A Brave Thing

I made Lizzie, my Amish friend, a baby quilt for  the baby that is about to become a member of the Cedarmore Farm family.  I know, an English making a quilt for an Amish.  Kind of crazy!

 



When I gave it to her I said it was like giving her sister some baked good, or like giving Andy some vegetables for my garden...she just laughed the whole time.  I think she liked it.  I explained the choice of colors.  Then Andy came in...he was in amazement that I could do something like that...an English making a quilt.  You did this?  I think he was really impressed or may he was just trying to make me feel good.  Then Lizzie got out the quilt she was making the baby.  She had to only bind it.  She binds different from me so I was getting a lesson.  I showed her what I do to bind a quilt and Andy said, Lizzie why don't you do your like that?  Maybe you could learn something from Jan!  We all just laughed.  We had a really good visit and I almost stayed the night because Lizzie felt like the baby was going to come that night.  I won't know for sure until I get a note in my  CSA box on Tuesday or in a snail mail letter.  Andy said he would notify me the Amish way. Praying for an easy and safe delivery and a healthy little one!

Harley Quilts From T-Shirts

To Wammy Brand Baby Quilts

Pinks and purples just perfect for any little girl, right!  This is going to be a surprise quilt for my great niece in Huntington.

We are traveling to Huntington tomorrow to attend a baby shower for my niece, Katelyn.  This is what I whipped up for the occasion.  I started out with a jellyroll and added a little more.

First Harley Quilt of The Year

It is that time of year that I get am email or text from Karen Simon asking of I would like to make a quilt for the Luke Simon Memorial Ride.  And of course you know the answer.  This year I am way ahead of schedule.  Maybe I should knock on wood or something.

This year we did a little something different.  All the squared had to be the same width.  I didn't want them to be all the same size squares.  It was just a little more challenging but fun to figure out once you got the measurements right.  It is that measuring thing that sorta threw us for a look at first.  

Betsy and Donna volunteered to help with the construction.  And a big help they were too.  This is a back inspired by my quilting blog buddy Jan in CA.  (check out her etsy shop for some beautiful quilts.) She always does something unexpected on the backs of her quilts.  I took pieces of sleeves and made them into a mini quilt and pieced it into the back.

Last weekend while we were in Huntington we dropped it off at the Simon's.

I had forgotten to take pics of the finished product so I talked Cassie into holding the quilt up before we dropped it off.  

So tonight after weeding in the yard all day I will spend a few hours in the basement cutting t-shirts and fusing them.  I wonder if my helpers will come back to help and lend moral support?

Finished...

And look who is happy about that!

My jeans quilt is finally finished!  And it is huge and heavy and warm.  I got to try it out on Saturday morning.

The jeans are old ones that I have been saving for a rainy day.  The fabric was given to me.  I used up lots of my old thread that was pink, purple, green, and the batting was  given to me by mark...some Christmas felt like stuff from Lowe's that he bought for about a $1 a bunch.

I like the back as much as I love the front.  I got this idea from my blogging friend Jan in CA.  All of the backs of her quilts are as pretty as the fronts.  You should check out her sewing blog and her Etsy shop.

Jeans Quilt Progress

I need to give you a little background....Saturday we were supposed to have Sewing On Saturday at church but the weather was bad so it was cancelled until next month.  But after getting things squared away here Betsy met me at church and helped me pin the backing batting and quilt top together.  After everything was canceled I had just planned to pin it all together on the kitchen floor.  Ha...what was I thinking, this thing is big!  And I am so proud to say that I have yet to spend a penny on this quilt...well, I do owe Betsy some money for buying me some new safety pins.  But nothing else...everything else was given to me!  Oh how I love free stuff!

So I am pinned and ready to quilt.  This puppy is going to take some time to quilt but I am going to love how it feels when it is finished.  That is what I am going to keep telling myself as I sit for hours and tug and pull, push and prod this beast thru the machine.  Maybe a professional massage will be in order when it is complete.

