The Making of a DOCTOR WHO Quilt

I had made quilts for all of my late husband's grandchildren except the youngest one. I have to admit when the last grandchild of my late husband said to make a "Doctor Who" quilt, it wasn't so easy to design it. In my grief, I was hardly being creative anymore. 

A phone booth? I hadn't been watching that long-running "Doctor Who" series, but I found out the phone booth is where the characters go to call the police. Then I read about the little space figures that are in this long-running TV series from the UK, and I wondered how I could use that in the quilt. I had a pocket from one of my late husband's shirt. Not so sure how it would be possible. 

How do you turn a phone booth 

into a quilt?!

Her father made this cardboard phone booth for her.

I started with the phone booth and used jeans fabric for the structure of the phone booth. Jeans fabric is easy to piece you just sew on top. Then the jeans seemed a little harsh, or masculine, so I added some lace. 

My deadline was to give it to this wonderful young lady before I moved from Plant City where she lives. I found some flannel material with those "space figures" in them for the back on the quilt. 

One Thanksgiving

Granddaughter as an infant stole her grandpa's heart. 

A quilt with a little of her late grandfather in it--a pocket from one of his shirts sewn to the back for the use of a cell phone! Her cousins had those grandpa shirt pockets in their quilts. Gradually I got some of my creativity back. I bought flannel with space figures for the back of the quilt and blue and white poke-a-dot fleece for texture and a little warmth for the top and for the side binding. The phone booth sign came from
http://www.spoonflower.com/tags/doctorwho; however, I am not sure they still have it. 

I set out to design it with great tools.

Near the end I had to rush to Lakeland's Fabric Warehouse for help.

Becky and Brandon to the rescue. I hadn't been sewing much since my husband, her Grandfather, passed away last June. This helpful staff came to my rescue and refreshed me on how to use this great Swedish quilt-making machine, a Husqvarna Viking.

I had slept by my husband's hospital bed in a single bed. After the hospital bed left the house, the master bedroom became a sewing room, with a single bed in it. Didn't do much sewing however, until I made up my mind to finish this project before I moved next month. 

I used the stool from the pub table from the den to sit on as this height helped me not have trouble with my carpal tunnel syndrome in my wrist. Yes, I missed that pool table for quilt assembly, but it came together on that single bed. The top of the phone booth even has a place for a pen and a tablet.

Tonight  I heard that this granddaughter is pleased with it! 

Two New Year Items

Tutoring at my house

Esteban was one neighbor who helped me with my husband and I have been tutoring him. At the end of my husband's life, my husband thought Esteban his son. My husband in his mind was living in an earlier time period. I kept reminding him that I was his loving wife and he did recognize people he saw regularly such as Kenny, Sally, Jake and myself.

Esteban is fifteen and in eighth grade which tells you that he has not passed some school years.  I just have that access in his middle school because I am known as Mrs. Johnson the substitute as well as MC AC The Rap Lady who raps at the end of good classes.  I decided I would do something about this young man after my husband died--help him in school.

Now this young man had been living with his uncle (not Kenny) near me, but had been kicked out of that house and was back with his single mother and four sisters.  I learned where he lived when I saw him at school--a mobile home about two miles from me. In the fall I started to take him out for supper at Plant City's Snellgroves or at Denny's for our public tutoring sessions. No more coming to my neighboring home, as he is not a neighbor now.

I found out that his older sister had dropped out of high school because of the bullies and encouraged her to get back in school. She and her mother promised me she would return for her second semester in February.

Those bullies won, Sweetheart,  I said.

You get back in school! 

It occurred to me that Esteban just wanted to follow the same path as that sister when he turned 16--be a school dropout.

So, I devised a plan.  Before I flew out of town for what we used to call "Christmas break", I went to all of his academic teachers.Those academic teachers all have my email and even cell phone.

We used to have two cell phones--one for my husband and one for me. I would pay for a cell phone for Esteban if he could pass this first semester with only Cs and Ds in Science, Math, History, Language Arts and Reading. He would have to work very hard over vacation and in January to pass. Then in the semester starting in February if a teacher took his cell away because he used it in class, I would not pay for that cell phone service any more. Strict behavioral modification! Find out what works for a young person. 

Monday, December 15 I substituted at his school and he was told in no uncertain terms that I was to tutor him Tuesday night. Tuesday December 16th we were scheduled for tutoring at night--only Esteban missed the bus and didn't have his work. Wednesday December 17th I called his house and got no answer. I went to his house and found him walking home--he had missed the bus. I drove him to school and got a school visitor pass and went to all his teachers. I told them again of my plan to help him, despite the fact he is a bit lazy--really an understatement. I told them again that they can contact my cell and my email. I got the study sheets for his Math final, and was loaned both a Science and a Math book. The teachers have promised to contact me.

