Make-A-List Monday - Caught Up? Maybe...

Hi, all!

I hope you are all staying warm and safe this winter - such strange weather we're having!  At least it's a good time to stay in and quilt, right?

I had another full week without Jolene's assistance, but I'm feeling better about where we stand on quilt ministry quilts.  One of the ladies in our group also has a long arm machine and she managed to squeeze four ministry quilts in between her customer quilts!  I did some straight line quilting (boy, I had forgotten what hard work that is!) and quilted one quilt on the mid-arm at church.  So I think we're pretty close to caught up - a good thing, since we had twelve quilt requests come in since last week!

So let's see how I did on last week's list…

1.  Straight line quilt a bright top for an 11-year old girl.
Done!  I love this quilt… and Michele featured it in her Stunning Stitching Sunday post this week!  Woohoo!

2. Put together borders, back and bindings for four more tops.
Done!  These went to Debbie for quilting so I don't have pics yet.

3.  Write at least one blog post for the new blog.
Done!  Click here

 to read more about this quilt….

4.  Write another section of the book and post on Wednesday.
Done!  You can read all about "Kitting It Up" right here!

5.  Write up a quilt tutorial for a friend.
I still haven't done this, but hope to get it finished tonight!

6.  Do some restoration work on the case of my Singer 99.
I stripped the existing (and very ratty) covering off of the case.  I still need to sand it down and re-cover it…

7.  Keep up with any quilt ministry needs that arise.
Considering how many quilt requests we filled last week, I'd say we handled this one pretty well!

And now, on to this week.  Here's what I'm hoping to accomplish…

1.  Straight line quilt another quilt for the ministry.

2.  Quilt two ministry quilts on the mid-arm at church.

3.  Write the quilt tutorial.

4.  Write at least one blog post for the new blog.

5.  Write another Working Wednesday post.

6.  Start a new Thursday morning sewing group!

7.  Sand down the Singer 99 case.

8.  Make the blog button for H2H 2014.

9.  Start contacting sponsors and guest bloggers for H2H.

(If you'd like to sponsor or be a guest blogger, speak up now!)

10.  Keep up with any quilt ministry needs that arise.

Well, that should keep me busy! Hopefully New Jersey will get un-snowbound and the part for Jolene will arrive…. but until then, I'm still finding ways to get quilts finished! 

So now the question is - - - what are YOU working on this week? 

Hugs!

Sarah

Can I Get A Whoop Whoop? Learning Some New Tricks!

Hi, all!

Here it is, Friday again - can you believe it?  I hope you're ready to get your whoop whoop on - I know I am!

This week, because Jolene is waiting for a new throat plate, I've had to do some straight line quilting on my Juki (her name is Tillie, by the way!)  And today I finished this pretty, very bright quilt!

The center of this quilt was donated to our ministry, and we added the outer border and orange cornerstones to make it a bit larger.

There's lots of different straight line quilting designs on this one…

It's hard to see, but if you click on the picture, it's a bit better.  I did radiating lines out to the edges of the quilt in the corner blocks…

…radiating diamonds in the hot pink cornerstones...

...and straight line stitching in the hot pink border.

The center X's are shadow-stitched in all the background areas…

…and so are the O's.

I learned a lot with this quilt - I tried out some of the negative space quilting tips in Judi Madsen's new book, doing some marking to get my lines in the right places. You can probably still see some of the marking because I haven't washed this quilt yet.

(I apologize for the pictures - it was just too cold and gray to get decent pictures outside today!)

This quilt will be going to an 11-year old girl who lost her mother and eight siblings in a house fire in Kentucky last week.  The bright colors and whimsical design seem perfect for a pre-teen and I hope she'll be able to wrap up in it and remember all the good times when she misses her family.

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That's my whoop whoop for the week -

Now it's your turn!

What's been making you dance the happy dance this week?

(At least there's one good groundhog in the world!)

Share - we want to dance right along with you!

The party will stay open until Sunday midnight - 

Hope to see you there!

Hugs!

Sarah

Working Wednesday - Kitting It Up!

Hi, all!

