Day 10: Labor of Love

I have been largely focusing on the mechanics of making this quilt in my blog entries, which was not my intention. I meant this blog to be about the journey this quilt takes me through mentally and emotionally. It's not that I am not thinking about the person this quilt is intended for or that I am not feeling the love I have for this person... or I want them to feel through the warmth of this quilt. Honestly, I am feeling so much that I don't quiet know how to express it. A part of me feels like making this quilt is symbolic of saying goodbye. While I know that's really not necessary yet, I feel this sense of loss. Piecing and pressing a quilt is very time consuming and gives you LOTS of time to think and reflect. That has been the hardest part.... I am remembering secret hamburger recipes and woodworking projects and I am crying. Word to the wise: Don't cry on your quilts while pressing, tears leave a mark. I don't want to have to hang on to these memories just yet, I just want to make more. Whoever said, "it's a labor of love" most definitely was talking about quilting. It is a laborious process that exhaust you mentally, physically and sometimes emotionally. But not only is it hard work, it is a expression of the love you have for the quilt recipient. You do all this work to show someone how much you love them and hope that they feel that love every time they wrap themselves in your gift. But it is more than just that... it is a sacrifice of oneself to another, someone special. All to say, "I love you."

Day 9 &10: The Five B's plus 1

You may be wondering what the five B's of quilting are.... I will give you a hint: They are all things you have to do to finish a quilt.

1. Borders

The borders for this quilt were quiet a challenge because I have never successfully pieced a border before. Based on recommendations from my quilting forum, I have decided that it is best to piece a straight border (aka. butted borders) rather than on a diagonal (also called mitered borders). Not only will it save time but it will save fabric since I am concerned that I didn't buy enough.

I decided to change my initial border design from (1) 6" purple border around the "LSU" block design and then (1) 6" yellow border followed by a yellow binding. I have instead decided to do the 6" yellow border around the 6" blocks followed by a 6" purple border and then the yellow binding. My thought is that I want the binding to frame the quilt rather than just be a part of the quilt. I think it will make the quilt more striking.

Unfortunately, I did not have the opportunity to take a picture of the quilt after I completed both borders. I was in such a hurry to get the quilt top done because we decided to leave for AirVenture 2010 early that I didn't get any photos. It kinda messed up my timeline but I am determined to get the quilt to the binding point for the trip.

2. Backing

As I mentioned previously, I decided to make the backing of purple flannel. After washing and drying it... there was little shrinkage or fading. I found myself with a little wiggle room, which was awesome! The 6 yards of fabric were very cumbersome and I was unable to pressed it as a whole piece so I decided to cut it to size before pressing. I ended up cutting the fabric cut in half, into (2) 3 yard pieces and pressed them separately (a big no-no as pressing can stretch the fabric and make the pieces uneven). I joining them along the long side and pressed the seams open to minimize bulk. After preparing the backing, I laid it out on the living room floor as the bottom of my quilt sandwich.

3. Batting

Due to time and my personal preference, I decided not to soak the batting. Soaking the batting helps it shrink so it won't shrink up in the quilt after it's been quilted. I have always liked that quilts get a little lumpy (I find this comfy) after washing and therefore, seldomly soak my batting. I laid it out right on top of the backing and let it rest for a bit while I prepared the binding. It is not a good idea to tug out wrinkles as batting stretches and pulls very easily, so I just smoothed it out a bit by lightly running my hands toward the ends to flatten the batting. I took no pictures of the batting as its pretty simple.

4. Basting

Basting is the process where you attach your layers of quilt sandwich together in preparation for machine quilting. At this point, I have two of my layers laid out on top of one another; the backing (right side down) and the batting. I am a fan of basting spray; it is a water soluble spray glue that is used to keep the layers from shifting while pinning. I folded up the batting about halfway and sprayed basting spray 6-8 inches at a time while folding down batting onto the freshly sprayed areas until the whole thing had been treated. I then laid the quilt top (right side up) on top of the batting and smoothed out any wrinkles. Again I folded up the quilt top and sprayed the batting with the basting spray and attached the quilt top the same way I did to the batting. Lastly when I had completed the whole quilt, I pinned each 6 inch blocks and every 6 inches on the border strips with quilters safety pins. Now the quilt was ready to quilt.

It's hard to get a picture of yourself basting as there is no one to man the camera, so sadly there are none :(

The Plus (aka. quilting)

Quilting is by far the hardest part (at least for me) of making a quilt. To quilt a quilt, you have to sew threw the three layers of the quilt thereby joining them permanently and creating a design on the back of the quilt. Almost all of my UFO's (Un-Finished Objects) are at this stage for various reasons such as, I can't decide how to quilt it (design) or I am scared that I won't do a good job and mess up the quilt top.

