hello Quilty Friends!  I took a little break from making homeless charity quilts to stitch up something sweet and useful.

The cherry fabric used in this project is from Walmart.  I'm not sure how it got in my stash, I don't remember purchasing it but maybe I did.  The black gingham is a Keepsake Calico from Joann's.  It's not the best gingham and is kind of stiff.  It feels painted instead of dyed.  But once washed it feels much nicer.

Mu sweet little project was inspired by Gretchen over at Gretchen's Little Corner.  She made the sweetest aprons for her granddaughters last Wednesday.  I've been thinking about making an apron for a few months.  I can't step in a kitchen without getting burned, cut or making a huge mess of myself.  Rather than replacing my clothes every few months it's a better idea to make an apron or two. The apron pattern Gretchen used was cute but much more complicated than I felt like making right now.  I needed something simple, quick and cooler(my internal thermostat is stuck on HOT).  A quick google search brought up many free tutorials and patterns.  I chose to make Erica's Sew Easy Adjustable Apron.  It's a YouTube tutorial.  Erica Arndt is amazing, she can do it all.  Quilt pattern designer, crochet patterns, cross stitch patterns and homeschooling curriculums.  I've purchased many of her homeschooling curriculums for my grandkids.   

I wish I had been paying attention to the cherry print.  My Cherries are upside down.  Oh well, it works just the same.  The pattern had one large pocket in the front.  It would have been cute but not something I felt I needed when I cook.

I'll be making a few more in the near future.  And maybe one with a pocket just for the Studio.  But I'll be changing the length of the ties.  They almost touch my ankles!  So if you decide to make one you might consider making an adjustment to the amount of strips suggested by Erica.  

Until next time...

I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet!

Charity Quilt #3 ~ Kaffe Fassett

 This quilt is wild!  I'm not a fan of Kaffe Fasset but I must admit his fabrics are very eye catching. 

To really appreciate the color we need to get a little closer.

This was a fat quarter bundle.  In order to have enough squares for the quilt I had to piece some of the squares.  I think it added a nice interest to the quilt.

The backing is a 1990's print I purchased from an estate sale many years ago.

The binding is scraps from the this quilt top and the scraps from the previous charity quilts.

I'm doing my best to use every last piece of the fabric used in these ugly homeless charity quilts.

Until next time...

I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet!

 

Franken-Batting Tip That Uses A Straw

Hi Quilty Friends!  Today I'm going to share with you a little trick for sewing 100% polyester franken-batting with the help of a bendable straw.

Why is it called franken-batting?  Well, I guess some clever quilter thought sewing together scraps of batting looked like Frankenstein stitches.  However it came to be it's a cute name for using up leftover batting pieces.

This trick is only useful for polyester battings because cotton batting is low loft and does not present the same issues as the polyester when being sewn. 

To sew together your batting scraps you will first need to straighten the edge of the batting you intend to sew.  This allows the edges of the batting to fit together nicely when sewn together   I'm not going to show how to cut the batting edges.  It's the same process as cutting a straight edge on fabric. Obviously you've figured that out or you wouldn't need batting.  However, I will tell you polyester batting will dull your rotary cutter blade.  I use an old blade to cut mine.

Before we get started I want to share with you how I store my scrap polyester batting.  The box below is years of batting scraps.  It's stored under the cutting table.

Inside this box is 3 vacuum sealed bags. It can be pulled out, added to and resealed as I make more scraps.  These bags can be found at places like Walmart, Target and Amazon.  They are easy to use, stuff them to the fill line, zip them closed then use your vacuum cleaner hose to suck out the air.  I love these bags.  They are great for condensing this very lofty batting and making more room for all those other must haves. And by that I mean fabric.

Today I'll be opening the largest bag.  It should be all I need to quilt up the charity quilts I'm making from my unloved fabrics.

Once the bag is opened the batting returns to its normal poofy self.

All the poof is the problem when making franken-batting.  The open toe foot needed for the zigzag stitch can get caught in the poof of polyester batting.

This is where the straws come into play.  Well you only need one straw.  The straws with the ribbed bendable area work best.

Just give it a little trim as shown below. 

Now slip that straw over the forks.  This one is a little too long and would be blocking my view of the seam to be stitched.

So I trimmed the ends a little and stuck it back on the forks.

I like to set my zigzag stitch to as wide and long as possible.

Now all there is to do is stitch. 

Normally I wouldn't use red thread.  That's just for your benefit so you can see the stitches.  This little trick takes the headache out of polyester franken-batting.  I wish I could remember where I first saw this trick so I could give them credit.  It was a game changer!

Of course you could spend the money for the fusible batting tape.  To be honest I thought for sure the Heat Press tape would not work on polyester batting.  My thought was polyester batting melts with heat.  But low and behold it can be used with polyester batting.  I found this quilters review using the tape on several types of batting.   She also has a polyester hand stitched franken-batting tutorial in the same post. 

Until next time...

I hope you find time to stitch up something sweet!