On another note...I found something I think is going to be fun to do with the kids...bags made from old t-shirts.  How cool is this.  I think it would be fun to tie-dye some kid size shirts for the yahoos so they could have their own bag to carry around when we go to the grocery store or take a hike....the ideas are endless.  And it too all of maybe 10 minutes.

Jeans Quilts All Around

I got a wild hair and Betsy went with it.  I love the ladies of Gee's Bend and their quilts.  They are amazing to me.  I know lots of people really don't see the artistry and the uniqueness of them.  I fell in love with them when Cassie and I got to see the display at the Milwaukee Art Museum in WI.  The came to The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center a few years ago and I missed them.

Betsy and I have been joining a group of veteran quilters once a month at Mt Washington Baptist church.  We showed up with our jeans and began cutting.  It amazes us that the same Idea can look so different.  Creative minds at work.

Betsy is able to tell you who wore every pair of jeans that she put into the quilt.  She cracks me up!  To help with her quilt we brought in the master seam presser Donna.  During Donna's downtime she got hooked on Pinterest.

The pics aren't the greatest but you get the idea.  It is hard to take pics outside around one o'clock when you finish the tops.  Yep, we started at 6PM and sewed until 1AM.  Then I couldn't got o sleep because I was trying to work out the back of the quilt and the ideas were screaming thru my brain.  I was under the covers with the flashlight on my phone drawing ideas until 3AM...I know, sick.

 The first part of my jeans quilt measures one yahoo wide and two yahoos long.

borders one and two 

and three...

why not a fourth one?

finally I think it is the last one

what was I thinking...a red one will do nicely

Seriously the last one completed top with working pockets.  Maybe the pockets will hold a remote, a snack, or a tissue or two.  They are actually covering holes in the jean knees.

We are trying to be creative on the backs this time...which is new for us.  I get my inspiration from my friend Jan in CA.  We have to work all the details out this week because we meet again next Saturday.

SOS

The first Saturday of each month I will attempt to set aside the morning to drive to Mt Washington Baptist Church to a fun little group of ladies for SOS... Sewing on Saturday. The idea behind the group is to come dragging sewing machines, irons, rotary cutters and boards and our UFO's (a quilting term for Unfinished Objects) which we all seem to have a lot of.

Betsy and I have been saving old jeans so we can make our version of a Gee's Bend quilt.  Today we were able to cut the seams out of our jeans and some of the pockets that we will use to cover up some of the holes in the knees.  She even had some of Richard's and Fred's jeans from when they were little boys.

I believe that Eileen is the brainchild of this group.  Which is just great!  She opens the church and gets the coffee ready.  She never really know how many or who will show up.  She served as the social director today introducing everyone.  She tried ever so hard to get her quilt binding stitched on but I don't think she got to far.  Today I met Margie, another self-taught quilter.  I also found out that she does the actual quilting of the quilt tops before the binding is added. I think she and I will become fast friends even though we don't agree on the fascination of the Gee's Bend quilts.  That's all good.  She is also a wealth of knowledge about quilt shops and great places to shop for fabric in the area.  Like I said, fast friends.

Faye and Lucille are the 'worker bees' of the group I think.  They actually got a lot of piecing accomplished.  Their quilts/quilt tops will probably be finished before next month rolls around.  I want to grow up to be focused like them.

SEWING ON SATURDAY GROUP

Lucille, Faye, Eileen, Margie, Donna, Me, Betsy

I'm thinking that I am going to be learning  a lot over the next few months.  And I also think that God just might have a little more than just sewing in mind for this group.  We will just have to wait and see what the Big Picture is for this bunch.

First Project of 2012

Emmy and I spent the morning making an apron from two men's shirts.  We first saw them at RRT in Old Milford and the are $32.  we made this one for less than $2.00  We need to tweak the pattern just a bit but they are really cute.