Monday, September 19, 2016

My Psalm 23 Prayer Quilt-Designing My Own Fabric

Does it seem there is a cancer epidemic going on all over? Another of my daughter's  friends is battling breast cancer and she has requested a quilt for her. Donna said "it doesn't have to be fancy, Mom". No, a prayer quilt doesn't have to be fancy, it is just a visible reminder that God is always with us, that people are praying for us and care.  

I have used just about all the beautiful prints that I've picked up over the years [when I find them I get all I can afford that day] so I thought about having my own printed to use in the center of the quilts. The first ones came in a couple of weeks ago and 2 have already been used and am getting ready to order more, hopefully before the day is over. Should have done that first thing this morning but got on to other things. 

The Psalm 23 panel background is one used in my Jesus Loves Me Quilts and has roses and lilies of the valley to represent The Rose of Sharon and The Lily of The Valley. 

One of the quilts was given to my niece, Debbie, who was in the hospital. Here is a kind of update on her from a post I did 5 years ago-http://carolynscanvas.blogspot.com/2011/08/giving-forward-debbies-hope-foundation.html. The video that was done then wasn't available so I found it and republished it. This photo is from last week with my sister, Shirley and Debbie with the first "Psalm 23 Prayer Quilt" that had just come off the quilter the day before. 

Here it is on the design board-it's about 50"x50":


this is the center Psalm 23 print-about 17"


this is my vining love quilting design that represents the love of The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit


you can't make it out probably but I'm taking an online class in feather quilting 


This flexible ruler is used to mark the curves for the feather spine-learned that from the online class. It is 24" long so it was perfect to mark the borders, marked one side then flipped it and voila-perfect match on each side. I got this one at Staples but am going to order a longer one off Amazon. I needed it that day, called to be sure they had one so hopped in car and got it. The rest of the feather was free hand quilted on my long arm. Really enjoyed doing this. Have been wanting to do some feather quilting and the timing was perfect for the class to come along and the quilts. A water soluble marker was used so the marking comes right off with a damp cloth.

 Instead of binding the quilt traditionally, the backing was cut larger all around to be folded over the edges of the quilt. This saved some time from sewing the binding onto the back and wrapping over the quilt edge and sewn to the front. I still prefer the traditional method of binding but with it seems there is a frequent need for a prayer quilt. 

Here is my video of some of the process of putting the prayer quilt together if you get time. 


It's a great blessing to be able to make the prayer quilts. It is hard to find panels I like to use so I thought about using one of my own designs and having them printed. They turned out pretty well. 

Thank you for joining me here
Carolyn Wainscott

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