Grandmother's Quilts #5

Grandmother's quilts . . . the end.

This final quilt top was made by my great-grandmother near the end of her life when she had little vision left.

She lived in Illinois and died in 1943 at age 93.  All the other quilts in the previous posts were made by her daughter (my paternal grandmother.)  Here are my great grandparents on a visit to the ranch in Idaho around 1920.  Great grandmother would have been in her early 70's in this photo.

Hannah and John Shuping c. 1920

(On a side note, these quilt tops are hanging on an old orchard ladder that belonged to my husband's grandparents.)



This is a queen sized quilt.  Lots of work.  Lots of stitching.

The inside blocks are not bad, but the muslin melons are wonky.  I have considered taking this apart and resetting them, but then it would not be original.  Another dilemma . . . so I just enjoy it hanging on my orchard ladder in my studio. 

I can't imagine stitching this by hand.  When I got to the place where I couldn't see well, I just got some reading glasses.  Heck, I bought them by the 6 pack at Costco before I got my bifocals.  Great grandmother probably didn't have very good glasses (or no glasses) and certainly not the great lighting we have today.  I think I will give her a pass on her wonky blocks . . . bless her. 

Her stitching is really not that bad.  Probably cutting out the fabric was a challenge, especially the curved pieces.

 

Fleece Blanket Tutorial

Several friends have asked me how I make my fleece blankets.  I finished this one up this afternoon and took lots of photos during the process.

I always work from the back side of the quilt so I can see what I am doing.  The pink is actually the back of this blanket.

No batting needed.  I just pinned the black fleece wrong side up to the leaders and then floated the pink fleece on top.  Both pieces are the same size--two yards each make a 60 x 72 throw.

Then, I measure 3.5 inches down from the top.  With my channel locks, I sew all along the top, stitching the pink to the black.  Then measure 3.5 inches on either side and stitch a line down each side.

Right

Left

Quilting inside this "frame" I advance down the quilt.  Each time I advance, I continue my stitching line 3.5 inches from either side.

When I get to the bottom, I pin the pink to the black and then stitch 3.5 inches from the edge all the way across the bottom.  Turning and then stitching back up to meet where I ended the stitching on the far side.

I take out the pins and finish filling in the quilting inside my stitched frame.

 After I take the blanket off the frame, using my ruler, I place my 2.5 inch mark on the stitching line and trim the edge at 2.5 inches all the way around the quilt.

I like a 2.5 inch border and sometimes on a smaller fleece blanket I will do a 2 inch border.  I like more fleece in the blanket and less fleece in the flaps around the edge.

Cut out a square out of each corner.

Then I square up the edge of the blanket on my cutting mat. I place my ruler on the line of stitching and use it for a backstop.

This way, each cut is exactly one inch and they are all exactly the same depth.

This particular blanket was for a special little girl named Sophia.  I hid her name in the quilting.

How fun is that?

This is for her 12th birthday.


You can check out my album for more Fleece Blankets .

Feb 17, 2011

Here in southern Idaho, we are still experiencing winter...by the foot. This is the view from my sewing studio just after the sun came up.

We had a pretty healthy blizzard the day before and everything was coated with snow.

Earlier in the month, it was much colder--too cold to snow.  With several days of highs of 13-15 degrees, Jack Frost was busy painting my dining room windows.



Quilt of Valor

One more Quilt of Valor pieced by a group in Columbus, Indiana.  I quilted an over all pattern called "Allegiance" by Kristin Hoftyzer using red, white and blue variegated thread.

 

Gray thread on the back. 



Quilt of Valor

I love the jewel tones of this quilt.

This quilt was pieced and sent to me by a QOV group in Columbus, Indiana.

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We All Sew!

There are lots of great places on the web to find information, tutorials and ideas.  Head on over to We All Sew where my blog will be featured for the next week!

We All Sew is sponsored by Bernina--a machine that I have been sewing on for over 10 years.

I thought this would be a good time to post some photos of a few of my sewing machines.

This is my main workhorse when I sew.

It is a Bernina Virtuosa 153 Quilters Edition and it is 11 years old.

My serger is a Bernett 800 D. 

I have had this for about 15 years.  Back in the day, I used it a lot when I was making kids clothes.  I still make most of my husband's shirts using this little gem.

He loves flannel shirts for winter.

I learned to sew on my Grandmother's "modern" Singer.  

As I grew up, all my clothes were made on this machine.  From the 8th grade on, I made most of my own clothes.  This was before fancy finishing stitches or even zig zag stitches.  It only sews a straight stitch.  I learned to sew French seams and Flat-Felled seams to prevent fabric from unravelling and fraying inside garments.  I keep it tucked up here on the window shelf above my APQS Green Millennium.

My Dad gave this Singer Featherweight to my Mother the first Christmas they were married.

I have made a few garments on this machine also.  I know there are lots of quilters that like to use these for piecing.  It still works great; but, I have never pieced a quilt on this machine.  I like my free hand system to raise and lower my presser foot and my needle positioner on my Bernina too much.

I keep this little machine up here on this window shelf.  Along with my Mom's tapestry sewing bag, a wooden bowl of silk thread wound on their original wooden spools and a stuffed animal that Mom made for me before I was born.  A few months ago, I blogged about my Grandmother's Sewing Basket that sits up here also.

I love repurposing and recycling!  These sewing machine covers are made from black cotton panel curtains.  Originally, I made the curtains from a new black bed sheet with white piping trim for my son's bedroom.  It matched his black and white checkered flag/race car theme he had in his room. 

When I first got my quilting machine, I practiced what ever I could find in my fabric storage.   

I took a cone of Rainbows variegated thread that came with my machine and started to doodle.  This was one of the first times I ever used my machine.  Now, every time I walk into my studio I find it empowering to look at these beginning doodles and realize how far I have come in the past 4 years. 

Here is the original panel with all my doodling before I cut it up to make the sewing machine covers.