This and That

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I have a number of other topics I really want to post about, but writing about the Bible reading takes up all of my creative energy! I’ve had some interesting cooking experiences lately, have read some great books, and I’m decluttering our apartment. Decluttering is a way more involved job than I thought it would be!

On the creative side of my life, I just finished tying my first quilt today. I should have had it done five weeks ago but I’ve been procrastinating. All I have left is to sew an “in the ditch” seam around the borders and then fold the border over and sew the quilt closed. I’m planning on doing the sewing tomorrow but we’ll see how I feel. I’ve been feeling terrible all day today.

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My First Quilt Top!

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I am so excited! I finally finished my first quilt top.

I kinda sorta like it. I don’t like the vertical blue border we had to add to bring the quilt to the correct finished size. This quilt was not planned out from the beginning. I made the blocks 12″ each. Then we (seemingly randomly) picked a sashing size. Then we worked with what little fabric we had left to make the brown border. After that, we measured the quilt and determined that we had to add a second border to bring it to the needed size. Blech. My perfectionism was screaming the entire time.

That said, I learned A LOT making this quilt top. I now know to plan the entire top in advance, how to press the blocks (as opposed to ironing. Oops!), and how to keep my seams straight. The back of this quilt top is not pretty but I consider it a successful lesson.

Tomorrow, I will be attending the monthly women’s ministry meeting. My quilting teacher will be showing me how to assemble the three layers and how to tie it all together. I’m not sure how long tying takes, but maybe I’ll have a finished quilt soon.

Next on my project list is my grandparents’ quilt. I have the fabric picked out and washed. I just need to iron it all and then I can start cutting the squares out. Maybe since I made a bunch of mistakes on my first quilt top, I’ll be able to avoid those mistakes on my second! Once I finish this quilt, I’ll be starting Hazel’s mystery quilt. I’m already 10 days behind on the instructions, but I’m hoping to finish my grandparents’ quilt in a month. Then I will start on Hazel’s quilt and catch up on the instructions.

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Fabric!

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The hazards of learning to quilt with the church’s fabric is that you soon want to buy fabric and make your own quilt. I’ve decided to make a quilt for my grandfather and grandmother. They live in Wyoming and I think they’d appreciate having something homemade and warm to cuddle up with. My grandfather’s favorite color is green and my grandmother loves red. Hopefully I can incorporate those colors without making the quilt look too Christmassy.

I haven’t yet finished up the quilt for Bags of Love but I’ll be adding the border this week and the top will be complete. Then I have to wait three more weeks before we meet again so I can receive instruction on finishing the quilt. I can’t wait that long to start another quilt!

Hubby and I made a run to Jo-Ann Fabrics this evening and we purchased most of what I need to start on this quilt. I will be using all cotton fabrics as I don’t yet feel confident enough to branch out into chenille or flannel. I picked out the fabric shown above. The store was almost completely sold out of fat quarters so we’re going to stop by another Jo-Ann’s store tomorrow night to buy those. Once I have the fat quarters, I can start cutting out the squares to piece the top. I’m really excited to start my own quilt, though I won’t be keeping it. Maybe once this quilt is complete, I can make one for myself.

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Quilting for children

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The women’s ministry program at the church has a mission to provide children recently removed from their homes a bag with a quilt, toiletry items, a toy, and a stuffed animal. Oftentimes, children are removed from their homes without the opportunity to take any of their belongings. The women’s ministry project attempts to give these children some small amount of comfort in unfamiliar surroundings.

Volunteers make each of the quilts to give to these children. The church provides all the materials – fabric, thread, and batting. Women are encouraged to pick out fabric from the church’s stash, take it home, and bring back a completed quilt. If women are unable to complete the entire quilt, they are welcome to piece blocks or even sew the entire top but leave the actual “quilting” process to the other ladies. In this way, women can contribute as much as their time and ability allows.

I believe this is a great ministry and I was invited to participate. When I informed the ministry leader that I didn’t know how to quilt but was eager to learn, she invited me to attend this month’s meeting. Plenty of ladies would be willing to teach me the basics so that I could get started.

The meeting was wonderful. It was overwhelming at times, as I don’t know much about quilting and needed to be shown everything. But once the ladies showed me how to complete a step in the project, they let me continue on my own and answered any questions. I learned a little bit about how to pick out complimentary fabrics, how to iron the fabric, how to cut strips, and how to sew strips of fabric together and then cut it to make the blocks.

Here’s my first block:

I was sent home with enough fabric to complete eight additional blocks. Next month, the ladies will teach me how to determine what size sashing is needed, cut the sashing, and design a border. By this time next month, I might have completed my first quilt top! I’m really excited about this opportunity. Not only do I get free lessons, I’m helping out children who have been removed from their homes. I hope that in some small way, my quilt will make a little boy feel more loved.

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