True Confessions

My nephew Mason is getting his quilt. Soon. Really soon.

The first three nephews got their quilts before they could sit up. Mason’s already in school. Poor kid.

It wasn’t bad enough that I conned his non-quilting mother into making the top. It’s been years (plural) since our little project together began and the quilt still isn’t done!  (But hey, my sister-in-law learned how to quilt! That’s got to count for something, right?)

Students in my String Quilting class on Friday (Saginaw, Michigan) will see the quilt before Mason does, because I did a few things differently that they might want to try. More on that in a future blog. Stay tuned, as they say.

But that’s not why I’m blogging about Mason’s quilt. I also wanted to “confess” that I often put the binding on before I’ve finished all of the quilting. I can hear the gasps.

Before you pass judgement, know that I hand-baste my top/batting/back and the layers are pretty well nailed. I can start quilting wherever I want; nothing is going to slide around. 

I usually start quilting on the outside edges of my quilts. I can drive onto the quilt and drive off again into the exposed batting, eliminating any need to knot stitches. After the outside edges are quilted I put on the binding. That means I can cut off all the excess batting/backing NOW, making my quilt smaller by at least 2 inches on all sides. That makes it at least a little easier to get it  into the armpit of my machine. See, I’m not so dumb after all…

That’s all I’m confessing for now, except that although my quilt has lots of hills and valleys, there’s no batting in it. WHAT?!!
I guess you’ll have to read the next blog…

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I Can See Clearly Now

It was a Big Day around the Simms household yesterday. I changed the shower curtain. Yes indeed, a time for celebration.

I finally broke out the clear plastic shower curtain liner I picked up at Ikea and up she went. Naturally that inspired me to crawl inside the shower and make a video.

I thought it would be kind of fun to share how I hung my quilt as a shower curtain by making a tab of fabric with a strip of  grippy (“hook”) Velcro stitched to it. I sewed small lengths of soft (“loop”) Velcro to the back of the quilt. I made these segments small (about 2″ long), rather than of one long continuous strip, so the quilt would drape better.

Now with the clear plastic shower curtain liner I can enjoy the back of my quilt from inside the shower. My life was somehow lacking without that opportunity. I just have to remember to shower with my glasses on!

I think everybody should have a quilted shower curtain. It’s a great conversation starter, and so entertaining for guests who visit your home.

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What Traveling Quilt Teachers Do

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These pictures are from my lecture “Living With Quilts: A Survival Guide.” It’s a presentation that examines how quilters are sometimes “different” from other folks, and shares copingn strategies for your family. It’s all in good fun, because no matter what you’re learning about, humor always makes it more enjoyable, and more memorable.

The mission of most quilt guilds is learning new skills and turning other people on to the wonderful world of quilting. This can be done informally, just sitting down and sharing what you know. Or, it could be in the form of a workshop or lecture presented by a guild member or a professional teacher.

If you are a member of a guild and you’re looking for a teacher (local, regional, national, or international) to bring in, here’s a good place to find them: FindAQuiltTeacher.com. For a small fee teachers can get listed and guilds can access Teacher Fact Sheets for each teacher listed. Teacher Fact Sheets contain expanded contact information, lists teachers’ experience, descriptions of most popular workshops and lectures, fee and expenses, preferences, and requirements. It’s all on ONE page for easy comparison. There is also a blog for subscribers with tips for both teachers and event planners.

Here’s my top five tips for providing a great learning experience for your group:

1. Make sure the classes/lectures you offer are of interest to your members. If you’re the only one who likes applique, better bring in someone who pieces.
2. Nail down all the details in writing well in advance so you can promote it properly, both to your guild and your community. Decide on specific workshops or lectures at least 4 months in advance.
3. Bring more quilters to the fold by encouraging local media (newspapers, radio stations) to write about your upcoming event.  Best way to encourage that is a face-to-face encounter with a quilt (any quilt) under your arm.
4. Piggy-back with nearby guilds and shops to cut travel and lodging costs. Groups just outside your regular stomping ground are best, so you don’t dilute the pool of workshop-takers for either group.
5. “Sell”  the program AND the speaker. Your enthusiasm about a speaker is probably the best motivation for your membership to take advantage of the programs you bring in.  Remember the basics: who, what, when, where, and why!   (Repeat, repeat, repeat!)