For this quilt, I decided to do some very limited quilting to keep it easy and quick. I quilted in the ditch (on the seams) around each 6 inch block and on the border. The quilt is a odd shape/ size and was very difficult to quilt as each side was bulky and didn't fit neatly under my sewing machine arm. I had to roll each side and only quilt the seams within the roll, pull it out and reroll it to continue (see photo).

4. Binding

Binding is a fairly easy process and I generally cut at 2" strip for my binding but decided to go with a 3" strip this time. I often feel like there isn't enough to wrap around to the back on the thicker spots so I am hoping this 3" strip will work better. I was able to get it cut, folded and pressed by early evening on Day 10. Just before we packed up to head out for AirVenture 2010, I sewed the binding on. I was able to get the quilt folded into a pillow case for travel and I plan to hand stitch the binding onto the backing. I call it hand sticking because that is generally what I do more than hand stitching.

Day 8: Piecing

It took me a little longer to piece the top than I thought it would, but ironically, unlike other projects, I finished it.

I kept sewing until I joined all the 6" blocks together, creating the quilt top in thirds.

Then, I pinned each third to its corresponding side and sewed them together.

I broke my rule... I ended up ripping the seams out of the quilt thirds at least 3 times and in the end, I had to let some of the mismatched seams slip. It is harder to match up 6 seams than 1 or 2. Either way, I wanted it to be perfect and it wasn't but I am just looking at it as "character."

Day 7: My imperfect seams

For all of those who think my stuff is always perfect, here's my latest re-do's.

This one is 1/8th of an inch off on the center seam.

This one resulted from a edge getting folded by the feed dogs. To fix this, I just snipped the fabric enough to make it lay down when I ironed it. The machine quilting will keep it from unraveling.

I have a strategy for dealing with imperfect seams... if I re-do something and do it wrong a second time, I leave it messed up to keep myself from becoming frustrated and focused on one little slip-up that most people won't see.

I, so far, have had to re-do only 3 seams. One didn't get any better the second time and I had two little slip-ups that I just let go because they weren't bad enough to warrant doing them over again.

Day 7: Sew and Press, sew and press..

Today after my in-laws left, I started piecing the quilt top. I had to move the operation into the living areas of the house. My sewing machine is set up on the kitchen table, the ironing board in the guest room and I haven't moved the cutting stuff yet but will need to soon.

I started off by joining the 6.5" x 6.5" blocks (chain stitching) to their corresponding 6.5" x 6.5" blocks.

Next, I set the seams by pressing them...

folded the two blocks open and pressed again. Then, pin'em up... sew and press again until you have all the pieces sewn together into a quilt top.

Day 6: Lazy

I was totally quilt lazy Saturday. My in-laws were in town and I wanted to spend time with them; we went to German Fest and out to eat. I know this is how projects turn into UFO's so I am trying to stay on track. I really want to finish this quilt before that special someone starts treatment. I am way off on my timeline but my hubby said he would keep the little one busy tomorrow after the in-laws leave so I can devote some much needed time to the quilt piecing process.

Honestly, I am still dealing with the mess in the basement and just don't feel like hauling everything into the kitchen, playroom or guest room to start working again. I have attached a picture below of what the floor looks like after the water has dried... I guess I need to mop it now as I am sure I don't want whatever that is on my quilt. It is also starting to smell a little funny down there, not sure what the landlord will do about that. So onward tomorrow...

Day 5: Disaster continues

So we are waiting for the basement to dry out so I moved the operation upstairs. Let's just say, the toys add character ;)

I got all the 6.5" x 6.5" blocks pinned together and hopefully after everyone goes to bed, I can get some sewing done. I am seriously falling behind my timeline.

Day 5: A trip to Joann's

I made a trip to Joann's today to get the flannel backing, batting and thread needed to complete the quilt. I ended up with 6 yards of purple flannel fabric for the backing; I probably only needed 5 yards but wanted to be safe as my coupon expires Sunday. A little extra is never a bad thing. I also picked up some purple thread for the machine quilting portion (Gutermann, 100% polyester. I figure since the backing is purple, the purple thread will help hid/ disguise any imperfect stitches when machine quilting as I am not that good at it.

For the batting, I decided to go with a 80/20 (cotton/ polyester). Based on recommendations by my quilters forum, I was told that cotton would breath best but polyester would be warmest. I wanted both benefits so I figured that a mix would be best. Not to mention, it was one of the cheaper options.

