Book Review: The Farmer's Wife 1930's Sampler Quilt

Laurie Aaron Hird's new book,  The Farmer's Wife 1930's Sampler Quilt, is a real gem on a number of levels. 

The book has patterns for 99 quilt blocks!  They range from easy to challenging.  But good news! The book comes with a CD which includes rotary cutting instructions, paper piecing foundation patterns and templates which you can cut if you prefer to do that. All the information on the CD is in PDF form which is great.  The CD will work on a Mac as well as a PC.  All you need to retrieve the information is Adobe Reader, a free app which can be downloaded for PC or Mac. (See the right sidebar in the link above if you need to download it). 

Maybe even better than the quilt blocks and patterns are the letters re-published from the "The Farmer's Wife" magazine which were written to the editor in the 1930's.  It was the Great Depression.  But the letters are so up beat.  They are reflections of what the women were coping with and reading them, you can see how they were able to cope.  They did better than "making do."  They enjoyed what they had and were so grateful for the world around them on their farms.

Many of these women had a great faith in God. I've thought several times that this book could well be used as a devotional, in addition to a reference for quilt blocks.

Even if you never make a block from the book, though I expect you will, you will enjoy getting a glimpse into the lives of farmer's wives during the Great Depression.  They say that the men who fought during World War II were the "Greatest Generation."  You'll know why that was true when you read these letters written by many of their mothers!

Do pick up a copy.  I think you'll be glad you did!

7th Grade Home Ec and Cherry Pie

Middle School (we called in Junior High)--a time of discovering a new, older self and learning new skills.   I learned to sew with a sewing machine in 7th grade Home Ec but that's a story for another day. Today I want to talk baking!  Before we started to sew, we spent the first part of the school year in Home Ec learning to cook and bake. 

In our first class we learned to use measuring cups--carefully measuring out breakfast cereal into bowls. I remember thinking "How crazy is this??  Who is ever going to measure their breakfast cereal?"  Turns out the joke's on me!  Now that I have to be more careful about my carbs I measure my cereal every day!

By the end of the unit we'd progressed to the point that we were making pie!  Pie!!  In 7th grade!! I still have the recipe for the cherry pie we made in 1962, clipped from a printed handout and stored in my overstuffed recipe box! I have no idea what the source was, but it calls for Minute Tapioca so I'm guessing that company may have written the recipe. I found similar recipes when I Googled Minute Tapioca and Kraft, it's parent company, but none of those I found were exactly the same recipe.

Here's my variation of the original recipe but with less sugar, no food coloring, and no added butter.

Seventh Grade Cherry Pie

• 4 Cups of drained water packed sour cherries.  (They used to come in cans or frozen but these days I find them in jars).
• 1 1/4 Cup of sugar.  ( I use 1 Cup of white sugar and 1/4 Cup of Turbinado Sugar).
• 3 Tablespoons of Minute Tapioca
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon of almond extract
• sparkling sugar for decoration (may be purchased from King Arthur Flour)
• pastry for 2 nine inch crusts

Heat the oven to 400 degrees F.

1. Drain all the water off the cherries--you'll have pie soup if you don't!  
2. Mix the cherries with all the ingredients in a large bowl. 
3. Line pie pan with one of the crusts.   I use cookie cutters to cut shapes to use in place of a lattice for the top crust.  Cut out the shapes or cut strips to make a woven pastry lattice.
4. Pour cherry mixture into the pie shell.
5. Cover the top with cut out pastry or a pastry lattice.
6. Sprinkle with Sparkling White  Sugar as desired
7. Bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees F.  (Put a half sheet pan under the pie pan to catch any filling that bubbles out of the pie pan).  
8. After 30 minutes put a collar of aluminum foil around the outer edge of the crust so it doesn't get too brown.
9. Bake another 20-25 minutes, until the pie filling is bubbling and the crust is a golden brown.
10. Cool!
11. Enjoy with vanilla ice cream and some good friends!

