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! 

Moving, Part Three

Cecil is the professional who wanted the pool table for himself and had the expert muscle men help to move the heavy slate pool table. He will put it in his garage, much to his wife's chagrin because she was parking her car there. (He told her he will built her a car port for her car.) I think he does play pool professionally and he does buy, sell and trade pool tables as this sign suggests. Call him it you need one. 

Cecil decided against taking out the special red felt we had which apparently is hard to come by even for an expert. He wouldn't disassemble the table as I had been telling people needed to happen. Instead his crew carried it through the French doors out to a truck. 

The gentlemen also helped by raising the lights that hung over the pool table on their chains and then moved into my empty den a banquet table where I can pack boxes. 

The pool table rolled on down the street, and now with two large pieces of furniture removed (also sectional as I reported in Moving, Part Two), the carpet can be pulled up. I am ready for further adventures of moving, getting a new garage door installed, and having plumbing issues resolved. 

I am grateful for happy days my husband tried to teach me to play pool. I reflect on the great day my husband and Jake played pool together while their friend Bob had to keep score for the gentlemen because of the short-term memory of the players. I am grateful for being able to cut out quilts on it when it was covered. An era has passed out of my life. 

Quilt for oldest grandson
 I made for his wedding

Moving, Part Two

Vinyl covered pool tables are so great for sorting papers and for cutting out quilts. With a pool table likely to leave the house, I started to get busy cutting out a quilt for the last grandchild of my late husband. This quilt is a huge challenge,--a Doctor Who quilt with a phone booth on it.

Two people dropped out coming to buy the pool table. I had accepted both offers for $400. The third offer from this virtual yard sale was for $425. Two couples actually came to look at the pool table on Saturday and I gave them the suggestion that they hire professional pool table movers which is how our 1972 pool table was re-felted and set up in our den. While they were interested, they called back and said there was too much involved with moving and setting up a pool table and so they would not be buying it.

My dear friend Sally is always thinking of me. In October she had told a professional about my pool table and he had offered me $1000 on the spot for it. I still had his card where it said "buy-sell-trade." Foolish me I said I wasn't ready in October. You see I was holding on to remaining in my house and the myth that widows shouldn't make any major decisions in the first year after the husband dies.

That very first week in January, before the house was on the market, I did have a call from a buyer's realtor--another connection from my thoughtful friend Sally. I didn't hear back (maybe it was too soon), and so I had my realtor call their realtor. My realtor, Alison Terry,  sent me this text:

The husband thought it was a great property, and the wife initially thought so also. But after discussing what would need to be done for their needs, they decided it was too large a project and more money than they had cash set aside. The agent indicated he might have someone else who would be interested. He will let us know. 

My hopes of a quick sale of the house were dashed.

However, with a phone call yesterday I did sell the pool table for considerable less ($250). Guess who! Yes, that "buy-sell-trade" gentleman above. Why the $750 less price? It turns out my great Montgomery Ward pool table doesn't have replacement parts any more (he already had purchased two of them since October). He will bring me cash and a professional pool table mover will come to get my pool table.

In another week my newly-retired-rocket-scientist-Huntsville-Alabama brother comes and works with Pharis. The big project is taking up the rug and painting the concrete floors. I have a month-long substitute job, but these two men will work on the project while I am teaching. Pharis has already been painting the trim outside along with other maintenance projects.

I hear Pharis and my brother will also play golf. 

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

Traveling With a Dementia Loved One

Sunday dinner after church
with brother, hubby
and Kenny pictured at
Grandmother's House
Restaurant in
Owens Crossing, AL

Kenny, hubby and myself went to northern Alabama to visit my brother and his family. We started out on a Saturday, March 7th, with Kenny sharing the driving and the load of caregiving for my husband and came back on Thursday, yesterday. This year we drove straight through both days. In March of 2013 my husband and I made it a two-day trip each way. See HERE. We didn't know Kenny then, and hubby had not gone downhill as much as this March.