It's time again for Working Wednesday - that day when I make myself sit down and think about what I'd like to put in my book!  I'm glad you are all putting up with this process, because it makes me do something and not just put it off, once again.  I appreciate all your comments and suggestions!

Today I thought I'd talk about the process we go through to kit up projects.  Lots of the folks in our group are new to quilting, and most are intimidated by the thought of picking out a bunch of fabrics to coordinate together in a quilt.  We don't buy a lot of fabric, but work out of donated stuff, so we don't have the luxury of choosing a "line" of fabric most of the time.  So sometimes a few of us get together to make kits.

When we do this, we will usually pick a pattern that we are going to kit up that day.  I've been trying to write up our usual patterns in simple format, and the final page contains the kitting instructions.  Here's an example of the kitting directions for a pattern…

Kitting Instructions:

1 1/4 yards of solid accent fabric for blocks and border

1/4 yard solid for inner border

49 dark value 5” print squares for blocks

66 dark value 3.5” print squares for border

200 dark value 2” print squares for blocks

If Pre-Cutting:

Cut 19 2” width of fabric (WOF) strips from the solid accent fabric.  Set 8 strips aside for the blocks, uncut.  Cut 5 strips into 100 2” squares for the block piecing.  Set 6 strips aside for the borders.

Cut six 1 1/4” WOF strips from the inner border fabric. 

One set of directions

Assemble all in a zip loc bag

Kits may be put together with just the fabric, and leave the cutting to the person who chooses it, but some kits are completely pre-cut for those who don't have good cutting skills, or who have physical limitations that keep them from being able to cut easily. 

We put our kits together in gallon ziploc bags - aren't those things wonderful?  They make it easy to keep all the pieces together during construction, too, and can be sent back, attached to the finished quilt top, with all the scraps and the pattern sheet inside.  Those scraps can then be used in the back, or easily sorted into the scrap tubs, and the pattern sheet saved for re-use in another kit.

We've found that the simplest quilt to kit up is the Sudoku quilt.  Nine fat quarters that look nice together, a coordinating sashing, a completed sudoku puzzle and a copy of the directions.  We usually chose the border after the center is completed because it's hard to tell what will look best with the quilt until the "puzzle" is put together.  

Another quilt that lends itself to kitting is this simple block, which was part of a Fat Quarterly quilt-along a few years ago.  For this quilt, we put together kits to make ten of the one hundred blocks necessary.  All that is required is ten of the 2.5" squares that you will be using for the centers of the blocks, and ten 18" x 2.5" strips.  The recipient of the kit will need to cut two 6.5" x 2.5" strips and two 2.5" squares from each strips.  Ten blocks take about 45 minutes to make, so this is a small time commitment that most people are willing to make.

It's a great project if you only have a short period of time and want a quickie kit that you can look back at an hour later and realize you accomplished something!  If you're working on your own, ten of those short quickie projects later, and you've got yourself everything you need to make a great quilt top!

We store our kits in large plastic tubs, so they are easy to go through and choose what to work on.  It's also easy to see when the supply is running low!  As we get better at this, I can also see "grading" the kits on a difficulty scale, so that newer quilters can easily see which quilts are at their skill level.

Having kits available has also enabled some ministry members who are unable to attend regular meetings to participate.  They know that they can come in and pick up a kit to take home at any time, and this has allowed a much wider participation in the ministry.

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Truthfully, I have to say I got the idea of making kits from Quilts For Kids.  If you are unaware of this organization, you should check them out.  

They will send you, free of charge, a kit for a child's quilt.  You put it together, add batting, do the quilting and binding, and return the finished quilt to them at your expense. They will distribute it to a hospitalized child in need of a quilt-y hug and smile.  The idea of the kits was so simple, but it takes all the guesswork out of the process.  

The first group of Quilts For Kids quilts we made as a ministry!

How do you feel about kits for charity quilting?  Do you like the idea of having the "hard work" done for you, leaving you free to do the fun part?  Or do you love the process of choosing all your fabrics?

As always, your comments and suggestions are greatly appreciated!  Please feel free to weigh in with anything I might have overlooked or with suggestions about how you would do it differently!

Hugs!

Sarah