Yeah for 7th grade Home Ec! I think it was school time very well spent!!  I mean, unless you are a rocket scientist, when was the last time you used any calculus?

Modern Improv Quilting, "Spinning J"

Here's my Modern Improv Quilt, "Spinning J" based on "Score #9" in Sherri Lynn Wood's book, The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters.

It was a real challenge to get it from pieced arcs to a rectangular quilt!  But the puzzle pieces did all fall into place one by one! It's now actually a fairly true rectangle but it sure doesn't look like it!  

I used DMC Perle Cotton embroidery thread for the Big Stitch Quilting.  It has a wool batt so the quilt is light and lofty.  I picked the wool batt because I thought it would best accommodate the irregular piecing in the quilt.  And that's why I did the hand quilting too. 

I had completed the quilting before I knew the technique had a name!  I just heard Carolyn Friedlander use the term on her recent Modern Quilt Guild member's webinar,  "Handwork is Fun." 

Here's more information about Big Stitch Quilting on a Craftsy.com blog post written by Diane Knott last year.  I really like the look of the Big Stitch Quilting with the wool batt. 

Even the label for this quilt has improv piecing!  

This quilt is totally fun!  I really learned a lot in the process of making it.

If you're interested in making an improv quilt, I recommend that you pick up a copy of Sherri Lynn Wood's book. I will really help you with the various improv piecing processes. 

Modern Improv Quilting, project #2

I've been working on my second modern Improv quilt using Sherri Lynn Wood's book, The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters--A Guide for Creating, Quilting and Living Courageously. 

This quilt is based on Score #9 in the book.  Working on a quilt based on Score #9 is "living courageously!"  Especially when I went from making "Woodland Friends" based on "Score 1" to this one!  These curves definitely require advancing piecing skills!  But Sherri has great "how to" advice in the Techniques section in the book which is really helpful.

Cutting and sewing the wedges was really fun. The challenges began when it was time to sew the curved wedges together.  I initially decided to hand appliqué the curved sections to a  whole cloth background. In fact, I did appliqué the whole long outer curve.  Here's a pre-applique snap of my initial layout plan.  Sorry, it's a bit out of focus...

But then I went back and looked at the book.  While Sherri states that it is fine to appliqué the curved sections, the examples of "Score #9" quilts in her book are all pieced. The pieced quilts are beautiful. So I decided I was going to rise to the challenge!  I ripped out all my hand sewing and started piecing.

The photo at the top shows the quilt in a fairly early stage of piecing.  The process of turning this from a collection of curved wedges into a rectangular quilt was much like working on a jig saw puzzle. Every evening I would look at the quilt, audition another color. cut one new piece and then sew on to the quilt.  It was mentally challenging. One new piece an evening was about all I could manage!   I was working on my "Dog Pals" quilt at the same time--doing those fast, raw edge appliqués provided the comic relief I needed to stick with all this complicated curved piecing!

Sherri writes in her book that as you start to piece these curved wedges together, the quilt form changes. So true!  You can see how different my final layout is from the one I started to appliqué. 

Here's it is sandwiched, ready for quilting.  The quilt is an approximation of a rectangle! That's improvII  A slightly lop-sided "organic look" is just fine! 

This was a great learning experience.  Now that I've pieced this quilt and understand the mechanics better, I think I'd like to try it again...but probably not this week!

May Garment Sewing Adventures

May on Instagram has been blossoming with photographs of garments made by sewists, quilters taking time out to sew clothes, knitters and other fiber folks, all making and wearing their own handiwork posted under the hashtag #mmmay15 which is part of Me-Made-May'15.

Between all the IG posts and watching all the available episodes of The Great British Sewing Bee I decided it might be fun to sew some clothes this month too.  Despite the fact that all my initial sewing as a young teen was garment construction it's not one of my strengths. I've spent more hours than I wish to admit to reading, and re-reading pattern instructions. They clearly are in English but I have moments when it seems more like trying to decipher a foreign language! Give me a complicated quilt pattern any day!  Here's what I've been up to.