Stay tuned and please pray
for Esteban and 
for my possible move.

Another Quilt for Another Grandson

I finally had time to work on his quilt while I stayed home. My husband's grandson sent me this picture of a pillow on a Facebook message earlier in the year, so that was the idea I had to work with for his quilt.  

His older brother and his bride got one in 2009 at their wedding with their chosen colors.

His sister received one HERE last summer and next oldest brother received one HERE in January. It was his turn--he is the next oldest. 

Now it would be impossible to put a white or rounded edge around quit patches as pictured in the above pillow, so I had to work with the same colors with a black background. Unfortunately I didn't buy enough black material. So I went back to JoAnn's and bought more. Although it was the same fabric, it was different black because it was not off of the same bolt. So the darker black is on the top of the quilt you will see below. 

I found an Irish design and the grandson liked it. His mother has some Irish blood I believe. 

I cut out the squares using a rotary cutter on a green rotary mat made for this purpose (OLFA makes these). This mat was much more suitable than the plywood I used before. 

Put front together on vacation

On vacation at my family's home in March, I laid out the quilt  The front of the quilt was ready to be put together when we returned from our trip.

Again he wanted pockets in his quilt. He and I decided to use that karate material his brother had for some of the squares. One of my husband's shirt pocket is at the top, and, like his brother's quilt, a jeans pocket is on the back. The pockets can be used for cell phones or whatever. The grey pocket fit into the design. 

The back of the quilt is what gives this quilt warmth. I did not have to use other batting as I found a great zigzag fleece fabric in grey and red. When I substituted in art one day, the students loved the pattern of the quilt--so I guess it is modern. But I did encounter bunching up of material with that fleece so the top stitching did not go as planned and the whole project slowed down even has my husband's caregiving needs increased. This fleece is not as sturdy in stitching as cotton is. To give the quilt more color I chose a fun material for the binding and used the same technique as I have for other quilts, mitering the corners as I did two years ago HERE. 

Ta da! 

Below is the finished 
quilt ready to mail.  

Front and back with red & black binding;
jeans pocket on back for cell phone

Grandpa and Ziggy in background

Interview: Saying Goodbye to Papa

Leaves a rich spiritual heritage for his children

I needed my fingerprints made for my DUI instruction just after Labor Day. It was then that Susan Haynes and I met when she did my fingerprints. It was at the time that my husband had two handicaps—he couldn’t walk and he has dementia. Susan and I immediately connected and started talking about her father who had the same two handicaps. We exchanged information and became instant Facebook friends. I told her that I wanted to interview her. Little did I realize then that her Papa Joe would pass away before we had the interview.

Carol: Your dad had difficulty walking since an accident. Tell me about that accident.

Susan: Yes, he was working and he fell off a house and the house fell down and pinned him down. He was taken to the hospital where the medics worked with him, but they knew it had paralyzed him.

Carol: How did the family get Papa Joe to stop driving and stop taking “joy rides”? My oldest brother came over and told him that he was 80 years and that 80 year olds do not need to be driving around. He took his driver’s license to the DMV and Papa let that brother turn it in. How did he accept your mom driving?

Susan: Papa didn’t like mom’s driving, so I would take him to the doctor appointments.

Carol: Your dad would take your daughter to the school at your neighborhood church in his scooter and then pick her up.  Were you all nervous about this trip?

Susan: No, I didn’t think about it at all, because I knew my daughter would keep him straight if she thought he was driving wrong. She told him that she loved him and that he needed to be out at the school at 2:45 pm. I will be looking for you.

Carol: Near the end of you Papa Joe’s life your family started noticing signs of dementia in your dad, right?

Susan: He had been a private man and short-term memory didn’t seem to be the problem, until signs of dementia had set in.  One day my daughter said Papa is getting old. For the last year and a half we started noticing things, but his doctor didn’t notice anything and he wasn’t put on medicine. Seven months ago he started acting like everything in the past as if it was the future.  

Carol: I noticed on Facebook when Papa went to the hospital early in October. Tell me about that.

Susan: The first time my mom asked me to ask him how he was and he told me he was fine and that he was not going to the hospital because he was not sick. When I got ready to leave he began to talk to me about his upset stomach. He said he guessed I should take him to the hospital. His ulcer was bothering him.

