How To Knit Socks I, II, III, & IV
Friday, November 14, 2008

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How To Darn A Sock
Friday, November 14, 2008

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***NY State Fair Entry***
Sunday, July 27, 2008

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I've been making a quilt with three other women from my Sparkpeople local team.  The quilt is a small one and the entry will go to our local hospital where it will go directly to a pediatric patient.  We are SO excited with how it turned out.  I have to share that not only was it a great experience to create this small quilt with like-minded women who are compassionate, caring women, but also how good it is knowing that this quilt was made with LOTS of LOVE for a child who is sick and needs comforts of home.  My cup runneth over.

There is talk of us continuing to create small quilts for charity in the future.  Most likely after the hustle and bustle of summer and first weeks of school.  What comfort and joy that would bring me to give these quilts to those who need them. 

The stars in the pic are actually the "Sparkpeople Logo".  It's what brought us women together to walk and exercise not just for our health, but for such things like walking for "Make A Wish Foundation" and this quilt that will go to an exhibit at the NY State Fair and then in the comfort of a sick childs arms at a local Hospital.  Not only are the colors happy and fun, but the backing is sweet and comforting.  I pray this child will be blessed abundantely and that God would heal all wounds and work within him or her to shed light to those around them of Gods great Love. To HIM be the glory! 

There I am on your Left in Red.  Kris is also holding the quilt.  She is a good friend, a great teacher and VERY PATIENT.  I'm blessed by the abundance of love she has for others and how wonderful she is with children.

It's ME again, the one in the middle.  You didn't think I'd go without showing the final product did ya?  We're Finished YAY!  That's Mary on the Left, you know who in the middle and Kris on the right.  We're missing two more special ladies......Lois who kindly provided transportation and a whole lotta friendship and assistance with the quilt.  She was sick today, bless her dear sweet heart.  THEN there's Leslie who couldn't be around because she was maintaining a HUGE task of putting together an "Arts Festival" in the city I'm from.  Both women were missed and each added so much to our group. 

All in all, I look forward to many more get-togethers with these wonderful women.  I'm encouraged by their love and compassion for others and also feel blessed with their friendship.  Thanks Ladies for allowing me to join the group.  I feel such a part of this community and enjoy the closeness of all our fun talks and gatherings. 

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*** Quilt Giveaway at the Old Red Barn Co. ***
Wednesday, July 16, 2008

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This quilt measures 65" x 87" and looks as she puts it, "Vintage-y" .  In my opinion, it would look absolutely beautiful lying over a chair, in hanging quilt shelf or better yet, spread right over a bed for beautiful summer color.  Check it out and enter today!

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***Quilt At The Beginning*** Fabric, Needles, and Threads
Friday, February 15, 2008

Posted in Thrifty Crafts

Thursday, February 14, 2008

Quilt At The Beginning

Class Preparation

Fabric, Needles, and Threads

Hello Everyone!  Happy Valentines Day!!  I pray you each enjoyed this day we celebrate Love.  Loving our Lord, Our Husbands, Our children, or our neighbors and friends.  Never taking for granted what we have and grateful for those in our lives who love us without condition.

Today is all about Fabric, Needles and Threads.

The difference in Fabric Quality

I must say before this class, I thought fabrics were just fabrics.  They all looked and felt the same.  Who knew that while beautiful cotton fabric looked the same, some could be pre-washed, have tighter weaves, some with more quality dyes. Truth be told, cotton fabrics sold in mass merchandise stores are different from those stores that sell only quality tight woven fabrics specifically.  Never would I have thought I’d start being choosey about fabrics.  BUT, I’m told that many quality quilts made to last beyond our lifetime are and always have been made with quality fabric.  Not many Manufacterers make the quality fabrics anymore that our ancestors used when they hand-quilted their quilts to use for long, hard winters out of necessity.  Today we are able to choose.  With the economy the way it is, we can get by with buying what’s on sale at our local stores.  However, if we’re consciousely making a quilt with character and intend to keep it long past our years for our childrens children, or enter them in the State Fair, well, then we’d want to choose the more expensive, quality, cotton or flannel which won’t pull or shed.