I made another SewSaw Dress from Fish Sticks Designs.  This dress is a size 18 months. If I make this again for an older child, I'll use the version with the pockets.  This was my second time using this pattern and this time it went together easily. The fabric is a lovely, sturdy, interlock knit.  It has a little stretch but not a lot.  The koalas are so cute!!

Fish Sticks Designs "SewSaw Dress"  size 18 months

The jersey skirt shown in the top photo is a variation of the One Yard Skirt by Cut Out + Keep.  I made it smaller to fit a tween and created a fold-over yoga band type waist instead of using elastic thread recommended in the pattern.  I was able to make a fold-over waistband because the fabric is a jersey with lycra in it, making it super stretchy.  It soft and swirly and should be super comfy.  

And for myself?  Well, I did make myself a skirt, but the result?  Not good!!  The fabric was directional and I cut it so the flowers would be upright.  Except on re-checking the pattern, I discovered it should have been cut the other direction.  Never mind. I added panels to make up the difference. I finished the skirt and tried it on. Grim!! Let's just say it wasn't flattering and leave it at that!!  So, here's the skirt in a heap!  

That's not quite the end of the story. I love this sweet floral fabric.  I sat down and unpicked, un-sewed, and ripped out all the seams in the skirt.  I'm thinking about re-making in a slightly different style.  If that doesn't work, I know this fabric will make a beautiful quilt for a baby girl!!  

Modern Improv Quilting , project #1

The past couple weeks I have been having fun making quilts based on the "Scores" in Sherri Lynn Wood's new book, The Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters--A Guide to Creating, Quilting & Living Courageously.

This quilt is based on "Score #1" in the book.  It's one of several quilts in the book that any confident beginner could make. I'd had my eye on the animal fabric for a while, but hadn't decided how to use it.  This "Score" is perfect for fussy cutting a fabric. In fact, the fussy cutting probably helped simplify the construction of this quilt. 

I used my 12.5" square ruler to give me an idea about the size of the fussy cut blocks.  But then I put my ruler away and did all the cutting "freehand" using my rotary cutter.  That worked really well for me.  All the other blocks in the quilt were cut free hand as well.  My fabric cutting with scissors tends to be ragged, so I used my rotary cutter. 

It's a lot of fun cutting all the pieces for the quilt and then fitting them together. It did take a bit of juggling.  I moved the pieces around on the design wall lots of time!  Here's a photo of them ready for assembly.

On the design wall, ready to be sewn together

I did the free motion quilting on my domestic sewing machine.  Daisies and loops!  Spring is in the air so quilting flowers on a woodland quilt felt just right!  

JP Knit & Stitch is having a free Modern Improv Quilt Along on two Saturdays, June 20 and 27, using Sherri Lynn Wood's book as a guide.    I'm the host for the event, but it is really a Quilt Along, not a formal class or workshop. I think it will be lots of fun with everyone helping each other creating fun quilts!  There is still room for a couple more quilters. If you want to sign up, click the link above!  I can't wait to see everyone's projects!!

"Dog Pals" Raw Edge Applique Quilt

My "Dog Pals" quilt is done!  I really enjoyed using Carolyn Friedlander's raw edge appliqué technique from her "Dino Patch" quilt in the new book,  You Inspire Me to Quilt, by Cheryl Arkison which I reviewed on my blog last week.

The dogs in the quilt are all real dogs! Three are mine. The rest are friends and family.  If you know the dogs, you can actually identify them by their appliqués!  I sent a set of photos of the blocks to a friend and she correctly named the dogs!

Who's Who, Left to Right starting with top row

• Maisie, Magnolia (aka Maggie), Taffy
• Poppy, Zoe, Jake
• Tipper,Hagrid, Hazel

Taffy and Tipper are my English Springer Spaniels and Hazel is my Black Labrador Mix. 

Poppy has her nose on a feather. She's a Short Haired German Pointer and she "locks on" whenever she finds a feather in the yard!

