Color

Posted for: Sandra from SC

What's wrong with avocado green? LOL :)

In the interest of moving spam

Posted for: Marge in Louisiana

My first quilt was a four patch with alternate white squares all 5.5 inches square( give or take a little) My Gram, my mom and I all sewed garments so there were a lot of scraps the summer between junior and senior year high school
from pajamas, shirts, skirts and blouses we made for ourselves and my younger brother and sister.

I cut the scraps into squares an sewed them together by machine or hand depending where I was at the time. Mostly by hand as that was the "correct way" to make a quilt in those days. (50's)

I had classmates write their name on the white squares and even sent one to my German penpal and she embroidered her initials on it. My grandpa was a commercial artist so he drew the design for the white squares. Gram quilted it for me adding a scalloped border and a light green backing. She quilted 1/4 inch inside and outside all those squares. It roughly fits a short double bed.

I still have it and it is still in one piece since she quilted it so thoroughly. A lot of the seams are pulling apart but the whole thing stays together due to her fine quilting.

One of the local high schools put on the play "The Quilt" last year and our guild donated quilts to hang on the stage and as an exhibit in the foyer. When I went back to look at the exhibit after the stage was set up, I could not find my quilt. After much searching it was center stage on the set.! I had not recognized it from a distance as I had only ever seen it on the bed.

The next quilt I made was in a class and it is loud with rust colored poly/cotton,green, and gold. The instructor gave me some stripe with rust, cream and pink in it to soften it a bit and tone it down. It is too wild to sleep under although it is warm. It took me 8 years to quilt it as I really didn't and still don't like it. This was in the early 80's so think harvest gold or Federal gold that was popular at the time. At least the green is hunter and not avocado.VBG

Hugs to all especially those going through trying times.

photo images, what NOT to do

Posted for : dutchrose

i thot i'd help move spam down AND provide a helpful hint that i learned from experience this weekend. i am making a wallhanging and had printed out pictures on fabric to use as blocks. i knew i didn't want to quilt over those, but they are 7" X 8" which is quite a bit to not have any quilting. i decided that by using fusible batting i would solve the problem. don't do it!

where the pictures were fused, the glue pulled it and made it look all wrinkled. and of course it was fused so i couldn't pull it straight. i had laid it on taut but not tight so i doubt that was the problem. anyway, after sleeping on it, the next day i used a warm iron to "remove" the fused area by separating it with my hand between the two. oh, did i say that i had begun quilting the outer part?!!? once i had the pictures unadhered i put a teflon sheet between so that i could press the picture to make it look nice again. it's all quilted now and ready for the backing.

oh, that's another hint -- a good one this time. i had only some SID quilting on the squares that framed each picture so i quilted those with just the top and batting and pulled the threads to the back so they'll be hidden inside. lots of starts and stops! once i put the backing on i will go back and MQ around the pictures to frame them and that will go thru all 3 layers.

i do have a question tho. this is a wallhanging for a baby's room so it's not likely to be washed often if at all. can anyone tell me if the fusible stuff (glue) will wash out? i've never used this before and am not happy with it to say the least.
dutchrose ---{-@

Hanging my head, too

Posted for: judypete55@hotmail.com

Celia, I loved your story of the first-quilt you gave a friend as a gift. I hang my head in embarrassment, too, when I think of the quilt I gave my brother and his new wife as a coverlet for their waterbed. I used red and blue bandannas and simply sewed them together in a huge checkerboard. For batting I used a the very thickest polyester batting I could find for I wanted this to be a puffy comforter. Tied it with yarn. They must have dragged it home and wondered what in the world!!!! to do with it. I'm afraid, after all these years, to ask. ROFLOL
JudyPete

Rotary Cutter slicing

Posted for: Jeanne

How many of you have sliced a finger with a rotary cutter? From what I hear, almost everyone has had some sort of accident with those sharp blades.

quilting shops

Name: for Cecelia

Lancaster, Pennsylvania is Amish country, where there are a lot of prolific quilters, so it's logical to assume they have more quilt shops than in rural Tennessee. The Amish shops also tend to be less expensive than the norm.

I Just Love a Happy Ending!

Posted for: jacknox@earthlink.net

Raeann, thank you for sharing the story of your first quilt that has such a happy ending! How nice to know that even after decades of being hidden in storage that applique work came out, was finished and is now on display part of the year. Gave me goosebumps to read about it.

Sure would be great to see a photo of that quilt. Perhaps if you join the membership at The Quilt Show and have a digital camera .... hint, hint, hint.

Judy in Ohio

Quilting stores

Posted for: Cecelia

Which place has more quilting stores?
Sevierville, Tennessee plus a 50-mile radius
OR
Lancaster, Pennsylvania plus a 50-mile radius
Thanks.

Quilting in Heidelberg

Posted for: Susan

I will be in Heidelberg for a few weeks. Any quilt shops or groups there to visit?

Thanks! Susan

My First Quilt

Posted for: Raeann

In 1958 we bought our first home and I wanted quilts for the twin beds in the extra bedroom. I could remember seeing quilts that were appliqued and finished with black blanket stitches.

Not knowing any better I purchased 2 really cheap bleached muslin sheets. Herrschners needlework magazine had appliques already stamped on the fabric, all you had to do was cut them out. I didn't order the background fabric, I was going to be a smart young housewife and save money. I'd do my own backgrounds. LOL. Got out the yardstick and heavy pencil, drew squares?? on the sheet and off I went. Appliqued red tulips with green leaves and blanket stitched in black all around them. 6 blocks per quilt.

After they were stitched I didn't know what to do to finish them so they went in the cedar chest and I purchased 2 white chennile bedspreads. LOL

In early 1990s I thought it was time to finish my little quilts. By this time I had been quilting since the late 70s. I had a devil of a time squaring up the blocks but ended up with 12 blocks which I set using the Garden Maze pattern. The rest of the sheets came in handy for setting squares. It is quite beautiful, heavily quilted and it is the quilt I use as a Christmas quilt.

Raeann in MO

First Quilts

Posted for: Lynn/TX

I love the postings about the first quilts! My first was in 1970- half-square triangles-fabrics too heavy- hand quilting sts WAY too long. Was for DS#2- he's loved it almost to death including a rather large hole in it. He gave it back to me this year and asked me to applique a bandaide over the hole, which I did. Now am ripping out the awful stitches and re-quilting it on the machine. 2nd quilt was no better- 100% polyester top and back- churn dash- at least the points matched. Put it in a home-made frame- cat slept on it- stretched a huge salad bowl in the center that I can't get out- It's now in a box in the closet half quilted (at least the stitches are better on this one.) THEN I bought a book. The rest is history.
Happy stitching everybody. Lynn/TX

My First Quilt & Clothesline

Posted for: Sandra from SC

My first quilt was made when I was 16. It was made of 6" embroidered blocks of animals doing different activities on white cotton. Narrow sashing and the backing were also of the same cotton. I think it was 3 blocks by 4 and it was large enough to lay inside of a child's carrier. I packed it away and three years later I used it for my first child. She now has it.

I too have a clothesline and would not be without one. I love to hang out clothes and see them blowing in the wind. My white towels and washcloths were gleeming white today while flapping in the wonderful breezy cool weather. Mine is built of two heavy duty iron T post that are six feet high, strung with two lengths of 25 foot wire.