The second time he went to the hospital he said that something was wrong in his heart and they needed to fix it. His heart was racing fast and they kept him four days and then he came back home.

The last week of October 2013 my dad spoke softly, didn’t say much and said he was ready to go home to see the people that were not there anymore.  He was very weak, but he tried to be strong and his eyes were so grey.

I got a call from mom at 2 am to come help dad at his house. He was acting strange and when I got there at 2:15 am the ambulance was there and they were putting him on a stretcher and putting him in the ambulance. He was looking one way and would not respond to my calling his name. He had spoken to my mom and brother before I got there, wanting them to help him out of bed to go to the bathroom. But he would not get up, my mom said, and he couldn’t be helped up. That’s when the ambulance was called.        

About this time Sudan wrote on Facebook:  STANDING IN NEED OF PRAYER THIS MORNING FOR MY 88 YEAR OLD DAD WHO WAS ADMITTED IN HOSPITAL AROUND 10 PM LAST NIGHT WITH STOMACH PAIN AND DOC STATED THAT HE NEEDED SURGERY AND THAT HE HAD A SURGERY DOCTOR COMIN IN AROUND 12:OO THE DOCTOR STATED THAT THEY THE DOCTOR WAS IN AND LOOKING AT THE 3 CAT SCANS AND AFTER THAT HE WOULD REPORT TO US AND 1:30 WE WERE TOLD THAT HE WAS NOT DOIN’ IT AND HE WOULD WAIT UNTIL MORNING TO SEE WHAT HE COULD DO FOR MY PAPA.  LORD I AM IN NEED OF PRAYER NOT JUST FOR HIM BUT MY MOTHER AS WELL. SHE IS NOT THE BEST AT HER AGE BUT SHE JUST QUESTIONS THE DOCTOR AND WANTS ANSWERS LIKE WE ALL DO.

Carol: What did the doctor tell your mother?

Susan: That his heart was very weak now and they couldn’t really tell her, but he may live one to four months.

Carol: A week later you wrote that you were with your dad again and all seemed well. He was eating and drinking his Pepsi and watching TV, you wrote.  

Susan: Yes, I took pictures. I couldn’t believe it. He looked good too.

Carol: He as able to go home from the hospital then, but at the end of October he took a turn for the worse. Then you wrote on Facebook.

Susan on Facebook: Well my father fought a good fight but he won his case and left this earth at 1:35 pm with a smile on his face.  Thank you Lord for sparing him 88 years of which 52 I shared with him.

Carol: Was he alone when he died?

Susan: No. He was surrounded by his loving wife, his sons, daughters, nieces, nephews, and members of his church body.

Carol:  How had your older brother, preacher Willie Joe, summoned the nine siblings?

Susan: He sent us a text early the morning of his death that said: Good morning family. Hope life is serving you well. I give God thanks for a new day. If each one of daddy’s children will release him, he will rest. He needs to hear you say it is all right. That man is tired. He’s at the point he can’t do nothing for himself. Let him go. Daddy is tired. We can’t worry who doesn’t show up. We that do must assure him everything will be all right so he can rest. I don’t want to see my day suffer.

Carol: Did all nine children show up at the hospital? What was it like?

Susan: We were all there and it was very sad to see my father, the man that controlled us all, laying there and he patiently prayed and asked for healing for us and what we would be facing.

Carol: Then you posted on November 9, 2013, the day of his funeral.

Susan on Facebook: Dad, this is your day. What can I say? You left me here and you said you were tired and you have finished the race what God had for you. You told me I would be all right. You prepared me four months ago that you would be leaving on that 747 jet. I left work at 12:30 pm to see you again and talk to you one more time. At 1:30 pm you slipped. You passed with a smile and never looked back. You made peace and you loved the Lord who now has you.

Carol: What was that funeral like?

Susan: It was super, a slow home going celebration. It was unique in celebrating how he stood for the LORD. The church was full. My brother started to speak, but couldn’t finished because he was choked up. The grandsons were pallbearers.

Carol: I think you then posted this prayer on Facebook.

Susan on Facebook: I am missing my dad. LORD, please help my family to understand that it was time for him to depart from us, but most of all he left with a smile on his face. Thank you for the 88 years my dad lived and thank you for giving us him. Amen.

Carol:  I was praying for you all then and I am sure I posted on Facebook also. Facebook makes our world so small. How are your mom and the family doing now after his death?

Susan: Mom tries so hard to find things to keep her busy and we, as a family, are closer to her because of Papa Joe’s death. We want to be with each other more. 

