A QUILT SHOW WITH MY MORNING COFFEE

aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh, my quiet morning coffee ritual. Yes, I guess it has become a ritual. I deserve being able to sit here as long as I want with my favorite beverage-it took long enough.

 

My life has probably been no different from yours-really busy. Having to start your day running as soon as your feet hit the floor in the morning. Get everyone up, ready for the day, out the door to work and school, throw in some laundry and maybe dinner in the crock pot before you head out the door for work. Should I have reminded you of how tired you really could be if you stop to think about it?

 

I am way past retirement age. [Retirement???] My son will be 55 next month, he started school at 5 years of age-his 3 sisters a few years after. Then, without much of a break, there were grandchildren to raise and put into school. The youngest grandson, Travis, just graduated from college a few months ago so in essence, I have been on the school merry-go-round for almost 50 years-whew.

 

Sooo YES, I do deserve to sit here with my coffee in my pajamas and robe all day if it suits me.

 

Some mornings the ritual is longer than others before I get started on my projects-my projects, all mine, all day if I want. Oh, boy, I can't wait to get up in the mornings.

 

Being a quilter, I love going to quilt shows to see the work of others and new products. Now, a quilt show comes to me right through my computer through the daily newsletter from www.FaveQuilts.com.  Every day is different:baby quilts, miniature quilts, tote bags, ornaments-anything quilted including new products and links to the quilt world. There are how-tos of all kinds including video tutorials. Sometimes I have to just turn the computer off to get myself away from my quilt show and get things done.

 

 

This morning this little chicadee pattern caught my eye. I love chicadees. I have already downloaded the pattern that's provided. It looks quick and easy 

 

Then there is this attic window quilt that is of interest since it is one of those projects that I have toyed with making for a long time.

  

I didn't get to cruise through all the links this morning, don't have the time. My ritual is being short changed by an appointment-I hope my psyche doesn't go into shutdown but it will have to catch up later with all those lovely projects that Jessica, the FaveQuilts editor, has pulled together for all of us.

 

 Maybe tomorrow morning will take a little longer.

 

 

God bless, happy quilting & check out www.FaveQuilts.com.

 

Carolyn Wainscott

 



WALK A MILE IN HIS SHOES-GAVIN'S JOURNEY

Aggravating thoughts-that is what I got up with this morning. Things are just not as they should/could be.The furnace won't come on, going to have to call someone, again, and it's cold in the house. All those projects I need to get done are no where near completion because my sewing machine decided it just doesn't want to sew with that thread on that material so everything takes 3 of 4 times as long as planned [the best laid plans, you know]. The dishwasher and washing machine didn't load themselves again so I have to do the laundry and clean the kitchen.  I have to pay some bills, ugh!

 

Before I go into the sewing room for the day to try and finish what should have been done yesterday, the computer is turned on to read my mail and check Facebook to see what family and friends did last night.  This social network is a boone and a bust for me. During times of extreme emergencies when I could not be there, it has been a boone to keep me up-to-date on the critical condition of several in our family.  Other times, it is a bust because of the time wasted instead of doing what needs to be done.

 

There on my wall is an update of 3 year old, Gavin, who was diagnosed with leukemia several months ago. Today GAVIN'S JOURNEY has taken him through a painful spinal tap and he is resting right now. When he wakes up, he will get to go home. My day is put into perspective-the house is not as cool as I thought and I can put on a sweater, those are just broken threads for crying out loud-not a broken little body, I am blessed to have clothes & dishes to wash and machines to clean them in and money to pay my bills with. LORD, forgive me.

 GAVIN'S JOURNEY takes us through the times that his platelets are too low for the week's treatment and then through the days he can withstand his injections. Then we get a ray of sunshine when Gavin feels well and is playing-just a common ordinary 3 year old's day. Those are the ones we like to see.

 

I don't know Gavin or his parents but that beautiful little face smiling at me from one of my family's "shares" tugged at my heart. Gavin's mom & dad graduated with several of my niece's and nephews and the request for prayer was sent out at the leukemia diagnosis or I wouldn't know anything about this precious little boy.

A prayer request, sure, that is the least I can do. I am so thankful that my children, grandchildren and great, grandchildren are all healthy and doing well-what if it were one of my own. Wouldn't I want prayers for them? In fact, in several critical situations, my family has done the same-requested prayers from the Facebook community and they have come through so how can I not do the same for another.