I did free motion quilting in each block, using a design that reflected each dog.  Hagrid is a Bichon. His quilting is tight curls!  Tipper comes from a line of working hunting dogs. He is "birdie", a good thing for a working Springer Spaniel. The quilting around him is hills and flying birds.   Hazel is innately shy.  The human world baffles her. The puzzle-like meandering pattern is perfect for her. Maggie, who is sweet as can be, has a heart worked into the quilting on her block.  And Poppy has a tiny quilted feather, as well as the embroidered feather, in her block.

Here are some photos of the real dogs, in the same order as on the quilt.  The crated dogs are  Hagrid and Taffy. They were at an event sponsored by the MSPCA and were waiting their turn to show off their skills in Nosework.

And the label-- giving credit, where credit is due!  All the background fabrics in the blocks, some of the dogs, two of the borders and the backing are from Carolyn Freidlander's fabric lines distributed by Robert Kaufman. So it was fun, and appropriate, to include a selvage with her name in my label!

What fun!!

BMQG Weekend of Events

I had a great weekend with Boston Modern Quilt Guild!  

Saturday I went to the regular monthly meeting where we had a powerpoint presentation on Color Theory. That was fun. There is always something new to learn about color!

Sunday, the amazing fabric/sewing machine/yarn shop, Gather Here, in Cambridge, MA, hosted the BMQG for a day of Charity Sewing.  The guild is making quilts for Project Linus and pillowcases for ConKerr Cancer this year.  

The group pieced a couple quilt tops and quilt backs, sandwiched and basted a quilt and made a stack of pillow cases.  It was a really productive day, and lots of fun!  Here is the big worktable we were using.

I put together one quilt back and serged through 4 pillowcases.  Thanks, Gather Here, for setting up the serger for us to use!! That made the sewing so easy!!  Here's an "unselfie" of me working on pillowcases with the serger. (Getting a real selfie would have been a bit tricky)!

I have to say, the charity quilts the BMQG makes look like show quilts!  Over the past few months, Guild Members have pieced 12.5" square slabs. Each slab is monochromatic, in any primary color.  The colors weren't assigned, it was all random. These slabs are being pieced into a number of different grids with lots of negative space.  They'll be posted on the BMQG's blog when they are done. They are really amazing. I'll post a link when they are available.

So, my lawn didn't get mowed and the weeds are rampant but I'll get to them someday!  But I got a great quilt idea driving by new construction in the Longwood Medical Area on my way to Cambridge yesterday and bought some fabric for it while I was at Gather Here...so who knows!!

Book Review: You Inspire Me to Quilt by Cheryl Arkison

Cheryl Arkison's newest book, You Inspire Me to Quilt,  was released this week.  This book is a collection of quilts designed by 8 modern designers plus 2 quilts that Cheryl designed.  All the quilts are inspired by "Everyday Life."   And they are!

Cheryl has made a quilt of with the colored dancing bars seen on a music equalizer.  My brother, who spent his teens and early 20s in recording booths, would love this one!  

Blair Stocker made a quilt of up-cycled ski parkas! And on the theme of cold weather sports, Andrea Harris designed a "Canadian Hockey Quilt".  

Cheryl's long-time collaborator, Amanda Jean Nyberg, has created a "Time Stamp Quilt" inspired by a digital clock radio.  I think it would be cool re-interpreted as a baseball score board for a significant win for a kid's team, or maybe a World Series Win for a grown-up's home team.

Those are just a few of the fun quilts in this book. 

The quilt design that immediately inspired me make it my own, is a quilt called "Dino Patch" designed by Carolyn Friedlander, based on a conversation with her nephew. Her quilt has raw edge appliqué dinosaurs. You can see several of them on the book cover above. I looked at those dinosaurs and thought, "Dogs! Cats! Fish!"  Critters that usually require serious paper piecing or mind-bogling appliqué.  This gets the critter's shape and motion, and takes about 10 minutes to stitch out.