We woke in our own bed this morning. I started unpacking suitcases. What are those suitcases for? hubby wanted to know. He had forgotten about our trip.

Freshly groomed dog

We just got back from being at my brother's house in Alabama, was my reply. Hubby got a quizzical look on his face. Later today we picked up our dog from the kennel.

Wear and Tear on Hubby. While this trip was wonderful for me, it was hard on hubby. He had a calendar with the daily events on it, but let me know I didn't make sense. At times he was angry with me, but I have learned to stay calm. Bathroom issues came up--where was it and would he get there in time. This was not his home, the place he is used to. However, my brother and sister-in-law's home does have a convenient elevator that was so useful for my husband. He did fall Sunday morning, but was okay when Kenny and my brother got him up from the garden.

Family. I had a couple of goals for my time away. First and foremost I wanted to enjoy my family, and that did happen. Who knows when I will be able to see them again? Several nights my niece and nephew came over to my brother's home along with their families.  Kenny interacted seamlessly with my family who really came to appreciate him.

Activities. At times Kenny stayed with my husband while I did things with my family. Kenny stayed with hubby while I heard a special violin concert by a four-year-old, daughter of my niece and her husband. Another highlight was hearing my nephew teach an adult class Wednesday night at his church while Kenny was with my husband.  One day  Kenny went off sight-seeing with our car, and hubby missed Kenny. I was able to get a lot of sewing done that day. I wanted to be able to sew on a quilt of my husband's grandchild's and I was able to finish the patched front side with my sister-in-law's sewing machine. My time at home is so limited and getting to sew on an important project was such a delight. When this quilt is done, I will post in here.

YouTube Raps. This is the niece and nephew that made me MC AC The Rap Lady on YouTube. My nephew recorded three more of my raps while I was there, and my niece showed me how to use iMovie to post raps on You Tube. Together we posted "Cell Phones". Now the ball is in my court to put up more raps. It will be hard work, but my niece and nephew really do not have time to do this. I have the computer now that has iMovie. Can an old lady such as myself learn iMovie?! Hope so!

Honor. Early in the time away on my iPhone email I realized that my book, Getting Off the Niceness Treadmill, had been reviewed by a favorite author, Aimee Byrd, HERE. What an honor! I posted posts of her book on my theological blog earlier.

New Fellowship. A special highlight of the trip was the fellowship I had in a ladies Sunday School class at my brother's church. The teacher had read my book and the ladies wanted to hear me rap as I had last March! I did that and essentially the leader let me teach the class. I did have Scriptures ready. I shared prayer requests for my husband, my dissertation on caregiving and the rapping channel. Then they shared prayer requests with me. We will keep up with one another. Tuesday morning while Kenny was with hubby, my sister-in-law and I had breakfast with most of those ladies (there are seven in all whose prayer requests I have added to my prayers). Then my sister-in-law and I went to an estate sale where I found a bird house for Jake's collection.

Prayer. Pray for Kenny as he has medical issues coming up. Pray for my other sister-in-law in California who had surgery today. Prayer is such a special privilege and I am excited to have seven ladies in Alabama who now pray for my requests in their southern accepts and MC AC prays for them as well.

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!  

Enjoying My Christmas Quilts

Therefore the LORD Himself will give you a sign. (Isaiah 7:14) He told us that Jesus Christ was coming in the Old Testament, He did come and transform history (and my life). It is the season to celebrate the difference Jesus Christ has made in history and in my life.

Several years ago I made this wall hanging that I use every Christmas. I have learned more about quilts since then, but am sentimental about this quilt.  It was from a cloth book that was to be made into a child's book. I made several cloth books for relatives years ago. 

I also have a quilt Christmas tree skirt and have made Christmas tree skirts for several others in the family.

Hubby forgets what he is getting for Christmas even though he was there when I purchased it. Our dementia loved ones are hardly aware of the times and the seasons--yesterday, today, tomorrow, Christmas. 