Carol: What can other families learn from your story?

Susan: Stay with Jesus. He is the only One that can give you what you and your family needs when it’s time. Be strong and in control. Jesus is the answer.

Carol: Amen, sister! Thanks. It has been a pleasure to meet you and then interview you and follow your story. 

Quilt for a Grandson

What a joy to make quilts for each of my husband's grandchildren! The oldest one and his bride got a quilt at their wedding. Last summer the first granddaughter received a quilt. It is about time I finish this quilt for the next oldest grandson. This grandson's b.d. was in December and my husband and I just sent him a card noting the quilt would be coming. 

We have a karate theme going with black, white and red. I used a rotary cutter over plywood to cut out the pieces as seen in the first photo. 

Then I alternated colors and put two white and one red strips in between. This seemed masculine to me. 

A covered pool table comes in so handy!
What will the size of quilt be? The size of the pool table! 

I sewed all the pieces together and then went to Fabric Warehouse in Lakeland to discuss how to finish it. There was no fleece there that would work (the cheapest warm way to go), so I invested in "wonder under" batting and just the perfect karate cotton print for the back. Red bias will frame the edges and I already had that. 

Two of my husband's pockets from his clothes (red shirt, and too-big and worn-out jeans) were sewn into the quilt for cell phones or whatever. That is how his grandfather is part of this quilt. I texted the grandson about the pockets and he loves the idea. His sister also had pockets in her quilt that I blogged about previously HERE. 

Now I had promised this quilt would be mailed this week. Then I got sick! I had energy for very little. I texted that grandson and he called back. He said to me "I love you!" This warms the heart of Mrs. Carol, the step-grandmother. He had to get off his phone,  I didn't have the chance to say I love you back, but I do hope that this quilt lets him know we love him. 

I brought the almost finished quilt to show off after church.  Grandpa wore it over his suit jacket to keep warm when we ate outside at our pastor's home after the worship service. I do not know why I had to show it off, but it does give me such pleasure to make quilts for his grandchildren. Two more quilts are coming, but at the right you get the idea of this quilt with red binding and karate material on the back. 

Off to the post office 

to mail the quilt!  

The House That Cleans Itself: Rugs in Areas 2, 4, 5, and 6

Looking down the hall
to the master bedroom

When I have finished a room, I have had to report that the unclean, stained carpet wasn't done and I would have to go back to that. The history of the horrible stains is that once a "professional" group came in and cleaned quickly with lots of moisture. In several months the stains appeared as the moisture came to the surface revealing the mud that was imbedded.

Today our carpets were cleaned with the help of Melody, whom we employed. In order to do this, she started with the master bedroom about 11:15 and she worked hard until 5:45 until she had done what I asked her to do. Now ceiling fans are running drying these rooms and I am sitting on the only chair in the den as I type.

"Where are our chairs?" hubby kept askinig.

"I moved them to the garage, the workshop, the guest bedroom and even the front porch," was my reply. Then he would ask again where the chairs were. At one point he moved to our bedroom to watch TV so Melody could clean the family room. His celebrated Ikea coffee table with his prized DVD collection was rolled to the kitchen. Ceiling fans in the rooms that have them are running at high speed as the carpet dries.



Products Used

Melody picked up my vacuum cleaner from our repairman, her brother, and brought it to our house. It worked well and so I have no excuse but to keep up the vacuuming. She also said I can use the stain removers to clean spots. I need to do that. She used Rug Doctor Oxy-Steam Carpet Cleaner in her carpet cleaner (my carpet cleaner is waiting for a part according to her brother). For stain removal she used Resolve Stain Remover and Bissell Big Green Commercial Heavy Traffic Precleaner you see above.

Now, my three weeks for "no sweat" after my eyebrow procedure I wrote about earlier will be up on July 22 so then I have to get busy. Also, you may notice the weights in the above shelf and my birthday treadmill in this post. Next week I need to exercise, keep up with the house and get back to weeding. Those weeds have been growing! Tentatively a yard sale will be coming up also.

There were two other wonderful blessings today beside the carpet cleaning. First, a student I had in fifth grade 35 years ago messaged me on Facebook and thanked me for the impact I had on her life. Second, I received my notice that I will be substituting again next week. (I had gotten the substitute test in late due to my husband's hospitalization recently.) 

Thank you, LORD, for such rich blessings.