I'm working on a quilt of Dog Pals. As the say, "Draw what you know!"  Here are the blocks I've completed. The first dog is Jake, a Black German Shepherd.  Then Maisie, a big red dog, and Hazel my black Lab mix, great pals from dog walking through Hounds About Town!  There's Hagrid, the bichon from Canine Nosework class, Taffy my English Springer Spaniel, chasing a ball (of course!!), and Magnolia, the best ever mystery-black-dog mix from Mississippi!!  More dog blocks are in progress.  When it's done, I'll post the finished quilt.

Check out Cheryl Arkison's new book!  There's even a BACON quilt pattern if you want one!  Really!!

Worth Clicking: Blog Posts by Other Folks

I've seen some Blog posts recently that I think are really great, and wanted to give you a heads up about them.

On FITF (Film in the Fridge) there is a fun variation of the Plus Block Ashley calls "Intersections."   I really like this quilt design--cheerful, light and delightful!  Check her tutorial for the pattern which was posted last November. I was really surprised about the construction of this block.  I think it would be a great way to used a stack of 10" precuts. (I have one in the stash which was waiting for a project...)

There is also a Blog Hop in progress for the newly published book, The Modern Improv Handbook for Modern Quilters--A Guide to Creating, Quilting & Living Courageously by Sherri Lynn Wood.  Even better, Sherri is posting all the test quilts made for each chapter the book (there are lots of them) over the course of May.  

My copy of the book came in the mail last week. It's amazing!  I've just finished a quilt based on "Score #1" in the book.  (I'll share it another post soon).  The quilts are cut all "ruler-free" so it's guaranteed adventure.  It's "Score #9" that I'm really itching to try!!  The fabrics for that are all in a stack, ready to go! (See above).

Doll Update:  The collection of dolls, of my own making and dolls purchased from Bamboletta, was over-crowding my out-of-dogs'-reach shelf.  There is a sweet 3 year girl living next door who wears dresses more often than not.  I saw her Mom the other day and asked if her daughter likes dolls.  Turns out she LOVES them.  So on a glorious sunny morning last week when the family was playing outdoors, I walked next door with Nellwyn.  Her 6 year old brother intercepted me, asking if the doll was for his sister.  I said it was. "Do you have one for me?" he asked.  I told him I'd bring out a boy doll (one of the Bamboletta dolls) and if he liked him, it was his.  He did!   Both dolls are doing well.  So much better to be loved by children than sitting on a shelf!  His Mom tells me that her son takes his doll everywhere. I saw him carefully buckle the doll into their toy shopping cart the other day and he asked if I had any more clothes for him, so I know he's in good hands!  Now that's a happy beginning!

A Thousand Pyramids for Spring Completed quilt top and "The Great British Sewing Bee"

Here's my Thousand Pyramid Quilt top, hanging on the fence in a light Spring breeze!  While the block placement is far more random than my initial plan, it works.  And it had lovely movement. 

Once again my stack of UFOs wait to be quilted is growing higher!  I have ideas for an improv quilt and several garment sewing projects too!  All good!

On the subject of garment sewing, have you heard about the television series, "The Great British Sewing Bee?"  It's a reality contest for British home sewers.  They work in 2 day blocks: 2 smaller tasks on day one and a larger project on day 2 for a number of weeks. Each week, one or two sewers is winnowed out. They are asked to make a variety of garments, some of which I wouldn't dream of trying...nor would some of them if they'd known ahead of time! What transpires is fascinating!  Some of the final garments are brilliant, some, not so much!  

There are 3 seasons available on YouTube. If you find yourself with a long wait someplace like a doctor's office or airport or just a rainy afternoon, this show will draw you in and transport you on a magic carpet to the old Rag Trade district on the Thames River!  Your time waiting will fly!   Great fun!  And I have to say, because the judges tell us (not the contestants) how an item should be constructed,  I've really learned a lot about handling specialty fabrics and details of garment construction!  I highly recommend it, 

Hydrangea and Fence quilt top and back

Here's my completed "Hydrangea on the Fence" quilt top.  
Using the graph paper grid, with each square on the paper equivalent to 2 x 2 inches, it was very easy to cut out and construct this quilt.   I used the reverse circle technique to show the flowers coming through the fence. 