Last Christmas we flew out of town to be with your son, I mentioned to hubby.  

I don't know what you are talking about, he replied, but I leave it in your capable hands. 


Now my capable hands got me in trouble last Thursday where I went through the garage ceiling  to get the artificial tree.  Kenny informed me that tree is not going back into the attic after the holidays. It will go into the workshop that will be the next room to clean out. 


This year we are spending Christmas with hubby's daughter and family here in Plant City and I wish you and yours a wonderful Christmas. 

The Winning Table Cloth

Eight trees under the table settings

Last January Sally asked me to make her a custom table cloth quilt for her birthday. She would use it at the yearly Lady's Christmas Tea to be held December 7th at her church. I have gone every year since meeting Sally and Jake. Yesterday, I went to that Tea. The room was so festive with maybe 20 round tables. Each table was decorated by the hostess and we had those pretty little sandwiches and small desserts--a genuine tea. The event featured collecting baby items for the Plant City Crisis Pregnancy Center--a wonderful cause and the Center's director shared information after the meal. 

Let me back up and tell you about the design of this round table cloth, a would-be quilt. I got the idea HERE (fabulous quilting blog Sew We Quilt, by the way).  I changed it from a table runner to a round table cloth. I used four of the five layers pictured from that blog. The top was silver, hand sewn, and two other layers were green with that brown tree trunk.  After sewing other three sides and turning it, I would sew the top of the brown trunk with  machine sticking  Then I hid the brown sewing machine stiching with the next green label. Finally the silver would have to be hand sewn to cover that second green piece. I had elaborate plans to make it an official round quilt with the batting, the backing and the edging. 

Picture From Sew We Quilt. 

Sally wanted both gold and silver and I had that cut out along with the tree pieces.

Monday, December 1st, my I had a sewing machine problem. Between substitute teaching and going to Toastmasters in the evening I stopped by Lakeland's Fabric Warehouse for help with the machine stitching. Kenny served my husband dinner that day while I also went shopping for hubby's birthday present of clothes before going to Toastmasters.

The white material (snow) was to go on the bottom and had to be eased into the gold layer and ironed to the center of the table cloth. 

Tuesday, December 2nd more problems. Ziggy had to go to the vet and I had a plumbing problem. I was able to cancel substituting 7th period and get Ziggy into the vet my 4:30. I canceled substituting on Wednesday and met the plumber at our home. Between other errands on Wednesday, I got some work on the table cloth done. Still touch and go--would it be done? Eustress is good for me.

Thursday Sally picked up hubby and brought him to Cracker Barrel Restaurant where the four of us celebrated his 76th birthday. Sally saw the table cloth on the pool table in the den.

With the brown trunk and the two green layers sewn to the table cloth by machine, I finished sewing the top silver sections of eight trees by hand while I substituted in Mrs. Watson's class on Friday. Some of those middle school students never see a woman sewing. (Usually when I substitute teach I read and write while they do their work, unless they need my help.) Friday night about 5:30 Sally picked the table cloth up from our home on the way to her church where the hostesses were preparing for the tea the next day. It was not quilted through the layers, but she was happy with it and I had been able to sleep Thursday night. 

Saturday at the tea awards were given out.

Second place, Most Creative.

First place, Most Creative.

Second place, Most Beautiful

Then the last award. 

First place, Most Beautiful--Table Six. 

Sally's table won!

Sally with the award. 

Sally credited me for my help. Now if there were to be an acceptance speech for me, and I might say something such as, I would say thanks to Sally who was very calm about my ability to finish her late birthday gift and who waited with a Plan B in case I didn't come through. Thanks to Mrs. Watson's students who were working well, waiting for my rap at the end of class. Also credit goes to Kenny who came over to our home during the tea and fixed lunch for the two Alzheimer's husbands--Jake and DH. Jake brought their puppy over to socialize with our dog Ziggy. Thanks to Ziggy for his hospitality. Thanks to Google who for $2.49 a month let me put pictures on this blog. 

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