Less expensive threads tend to be loosely woven with fewer threads per inch and later will cause your quilt to stretch or distort. For quilts we are warned to stay away from Poly/Cotton blends  which shrink like crazy or Iron your shapes together for the squares.  THIS IS NOT something you want to happen.  It’s a waste of money for the fabric when this happens and adds extra time to the quilting process.

Choosing your Fabric Colors and Styles

With most quilts, you will need the following:

 Focal Fabric:  The big pink fabric

Light Fabric:  The teal floral

And a Dark Fabric:  The dark green pattern

Nina as well as the author Alex Anderson express the importance of choosing your fabrics carefully.  They dictate the mood and look for your quilt overall.  The idea is to be sure to pick light, medium and dark-colored fabrics to compliment one another.

 For instance, this quilt made by one of the many quilters at Calico Gals (where I’ve taken my class). You’ll see light greens, dark greens, medium greens, light reds, medium, and dark reds.  Using fabric with print variety adds a touch of fun and elegance as well.    While you would think none of them would match with one another, it looks REALLY cool in the end.  As Alex Anderson puts it in her book Start Quilting with Alex Anderson, If you use only one size prints, your quilt tends to look as though it has the chicken pox. So don’t be afraid to use small print with big, lines with floral, It may just surprise you and you should SEE the quilts these women make at the Calico Gals store. Utterly Astounding!! Experiment with your quilts and HAVE FUN!

Go With The Grain

Fabric is produced with threads that are woven two directions which give you your length and your width which is called the “straight of the grain” If you cut triangular from the top corners, you would be cutting along the bias (for those like me who’ve never sewed in their lifetime). Nina is a stickler for ALWAYS pressing the corner biases with an Iron because they stretch and if not pressed correctly, will make your square and maybe even the full quilt off a tad bit. 

The long finished edges are called salvages (notice the white edge on the far lefthand side of the fabric in the picture?  That’s a Salvage!) and should always be cut off because they are hard to sew through and could also distort your block.  I am told that hand-quilters  LOATHE the salvages.  I’ll be learning to hand quilt sometime soon as well. That’s my next class.

Preparing the Fabric

While many advanced quilters can work with both, as a new quilter, I was urged to be sure my fabrics are pre-washed to prevent them from shrinking or bleeding into the other lighter fabrics which would ruin the whole quilt and be a waste of hard-earned money to buy the fabrics to begin with. If your fabrics continue to bleed, you can soak the fabrics in a Retayne, Synthopol, which can both be found in fabric stores, OR if your like me and want to keep away from chemicals, Get the good ol’ water and vinegar solution out (1/2 to ½).  If your fabric runs yet again, get rid of it.  It will ruin the rest of your colors in the quilt later on and probably isn’t a very good quality fabric to use in your quilt anyways.

Thread

Use ONLY a 100% cotton thread.  Nina, my teacher,  LOATHES the poly/cotton blend and says it’s a bad choice to use in a machine and sometimes is flimsy and will break.  Cotton holds well and just works the best overall.  Be sure when you are getting your thread you are matching it with the neutral color of your focal fabric.  You want the thread to blend in, not to take over the piece you worked so hard to make.

Machine Needles

Usually the needles used for machine quilting are size 10 or 11/ 70 or 75.  If you end up using a cotton/blend go ahead and use the Universal.  Just be sure you have a bunch of extra needles on hand that are nice and sharp. You don’t want the dull needles ruining your nice fabrics.

Another asset to have is the Walking Foot which is used when your sewing layers of fabric and batting so your machine will glide nicely and won’t make your fabrics pucker.

So there you have it.  Now your ready to pick your batting. Which we’ll discuss in the next lesson on February 28, 2008.

Come back again and learn with me as I learn to quilt!

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*** Patterns Of Faith: Quilting Blocks ***
Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Posted in Thrifty Crafts

I am LITERALLY in my realm here.  I just found some pictures of a more experienced quilter who has done several "quilts of faith".  Now I haven't finished yet with my basic classes, BUT this is definately something I'm interested in accomplishing.