Would I do something different if I were doing it again?  I think I might have used the flower fabric to fill the gap between some of the points of picket fence. Not all of them, just a few.  That could break up that solid line across the picket points and make the design softer.  I think would look better with the curving lines at the top of the bush.

Here's the back of the quilt.  I'm happy with this.

Back of the quilt

Design Notes: Using a Grid to Draw a Quilt. Hydrangea and Fence

I thought I'd share some of my quilt design process today.  This time I'll use a hand drawn design rather than a design on the computer. 

Last fall I purchased a floral fabric that reminded me of my neighbor's PeeGee Hydrangea. The hydrangea is just on the other side of the fence.  Each summer it leans over into my yard. It used to peek through the slats my old picket fence!  It's a very beautiful, and very welcome, visitor!

My neighbor's PeeGee Hydrangea

When I purchased the fabric, I made a rough sketch of my quilt idea in my sketch book.

A few weeks ago I decided to start working on the quilt.  I looked at my original sketch.  I liked the concept but thought I could do better with floral blocks at the top of the fence.  

This time I sat down with my graph paper and redesigned the quilt using a grid.  Not only is the revised design better, but the graph paper's grid provides precise measurements for cutting the fabrics for the quilt. 

Using a grid to design a quilt

In my next post, I'll show you how the quilt is coming together.

A Thousand Pyramids Quilt for Spring in Progress

Like Spring, my Thousand Pyramids Quilt is coming along.  This quilt has turned out to be more challenging than I had expected. 

The solid color triangles don't have a defined up or down.  I had put the quilt blocks up on my design wall and evenly distributed the colors and the one patterned fabric.  But I found I kept inadvertently flipping both the 2 and 4 block units when I took snipped them off the chain piecing strings. 

Back to the design wall.  I resorted the blocks for the quilt and carefully stacked them up in order to make sure I'd sew them together as planned.  Sewing the strips together I'm finding the blocks have shifted again!  (Maybe there is a Night Block Fairy who comes and reshuffles my quilt blocks)!

The color distribution in the finished quilt will be far more random than I'd planned. But I think that is very much in the character of this pattern so I'm happy with the way it's coming together.  

Wait! What's this?  Could it be the Night Block Fairy??

A Thousand Pyramids for Spring

After seeing the Thousand Pyramids in the quilt show at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, a year ago, making a Thousand Pyramids quilt has been on my "to-do" list. In fact, the triangles for my quilt have been cut out and ready to use since last fall.  Now is the time!

My color scheme is Spring itself---chartreuse and other yellow greens, turquoises, yellows and grays. I recently picked up a new Art Gallery fabric with a rolling hill design which I thought might be a great addition and I was just about to cut some more triangles.  But when I took out my bag with the already cut pieces, I realized I shouldn't add anything more.  The new fabric might go on the back of the quilt.  Time will tell! 

There's the Thousand Pyramids Quilt from the Pilgrim/Roy Collection "Quilts and Color" MFA exhibit last year.  It was made in Ohio in the 1930's.  All those jewel tone colors!  It's a beauty!

Book Review: Every Last Piece by Lynn Harris

What a happy find in my mailbox last Thursday!   Every Last Piece by Lynn Harris was scheduled for release in May, 2015.  But it's available now. 

This is a book which will appeal to anyone who has been quilting for a while wants to use those bags of scraps.  There are quilt designs which only need a few scraps.  And quilts which will make a serious dent in your scrap collection! 

This book has patterns which will make traditional quilter thrilled and another collection that is solidly in the modern quilting esthetic.  There is even a quilt for those of you who like to carry  piece-work for hand stitching.

