Friday, June 14, 2013

Quilt for Granddaughter

She's going off to college and I have her quilt to finish, along with other projects this summer. Love the colors she chose for the quilt when we were with her last Christmas. Several months ago I cut this out and put some old and new in the fabric including a pocket from her grandfather's shirt.

Summer project
I got the idea for the slanted design from a Plant City quilt shop below. At right are the tools I used including my rotary cutter on plywood.

Tools to cut evenly;
polar fleece backing on top 
Plant City's
Inspire Quilting and Sewing
The fabric chosen includes brown scraps from when I made the "step" grandkids and my husband matching bathrobes when we were first married. Everyone except my husband has now outgrown those brown bathrobes.

Wednesday morning June 12.  I clear the pool table to spread out the pieces ready to sew on my

Great to have a pool table for sewing quilts
Swedish sewing machine in the background on the pup table. Hope to have this is some kind of condition by Friday when Sally and I and our hubbies are going to Lakeland. (The husbands entertain each other while we shop and this usually works well.)

Wednesday afternoon. That bobbin winder doesn't work. I think I have to go back to Fabric Warehouse in Lakeland before Friday. I take a nap. I think about those Swedes that make my wonderful Husqvarna Viking sewing machine. They can't write directions in English, but their Ikea furniture and my Swedish machine are wonderful.

Wednesday night. After dinner I disregard their directions and get the bobbin wound and I am off sewing again.

Thursday morning. I wake up glad for the new day. But hubby can't get out of bed. We ice his knee as he sits in the bedroom for maybe 45 minutes.  Soon he is motivated to get to his "Archie Bunker" spot in the den and the ice does the trick. He has soon forgotten about all knee problems, hospital trips, etc.  I am always waiting for the other shoe to drop in this caregiving journey.

The other shoe did drop after a very productive morning sewing on the quilt--I get cocky and sew over a pin and break the sewing machine needle. Bummer. Now I have to look up the directions for putting a new needle in the sewing machine. Think I will make hubby lunch.

Thursday afternoon. Somehow I get the needle installed. I finish sewing all the top pieces together with one mistake. One brown strip is going the wrong way--didn't observe the nap on the fabric (when you do this it looks like two different colors). But I am careful to iron the seams one way throughout the quilt. It's starting to take shape.

Ironing seams and top
Friday morning. I repair the one brown strip so the nap goes the same way as the other strips. So excited to share this project with Becky, Holly and Melody at Fabric Warehouse and get their input on the binding. Should it be brown? Should it be beige? They will know. Need to ask them where to sew through all layers for quilting -- straight or slanted or in the blocks? 

We leave with Sally and Jake and go on Lakeland errands. First we stop at Fabric Warehouse. Every time I have had a project since buying my fancy sewing machine from them, I confer with them. Even had classes there. T

They suggest brown cotton binding, not the brown (bathrobe) knit material I put in the quilt;  turns out that kind of materials would give me trouble and cotton works best. For the body of the quilt they suggest I sew slanted in the opposite direction of those slanted blocks for the machine quilting. I buy more quilting safety pins which speed up the process so you do not have to baste. The safety pins go through the cotton to the turquoise and brown polar fleece. (Without that polar fleece, I would have had to use a third layer of perhaps a product called Wonder Under between the front and the back of the quilt.)

Sally, Jake, hubby and I have lunch at Olive Garden and as usual Sally and I order for our husbands who no longer make decisions on what to order in restaurants. Then we go to Michaels, a craft store, but hubby doesn't want to go in the store and he stays in our air conditioned gas guzzler.  Sally, Jake and I go inside. Sally is working on Christmas gifts for her family and gets what she needs.  I buy two T-shirts for $5. I plan to make one of T-shirts say "MC AC The Rap Lady"! Then we all go to a book store and both hubbies go inside and sit down, but not before Sally helps my husband buy me a birthday card for later this month. (We wives help each other out.) I get two gifts for family. Sally buys assorting items and we all head back to Plant City.

Friday night.  I cut out three inch strips of the brown cotton to be used for the binding of the quilt as I did in December HERE. I put more safety pins in the quilt to keep the front and back together while I sew.  The binding doesn't need to be on the bias this time. I start to sew diagonals through the quilt with the machine and the fancy $129 presser foot made for quilting. Then I will attach the brown cotton binding. Time to make dinner and prepare for Saturday activities.

The project is turning out well.  Love the three pockets in the quilt.
 
Granddaughter can keep her cell phone in quilt.
Don't all young people live with their cell?
Will post the final picture on the Plant City and Friends Facebook Like Page when it is done hopefully early next week.


Carol

10 comments:

  1. The quilt is going to be so pretty..... I love the colors too!
    Your sewing area looks very organized ......
    I'm looking forward to seeing your finished product..... what a blessing it will be to receive a work of homemade art.....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Dolores. I made one for her older brother when he got married, and this is the second oldest grandchild of my husband so she gets the next one. Finished product will be on that Facebook "like" page.

      Delete
  2. I bet I know one granddaughter who is gonna love that quilt come winter, when she's away at college and needs some snuggling. Can't wait to see it finished.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Can't wait to finish it, but I am teaching a class today. Then I also want to go to your blog and comment on your latest wonderful writing.

      Delete
  3. Your quilting looks great! You are wonderful to fit so much into your day when you have so many demands on you. I am sure quilting is theraputic for you. It wouldn't be for me because I am a hopeless seamstress and easily frustrated :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I guess it is therapeutic. Hadn't thought of it that way. I think it is a way to leave a legacy as I also try to do when I rap for public school students.

      At times I do get myself into too many ambitious projects, such as making my own wedding dress. Fabric is expensive these days, so you do not always save money.

      Delete
  4. Peculiar article, exactly what I needed.

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    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear special comilation/anonymous,

      Why peculiar?
      Why exactly what you needed?
      You are young from that ad which goes no where. Was it a school project?

      I, for one, am praying to leave a better legacy on the blog, on my YouTube raps, and with gifts I make for others.

      Cordially,
      Carol

      Delete
  5. When I originally left a comment I seem to have clicked on the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox
    and now each time a comment is added I receive four
    emails with the same comment. There has to be a means you can remove me from that service?
    Appreciate it!

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    ReplyDelete
  6. Dear special compilation/anonymous,

    No I can't. Same thing happens to me when I comment on a blog and check notify me. But I can refuse anonymous comments in the future if I choose to.

    By the way, what was that YouTube for?

    Cordially,
    Carol

    ReplyDelete