Day 4: Disaster

Yea, you read that right... today has been a complete disaster! Due to t-storms and flash flooding, my basement (and sewing room) is covered in water. It's not knee deep or anything but I had to get the neighbor to help me move everything upstairs and I rescued my sewing machine, fabric for the special quilt and blocks. I am going to try to get some sewing done tonight but I don't really have anyplace to set up the sewing machine :(

Day 3: Making a Quilt Top

I had just enough time to start laying out the quilt top this evening. Unfortuantly, I don't have enough room to lay the whole thing out at once :(

Day 3: Cutting

I finished cutting the purple blocks and borders today. After cutting all the required pieces from the purple fabric... I had some left over!!! I am so happy that I bought that bit extra (or just miscalculated what I needed initially :D)
I then marked all the 5.5" x 5.5" purple blocks with a diagonal line for positioning on the 6.5" x 6.5" white blocks to create the siggy blocks (see Day 3: Piecing).

I was also able to get the yellow fabric ironed and cut to the needed sizes. This is exciting, I had this planned for tomorrow. However, because I skipped my Mom's Night Out to help ready the basement for my in-laws visit this weekend, my husband allowed me some quilting time before the baby went to bed.

Quilt Timeline

I want to have this quilt ready for hand sticking of the binding (which is the last step) no later than July 30. That is exactly 9 days away. So here is the plan...

Wed, July 21
1. Finish cutting all purple fabric.
2. Assemble siggy blocks and iron them.

Thurs, July 22
1. Iron and cut yellow fabric squares and border.
2. Lay out all blocks on design wall.

Fri, July 23
1. Begin assembling blocks to form quilt top.

Sat, July 24 and Sun, July 25
1. Finishing assembling blocks to form quilt top.

Mon, July 26
1. Add borders to quilt blocks thereby completing the quilt top.
2. Cut and assemble backing.
3. Design quilt label and attach to backing.

Tues, July 27
1. Sandwich quilt top, batting and backing.
2. Baste quilt sandwich.

Wed, July 28
1. Machine quilt the quilt.

Thur, July 29
1. Cut and attach binding.

Fri, July 30
1. Fold over binding using binder clips.
2. Collect quilting notions to take with us to AirVenture 2010 where I intend to hand stick the binding onto the backing.

Sat, July 31 and Sun, Aug 1
1. Hand stick binding.

Mon, Aug 2
1. Wash completed quilt.

Tues, Aug 3
1. MAIL QUILT!

Day 2: Cutting

After ironing the purple and white fabrics, I decided to start cutting the fabric. I really have not flat surface to lay anything for any length of time so the fabric would be easier to manage if it didn't take up a lot of space. I sat down and counted out what I needed of each size, shape and color and came up with the following:


(29) 6.5" x6.5" Yellow Squares

(30) 6.5" x 6.5" Purple Squares

(32) 6.5" x 6.5" Signature Blocks
----(32) 6.5" x 6.5" White Squares
----(64) 5.5" x 5.5" Purple Squares


I started by trimming the raw edge on the top of the fabric to even it out.

Then cut strips of 6.5" x length of fabric of white fabric and further divided it down to 6.5" x 6.5" squares.



I cut all 32 of the white squares and started on the 5.5" x 5.5" purple squares. I started with these pieces because they are pieces of the only block I am piecing. All other blocks are just solids and once I cut them, nothing else needs to be done to them before I put them into the quilt top.

I hope to have all these pieces cut tomorrow and hopefully, the purple border. I think that I may have underestimated how much purple fabric I needed because I was counting on using a shortcut, which would minimize the amount of fabric I waste. However, it would make placement of the triangle portions of the siggy block difficult and more time consuming. SO, I need to get all the purple cut ASAP to determine if I need more before they run out at the store. I did end up getting a tad more than I needed of the purple because it was the end of the bolt (and 50% off) but I don't know if that extra is going to be enough :(

Day 2: Fabric Prep Cont.

Today, I ironed the white and purple fabrics. Due to lack of space in my sewing room because I am minus a sewing desk, I did not iron the yellow fabric because I have no place to put it and don't want to end up ironing it twice. I ironed using just a spray bottle of water, no starch... mostly because I don't have any at the moment and don't want to go to Wal-mart to get it.



Ironing was quite an ordeal... my fabric cuts are multiple yards and it was hard to keep them from hitting the ground while ironing. As usual, I used a quilt stand to pile fabric on as I was ironing it but it was tough managing it all.





The yellow fabric promises to be the most difficult as it is the longest piece I have.