Lynn Harris starts by commenting that piecing the blocks for a string quilt is a perfect activity for a quilt camp/retreat. You only need to pack a small number of supplies and your scraps. And because no precision is needed to make the string blocks you can chat away and just enjoy the camaraderie of the group. 

Her patterns include scale templates which you can copy to cut blocks into squares, triangles or other shapes.  She has made a quilt for each of the 12 designs in the book but also includes other possible variations.  One of the quilts has a total of 8 variations!  She even suggests using the layout of a quilt in the book but offers ideas for other basic blocks which might be substituted in the design.  One of the beauties of this book is that it offers so many possible options, far more than the 12 designs noted on the cover. 

My favorite quilt in the book is "Beach Balls".  I love it for it's simplicity, it's use of both linear and round shapes and especially for the rolling wave-like lines of her quilting.  It's a gem. Sadly, it isn't shown on the covers of the book. You'll have to buy a copy to see it.

One of the other really interesting quilts is "Trouble with Scraps" which is based on the Kansas Troubles block.  Lynn has changed up the layout and used 30s prints in place of the traditional red and white solids.  Her reconstructed pattern is full of movement and really sparkles. 

This book is a keeper. I know it's one I'll go back to time and time again for ideas.  Pick up a copy for yourself.  Or buy it as a present for a friend...and borrow it back!!

Mending Contemporary Quilts

Puppies and quilts:  unless you have a strict no-dogs-near-my-quilts policy, eventually you will need to do some quilt repairs.  So I thought I'd share some of my quilt repair projects.  These are contemporary quilts.  Antiques need to be repaired by a professionals, with fabrics the same age as the quilt.  

I have 3 examples to show you. 

The damage to my first example, Cats in the Trees, was a heart breaker.  I'd just finished the quilt. All the quilting was done by long-arm and I had used 2 different computerized designs, one of the body of the quilt and another for the outer borders.  It was my pride and joy and I was enjoying using it on my bed.  Unfortunately, Hazel was on the bed too. She was chewing a nylon bone. The quilt apparently got bunched up and Hazel chewed the fabric along with the bone.   The result was a large, ragged hole, right through the quilt, with the batting completely mangled. 

Fortunately, I had 4 or 5 orphan blocks from this quilt.  This was a jelly roll quilt and the orphan blocks were less desirable color schemes, but perfect for mending this quilt! 

I slid a square of new batting into the open edges of the damaged quilt.  I probably tacked that in with a few stitches. I had to put in a small patch of pink fabric on the back. Then I slip-stitched on orphan blocks on the front and back of the quilt to cover the damaged area. 

Mending on the front of the Cats in Trees quilt

I wasn't doing free motion quilting at the time, so I didn't even try to replace the lost quilting.  Fortunately it wasn't a large area.

At a distance, the mending is barely noticeable.  In fact, I had to turn the quilt around 3-4 times to find when I took it out to photograph it for this post!

The other quilt which was damaged by a dog chewing it wasn't so painful. This was a quilt I'd made FOR the dogs. I often through it over the bed so that they can lie on it. 

Patching on the front of a quilt

This quilt has a poly-fil batting. That was actually a bit trickier to replace than the cotton batting which tends to adhere better to the original batting.   You can see in the photo above that I put in a small lady bug patch to cover one hole in the flower fabric and then used the original fabric to make a half-square patch to cover the damage in the yellow block.   The lady bug patch actually makes this quilt more interesting.  It's also the same fabric as the backing of the quilt. 

On the back, I needed to slip stitch on a rectangular patch to cover the damage. 

Rectangular patch on back of the quilt.

Here are photos of the patches on the front and back in a wider view.  The ladybug patch is obvious but the other mends blend into the quilt.

Then there is the fine work done by my niece's puppy, Zoe!   She managed to chew several small chunks out of the quilt's border and at least one corner of the quilt. 

I didn't have any fabric or supplies to mend this quilt while I was visiting with them last week, so I asked my niece to send to me if she'd like me to fix it.