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

YouTube Videos

Do you have a YouTube account and subscription?  I found out I do. Google helped connect all of my blogging and Facebook and Google Plus and so at the top of this Google dashboard is a YouTube tab. I can manage subscriptions so new YouTube videos come on my email. Oh my goodness! I also have YouTube on my iPhone! I can hear and see videos on Alzheimer's that my husband doesn't see during a school planning period instead of listening from our den computer. (I really do not want him to worry about his Alzheimer's by hearing a YouTube video at home. I keep his life as calm as possible.)

Singer Amy Grant's father has dementia and she put out a warm YouTube video called Amy Grant's Three Caregiving Tips here. Very nice.

Author Linda Born is one of the first books I reviewed here. Now Linda has just announced her YouTube videos on her book and I went there and subscribed. Two videos are out and my subscription will alert me by email when more are out.

Week One: Hold to Hope 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oh-oxFRx8s8

Week Two: Steps to Take As a New Caregiver

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DacNj8ExYFQ

This promises to be a great series. Thanks, Linda.  

One video here is on Alzheimer's Coaching and Remembering4You. I got that link on Joe's blog and I was the first to subscribe on YouTube.

But wait! I am now on YouTube!!!!

I write on the board

MC AC raps at the end of good classes.

Yes, I now have a new YouTube channel for my raps thanks to my Alabama high tech family. Nine raps were video taped several months ago and are coming out this summer on three YouTube videos (three raps per video).

When do I rap? For several years I have practiced  my raps during the last five minutes at the end of every on-task class when I susbsitute teach in middle school and high school. It takes sometimes months to write a rap and currently I am working on more raps.  Right now there is a wonderful YouTube commercial for the raps of MC AC The Rap Lady.

How was this name chosen? My niece and nephew decided on this name. I guess MC is for Ms. Carol and AC is for Aunt Carol. They have always referred to me as AC.

How did I have time to do this video? I don't. My family are producing them and they are doing a very professional job with these videos.

How does a senior citizen get into rappping? When I wrote Getting Off the Niceness Treadmill, I put a poem on social media in the ninth chapter and found I could "rap" it. I have added lines to that rap as more social media have come out. Then I started writing more raps so I would have more material when I substitute. The benefit for being good all class period is that Mrs. Johnson (AKA MC AC now) will rap.

Students I substitute teach for keep teaching me what works and what doesn't work in a rap and so I keep adapting and improving my raps.  Friday one high school girl said she was stopping being a bully because of one of my raps. Her friend said she no longer is a drama queen because of my "Use Your Mind, Not Your Emotions" rap. Especially now at the end of the school year it helps to have this aid for keeping control, although I wish our tax refund had come and I didn't feel I have to substitute teach now. We will be so poor if that tax refund doesn't come soon! IRS what are you doing? Just testifying in Congress??? 

Do I study other rappers? No. Sometimes I explain it is a poem if students say it is not really a rap. I go for entertainment and also a message in many of the raps. It's a quick way to leave a legacy as evidenced by my feedback last Friday. 

So where is this YouTube channel? There is a tab at the top of this blog that directs you there and it is below. My nephew has photographic credits and my niece and her husband are producing the videos. Go there now and subscribe so you can hear and see all  my raps for the 2013 season.

Carol

MC AC The Rap Lady

http://youtu.be/eDjy85D6nqY

Quilt Gifts

I showed the fabric world map in the last post. I just love making gifts for family and these lap quilts are educational as well for three families with small children.

Since last post I have quilted by machine on the latitude and longitude lines of the map. Actually I did every other line. Then I cut out the edging on the bias.

Fold 2 3/4 inch bias strips in half and iron

Sew edging to the front of the cloth world map





Sewing bias strips together

Sew to back and miter corners



Great help from three ladies.



I bought my Swedish Viking sewing machine from this store and they continue to help me with projects. Owner Becky suggested the stiped fabric borders; Melody, whom I took a class from several years ago, suggested I use the 505 Spray and Fix instead of stressing my carpal tunnel wrists by pinning the brown or animal print to the back of the world map cloth. Holly refreshed me on the best way to do edging for this project.

What did I do? I knew about how to miter the corners. I used my braces on the wrists while I sewed on the machine with its fabulous quilting foot, and cut with the pictured flat edge scissors so I didn't have to bend my wrists.

Tools that helped me.

Off to the post office and then finishing  a few Christmas cards. DH was very proud of these quilts.

Drawing for Free Book

In honor of the two year anniversary of this blog (and two other ones), I am giving away to three people a copy of my book Getting Off the Niceness Treadmill. You have to have commented in November or December on any post to enter the contest. The drawing will be 1/1/11.