For Gavin, my prayers went into a quilt for him as for other children in jeopardy. Prayers go into each stitch to cover him with, prayers for healing, prayers that he will be pain free, prayers for his family as they travel this journey with him.

Yes, Gavin needed a quilt so I went to the box that holds the fabics reserved for my prayer quilts and lo, and behold, there was one already partially done. I had pulled some blocks from another box but this discovery was the one. This is for Gavin. The rest of the day was spent finishing the quilt top and then quilting it with stitched prayers.

A pocket is sewn onto the back of the quilts for the child to put special things to keep close by as they go through treatments. I try to keep books for the pocket but didn't have the exact thing I wanted so took a shopping trip. I found something for Gavin plus another couple of books for the next prayer quilt-just in case another little face peaks out at me.

Here's Gavin's quilt with it's treasure pocket:

No, it will never win a blue ribbon in a quilt contest but a smile of approval from Gavin is the greatest award there is. I met Gavin's grandmother when I took the quilt to her office so she could get it to him. [I am terrible at mailing things so that is the quickest way] Being a grandmother, my heart goes out to her also.

Jesus said 18 Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. 19 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.
Matt 18:18-20

So even though we cannot all be together physically, let's gather in prayer for Gavin.

God bless all of you
Carolyn Wainscott

 

 

 



HOW TO FINISH A QUILT WITH CORDING

Finally, Finally-

the serger and I are almost seeing eye to eye, the long arm quilter has been serviced and working great

AND

the Dresden Quilt I started months ago is done. A 2 part video tutorial can be seen on FaveQuilts.com
 @
 http://www.favequilts.com/Techniques-and-Videos/Video-Tutorial-How-to-Make-a-Dresden-Plate-Quilt/ct/1
for instructions and tips on putting the quilt top together.

I had a great coordinated set of fabrics that had been in my stash for some time that included a border print just waiting for the right project and this was it. I enlarged this pattern years ago because I would rather make one of something than 30 or 40-I call it my short attention span way of quilting. I'll be sharing some others along the way.

The rosy pink background did have to be purchased to set off the prints. There is cording all around the Dresden also that is covered with a [miracle of all miracles] bias burgundy that was also in my inner sanctum of squirreled away treasures. It is a near perfect match for the burgundies in the prints and adds just enough embellishment to the quilt with all the machine quilting and the center focus.

That is another subject that I will tell you about later. It has fussy cut florals from several different prints that compliment the main fabrics in a stylized basket. Those fabrics were felted with my felting machine then a little thread work done on top. Like I said-that is a subject all to itself and I loved doing it-it is a good accent to the quilt. It was started along with the quilt but layed aside with a lot of other things until I could get to them.

The back of the quilt is pieced from large pieces of the prints-makes for a very interesting back-surely not boring by any means. It actually came about by how a lot of other things come about-by necessity. There was no more of the rose fabric, not enough of the prints to make a large enough back and no other fabric in the go tos so just started throwing pieces together. I'll take a photo when I get the matching dresden plate pillow scarf done. It is like everything else-started, almost finished-plan on working on it next week [or maybe the week after-then it becomes months, sometimes years]

Instead of the traditional quilt binding, I decided to finish the Dresden with cording to match what was already around the center and Dresden petals. There is a little different method to apply cording from finishing with binding. Cording is sewn to the quilt top before quilting. It is easier to maneuver the quilt top than the whole quilt.

Fold fabric over the cording, match raw edges of the quilt top with raw edges of cording fabric and sew to the right side of the top. Rounding the corners a little makes it a little easier also so the cording lays better.

If this is as clear as mud, here is my video that shows the entire process.

Now the quilt sandwich is put together and quilted. Leave at least 1/2" unquilted all around the edge of the quilt. Trim the batting to match the cording seam on the quilt top, trim the quilt back leaving at least 1/2" outside the cording all around. Turn the 1/2" in left on the back and either hand or machine stitch to close.

The short attention span Dresden Plate pattern is available in my pattern store on Craftsy
@
  http://www.craftsy.com/user/43851/pattern-store

 It is ready to download and print in pdf format. I've been tracked down for the pattern so decided to get it up and going. I am getting ready to try it for a Christmas Tree Skirt and one gal was going to make table covers. Just may try that also to match the tree skirt. mmmhhhmmm-maybe a skirt for myself.

For other ideas, classes, workshops and patterns check out www.Craftsy.com:

If you have any ideas, questions or comments let me know. I would be glad to hear from you.

God bless you and happy crafting

Carolyn Wainscott
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