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In Honor of Mark

I lost a good friend about two months ago. We met 35 years ago in Italy and remained friends ever since. By happy coincidence my teaching jobs occasionally took me places near where Mark lived and we got a chance to catch up on each other’s lives more often than we could have otherwise.

I couldn’t make it to Mark’s funeral and his Memorial Service was this past Saturday on the other side of the country. So I sent a quilt.

I had asked Mark’s mom if I could have some of his shirts. Six boxes arrived, thanks to one of Mark’s friends! The T-shirts will have to wait for another time, but I took apart the others and cut out the pockets from each one. Working without a pattern, I sewed them together in strips, appliquing the plackets over some seams, and also using them to bridge gaps needed to grow rows when they were too short. (Hint: 1/4″ Steam-A-Seam tape is great for this. Fuse it to the back of the placket, then to the patches and top stitch.)

I wanted to use the pockets for visual interest and because pockets are positive. They hold things that are important. Even empty, they hold promise that something important will come along. In this case, I hope they will hold memories for Mark’s family.

I stitched the rows together and appliqued more plackets over top.  The plackets were really an excuse to use the buttons. I wanted to touch the buttons Mark touched. They also offered closure, both literally and figuratively.

I cut the left and right plackets off each shirt and buttoned them together so I could be sure to sew the buttons back onto the appropriate buttonholes later. (Again, buttons on buttonholes are more interesting than just buttons. Blue painters’ tape kept the button in position until I sewed it on the quilt top.

If the thread used to sew on the button originally was anything other than white, I wrote the color thread to use on the tape.

The tape helped me reposition the bottom and hold it in place while I sewed. Took me quite a few buttons to figure out a system as I was using a #20 applique foot, probably not made for sewing on buttons. Bernina makes a foot for sewing buttons on, and I know I have one; I just couldn’t find it!

After more than 180 buttons, I got pretty good at it.

I set the stitch to zigzag, dropped the feed dogs, lined up the button holes as best I could and manually guided the needle down the first hole by rotating the handwheel. A Bernina “heel tap” brought the needle back up again and I repeated the alignment process for the second hole (Sometimes the stitch width needed adjusting; not all buttons are the same size.)  If I made it in and out of the two holes without incident, I hit the gas. I never did break a needle.

Then I peeled off the tape, rotated the quilt top the other way and zigzagged some more. At the end of the process, I threaded the top tails into a magic needle, drew them to the back and tied all four threads into a big knot, and clipped the tails. They would be hidden inside the quilt. Except for the buttons I forgot. Those were sewn after the quilt was quilted.

I used shirt backs for the backing and rented time on a long arm machine, making up the quilting as I went along. 

I made a tissue holder for each pocket, also out of parts of Mark’s shirts.  The quilt was displayed at the Memorial Service. People attending were invited to take a tissue holder made from Mark’s shirts with them. If they chose they could write a memory of Mark on a piece of paper and put it in one of the pockets on the quilt and I understand they did just that.  Here’s a “free pattern” for the tissue holders. Notice the quotation marks.

I have ideas for more quilts from Mark’s shirts; I have a lot of leftovers! Some will be wilder than this one, but I have a few traditional quilts in mind too.

It has been a great honor to make this quilt for Mark’s family. I hope the pieces bring them peace.
 

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Redneck Tape Measure

My friend and fellow quilting instructor Kathy Kansier showed me her “Redneck Tape Measure” when we recently taught at the same quilting conference this summer.

Apologies to Jeff Foxworthy.

She takes a few inches of 1/4″-wide masking tape and wraps it around the thumb of her dominant hand.  Instant measuring tool and literally stuck to you so you can’t misplace it.

As you pick up a piece of fabric to confirm a 1/4″ seam allowance you no longer have to hunt for a ruler or measuring tape. Just line it up with your thumb!

Is this not the slickest trick!? Just pinch and go!

Kathy Kansier is a quilting instructor from Ozark, Missouri.

Thanks, Kathy!

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