The Little Gem Project

Like any great quilter, I have several projects going on at once. I have put off everything (except "the little gem") to work on my special quilt. The little gem is a baby quilt that I should have done... oh, sometime last week. But, I am always a day late on deadlines so I am still plugging away on this baby quilt that has literally been the quilt from HELL! And I am lovingly calling it "little gem" because they are often worth the trouble. This little gem was suppose to be a quick and easy... the thought was that I would do a nicer quilt when the kid is older. Babies really don't use quilts, kids do. This little gem started out as a pieced quilt panel with flannel backing. Here's the chain of events that have lead me astray... 1) Washed quilt panel and it let go a TON of fuzzies, which won't go away... even after a second washing. 2) Flannel backing not only shrunk horribly when washed BUT it bled. The brown in it left a inconsistent batik-like pattern across the flannel's horizontal stripes. A second washing only made it worse. 3) To remedy the shrunk flannel backing, I decided to add a border on top with an applique of the child's name. That part didn't go so bad but became more time consuming as this was suppose to be a QUICK AND EASY. 4) I started to layer the panel over the flannel backing (I decided against batting as I want the quilt to be warm but not heavy; possible baby suffocation danger) and the panel has stretched. When, I don't know because I remember being super careful when pressing BUT alas, there it is; not necessarily a rectangle but a oddish parallelogram. And trimming the edge won't work, as I said it was a panel and comes with a border already attached. 5) Lastly, and where I stopped for the night. I ran out of stinking safety pins when pinning my sandwich quilt. I refuse to buy anymore because I know there are two UFO's that are pinned and when I finally quilt those, I will have about 5x more safety pins than I currently have in this darling little gem of a quilt. I hope the receiver (and his parents) of this Little Gem appreciates the love and heartache I have put into it because I wouldn't do it for anyone else!

Day 1: Preparing the Fabric

As I do with all my quilts, I am pre-washing the fabric. The idea being that 1) I can wash out any dye residue in the fabric to keep it from bleeding on the other fabrics and 2)to shrink the fabrics so that they won't shrink after being quilted. If the fabrics shrink after being quilted, the stitches stay put and the fabric can pull causing stress to the fabric's fibers making them more susceptible to tearing.

Before washing my fabrics, I cut the raw edges with pinking shears to minimize unraveling of the fabric from these edges. I wash my fabrics in a dye free soap (Tide Free and Clear or Dreft) on a large load so as to be sure all the soap washes out of the fabrics. I dry all fabrics on medium heat to maximize shrinkage before piecing and quilting. I also figure that the quilt owner will wash the quilt regularly and will wash it as they do other blankets (on regular cycles). If I treat it as they would, there won't be any additional shrinkage when they wash it versus when I was it. Most quilts I make for others are for utility purposes, not display pieces by any means... so they need to withstand what everyday life can do to them.

Lastly, ironing... I HATE ironing!! I think I would enjoy it more if I had a better ironing board. But alas, it is an important step to making a quilt and I must do it. I like to think that it's like putting on moisturizer before putting on your make-up. You don't HAVE to do it but it makes everything else go together smoothly.

Once I am folded and ironed... I can move on to the nitty gritty part of quilting... rotary cutting!!!

Day 1: The Fabric Store

Today, I took a trip to Joann fabrics in Brookfield, Wisconsin to get fabric for my special project. I had an idea of what I wanted, which was a nonprint (not excatly solid) purple and yellow fabrics. The quilt is for a older gentleman. Most print fabrics are not mascilne at all and if your lucky enough to find one, you generally have a hard time finding complementing fabrics that aren't just solids. So I wanted to stay away from them... not to mention trying to balance print sizes.



I found the Keepsake Calico collection fit the bill perfectly. Both the purple and yellow are tone on tone. I also got some Quilters Choice 100 % cotton in white for the signature portion of the blocks and white thread. I skimped and bought a general use thread rather than the recommended 100% cotton because it was cheaper.



I over bought a tad as there were reminants on two of the bolts after I got what I needed and I wanted to give plenty of room for shrinkage. Fabrics tend to be shrinking more lately. When all was said and done, I ended up with the following for $30.70.



White->1.375 yd.

Yellow (Crackle Lemon)->3.67 yd

Purple-> 3.806 yd.

Guterman 1000M thread

Project Background

So I am starting this blog to chronicle my journey making a "particular" quilt. I have quilted for 6 years off and on depending on what is going on in my life but this quilt is special. What makes this quilt so special? It is for someone special who is very sick and will require lots of difficult treatment. I have decided to make a special quilt for my special someone to take with them to get the treatment. I hope that it will bring warmth and comfort during hard times.

This special someone does not know about this surprise and I would like to keep it that way. If you know this person, please don't say anything.

Project: Love Quilt
Theme: LSU
Color: Purple and Gold
Size: @ least 4 feet wide and 6 feet tall
Blocks: Solid 6 inch and 6 inch siggy blocks
Borders: (1) 6 inch purple inner border and (1) 6 inch yellow outer border with yellow binding