 Quilting the names of Jesus

     Quilting the Psalms

Women Of The Bible

Mothers Of The Bible

SO FAR, I've only been able to find the patterns (which are quite pricey so be prepared) HERE If any of you have done these patterns and know where to find them cheaper.  Please let me know!  I'm pretty thrifty and the cost of these patterns make me cringe!

There's a woman who's made these beautiful quilts and posted them. I thought I'd share her pictures with you all. Women Of the Bible Blocks  and Names of Jesus Quilt

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***56 Free Apron Patterns***
Tuesday, February 12, 2008

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Check out these patterns and make your own. Better yet, have to make money for Adoption costs?  Maybe your son or daughter wants to go on vacation?  Start making Aprons and sell them.

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***Quilt At The Beginning *** Class Preparation
Thursday, January 24, 2008

Posted in Thrifty Crafts

Hello Everyone!  I pray you’ve all been enjoying the first month in the New Year?! Have you started any new hobbies for the New Year that you’ve always wanted to do? 

I must say that I’m enjoying Learning the “Quilt from the Beginning Class” here in my hometown at a store called Calico Gals.  We are learning to use tools that are foreign to me that I’ll be discussing in a minute and I’ve had the pleasure of using quite an awesome sewing machine that I was allowed to borrow during the class made by the company Baby Lock.  The machine was SO much easier than the one I bought at Walmart a few years ago.  I had a friend get frustrated trying to feed the bobbin in mine and after an hour of fussing with it, she let me use hers.  Needless to say, the bobbin feed was on top instead of on the side and it also has several types of sewing capabilities not to mention that it feeds itself pretty straight. This new hobby of mine may turn out to be quite an expensive habit if I don’t exert some self-control.

Today I am going to get into preparation and the tools you need to start quilting. It’s amazing how much “out of my comfort-zone” I am.  I’ve only used my sewing machine to make straight stitches for curtains.  Simplistic curtains at that.  So I really baptized myself with fire at this class.  Not only did I NOT know how to quilt, but I barely got by with the sewing machine.  Thing is though, with the Baby Lock machine, I was able to zip on by. It was SO easy that my fear became time of fun. 

The basic and most obvious preparation is SPACE.  You need to find some kind of working space to give yourself or you will find yourself frustrated. The first thing my teacher Nina told me, was that the best way to work with quilting is to make sure you’re organized and have enough space to get everything together that you need, be able to cut your pieces, prepare them for sewing and then piecing your squares together.  It’s like a production line.  The more space you have, the more preparation you can have done before you need to sew.  It’s just that simple.  I’m sure everyone will have their own way of working once you get into it, but for newbies, Nina suggests taking the time to have everything ready ahead of time which is what will help to ensure your quilt is done nicely. If you have a Craft Room that’s awesome, but for most, you’ll find that a dining room or kitchen table will suffice!

TOOLS

Rotary Cutter: To start, you’ll need a 45mm, which is medium size.  First thing Nina taught me was that This is EXTREMELY SHARP!!  Please note that this instrument is an excellent cutting tool that is a round razor blade mounted on a plastic handle.  Mine has a little button on the side that each time I expose the blade, should be pushed to close it again right away or someone…INCLUDING children, could get severely cut.

Rotary Mat:  Should be a Self-healing mat that is used in conjunction with the rotary cutter. I would get a medium or large size as in my own experience thus far, if you have too small of a mat, when you get into bigger projects, you’ll just have to dish out more money for a bigger one.  I like the extra space on my medium.

Rotary Ruler:  Is specially used to again in conjunction with the rotary cutter and mat.  Note:  I bought all three in a package together at Joann Fabrics with the 40percent coupon.  If you can, learn from my mistake.  I bought mine with a grey mat and the lines are black.  It really makes things hard to see when your trying to be very careful at measuring your fabrics to cut.  Nina had a green mat with some really cool rulers.  Some even rotated around for your convenience. 

The Rotary Ruler has 1/8” increments and is marked in both directions. You should start with a 6” x 12” size, which will help when you start measuring your fabric for squares, backing, and batting which I’ll get into in the next segment.