I still have some fabric left from this quilt which I made 2 years ago.  It might be possible to replace all the divots missing from the quilt edges.  But I'm thinking that I will probably just trim off the damage and re-bind the quilt.  This quilt is a small Christmas lap quilt.  I think it will be just fine if the repair results in a quilt a couple inches smaller.

My other common repair?   Bindings.  I recently took off 2 tattered double thickness bindings and attached brand new ones.  More often I find myself needing to slip stitch a few inches of binding which has come loose on a quilt.  More and more now, I'm attaching my bindings all by machine.  I hope they hold up better in the wash!

If you have a quilt with a hole, try patching it!  It's rewarding and (almost!) fun.  

Seeing some quilts again

This past week I visited my family, half way across the country.  I was happy to find a stack of my lap quilts on the corner of the couches in both homes. I also saw a baby quilt laid over the back of the rocker in the house with a baby nursery. How great is that??  I love knowing that my quilts are used!  

I also "re-found" the quilt above, which was displayed on a wall.  I wish I'd thought of the concept for this quilt. The idea to cut up a photo printed on fabric came from a book or a magazine. Sadly, I don't remember now what my source was.  I hunted though my library of quilt books but didn't find one showing this technique.   

I know wasn't making any modern quilts when I made this mini. (It's a bit larger than a sheet of printer paper).  So I was really surprised to see what a modern feel it has. 

I printed a photograph on a purchased sheet of fabric with a peel-away paper backing made for transferring images from an ink jet printer.  You can find them in the quilting section at fabric/craft stores or on-line.  I then cut the photograph and inserted fabric strips which I pieced to match the image in the photo.  

I used one of the quilting stitches  on my machine to embellish the inner blue border. 

Give it a try!  It's lots of fun.  

Thank you to the person who thought of this idea!!  If I find the source, I'll let you know!

Sewing for Toddlers--2 more projects

I've been having fun making some projects for the newest addition to our family.  Now that the baby is coming up on her first birthday, she's at the perfect age for a happy sewing Auntie!

Above is my Petal Fairy.  She is a Waldorf inspired doll.  I created the pattern for the doll.  Her head is 2" tall.  The entire doll is 11" from top of her head (cap not included) to the scalloped petal edge of her gown.  So that makes her longer than the typical ratio of 1:3 for a doll.  But it's looks fine because most of her length is her dress and as we all know, long gowns are beautiful!  She is not stuffed, making her safer for a baby.  She is as much a lovey as a doll. 

I also made her a SeeSaw Dress from FishsticksDesigns.com.  I haven't really used any knits for years so it's fun learning new ways to sew them.  The fabric I used is mostly cotton with 5% Lycra. It's got happy stretch with great rebound. 

 I have a serger but found my regular machine had so many great knit stitches built in, that I didn't bother with the serger. This dress will have a nice drape on a child which isn't really evident on a hanger!  I'll see if I can get a photo of her wearing the dress on Instagram one of these days!

SeeSaw Dress by FishSticksDesigns.com    95%Cotton, 5%Lycra  12 month size

Fabric Dolls--Episode Six: It's a Boy!

Here's my first try at making a Waldorf-type Boy Doll.  This little surfer guy is 10.5" tall.  It took me more time to make him than the 2 larger girls I made before him!

I didn't find any clothes for boy dolls his size so I had to design everything he is wearing.  I don't have any training designing patterns.  It takes me a while to fuddle through the process.  His pants were initially too short in the back despite his straight trunk and his shirt was too big and needed to be taken in.  Once I do figure out what seems to work, I go back and re-draw my patterns so it will be easier next time I have to make clothes for a doll this size. 

His sandals were the easiest part of his outfit!

The cutest? His sun-bleached thatch of hair!  Or, maybe his underpants made from a white knit with a tobogganing polar bear print!  Too funny since he is wearing board shorts! 

I've finally starting be able to get a doll's head rolled a bit tighter and I now know how to made tight ball under his head so his neck doesn't wobble. I think rolling the heads tightly enough is one of the hardest things about making these dolls. 

This little guy just makes me smile!