Sharp Scissors: Oh how I learned how nice a good pair of sharp scissors can help when you need to cut batting or anything else for that matter.  Just be careful around children.  It doesn’t really matter the size, but it’s suggested in my book to use four or five inch long Sheers.

Pins: suggested is extra-long, fine glass-head pins which won’t cause distortion in your fabric like most others.

Thread:  Quality Cotton thread for those first starting.  We’ll get into the blends I learned about again in the next segment.

Seam Ripper: good QUALITY seam rippers that aren’t dull.

Iron:  Any kind will do, but it’d be a blessing to have steam iron around.

Sewing Machine:  One in good working condition with variety of stitching options and sharp size 80 needle.  Again, we’ll get into more about needles in the next segment. If you’re in the market for a new sewing machine, my suggestion is making sure you pay for a quality one that will have a bobbin feed from the top and REALLY take the time to feed itself without you having to spend time doing it.  It’s REALLY worth the money!  Baby Lock is expensive, but the warranty is good on it and after borrowing it, I would definitely like one now!!

Well, that’s it for the tools you’ll need to start your project.  One suggestion is I totally recommend the book Nina taught from.  It’s called “Start Quilting 2nd edition with Alex Anderson. It has 6 projects for first time Quilters AND Alex is the Host of Simply Quilts on HGTV.  This book is the easiest I’ve found so far. I actually understood what I was reading and appreciated the author.  Nina definitely taught from an awesome book!

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Tip of the day...
Saturday, January 5, 2008

Posted in Thrifty Crafts

 picture by:allposters.com

Ever wanted to make your own soap or buy regular bars of soap but just can't stand the soap muck on your bathroom or kitchen sinks?  Well hold on to your hats ladies and gents!  Instead of using those wooden or porcelain soap dishes, or even your plain sink indentations which get all filled with dried soap particles, how bout using a good ol sponge?!

That's right.  You can buy them for around 2bucks. I use the ones with the scrubs on the bottom so that I can use them to clean around the sink as well to keep me from cleaning around the sink ALL THE TIME.

Just put the scrub side down and let the soap lie on the sponge top.  The wet soap will dry nicely and you won't have tons of wet soap that causes particles that are hard to scrub off when your done.  NO messes!

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***Quilt At The Beginning*** Class Introduction
Thursday, January 3, 2008

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Ever wanted to make a quilt but just weren’t sure how?  Not enough money to pay someone to teach you?  Well how about learning through the eyes of ME?! 

That’s right, come tag along as I learn how to quilt. Learn quilting terms and just what are Fat Quarters, and Jellie Rolls anyways? (no, it’s not something you find at your local doughnut shoppe).  Find out exactly what you do with an appliqué, where you can find out how to join or start your own “Patchwork Society” or just learn at your own pace and use this time to unwind with tea and your favorite music. 

Through my eyes, you will find the answers to your “How’d they do that” in all your quilting questions.

 Feel free to ask along the way, and by golly, have fun with your first projects! Remember that mistakes are often what make your quilts unique.  As time goes by, you’ll get better and better.

 So come join me, as we learn how to Quilt At The Beginning.  Here are the things we will learn together:

 Basic steps of quilt construction, Using Notions or tools to those who don’t know about sewing terms, Quilting by machine, Hand Quilting without a hoop, English Paper Piecing, and much, much more.  Later, you will define which skill suits you, quilting by machine, or by hand.  Both are different, with different outcomes, one is faster, one is at YOUR own pace. Either way, you’ll find gratification out of the project you’ve started, moving on to bigger projects to suit your skill-level.

Remember, I am by no means skilled with Quilting.  So if you happen to be an experienced Quilter, our Homesteadblogger Senior Editor is looking for someone with experience to blog on the Front Porch.

Join me in Two weeks, January 24^th, as I post on helpful tools to get you started and basic terms to help you through your first small project just like I’m Learning in my quilting class. 

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Quilting, Cross-Stitch and Knitting...Winter Pastimes
Monday, December 17, 2007

Posted in Thrifty Crafts

allposters.com

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