Sewing Project - Repair my Bedspread

My Mom made me a bedspread 16 or more years ago.  She asked me what I wanted and I wanted bright and fun fabric.  She often used second hand fabric and I recognize fabric from Dad's shirts and other garments she made along the way.  I really loved the quilt. Nice and thin but heavy.

It has started to wear and I needed to address the damage before it was too late to save the bedspread.  She is no longer here and I have improved my sewing skills so it is all good. 

The damage is on the top and bottom edges. I do rotate the quilt regularly which explains why both edges are affected.  It is where I handled it a the top when I am in bed.

The front pieces were damaged as well as the backing and in some place even the binding was showing wear.

There were a couple of places where the fabric was ripped or very thin.

I zigzagged the large holes to stablize the fabric.  This will be covered by the fabric I am going to add.

For the hole I place a tiny piece of blue fabric under the hold and used he blanket stitch to finished off the edges all the way around.

There was one polygram piece that was just too thin to really repair so I chose to applique a full piece over it.

It took a bit to find a piece that was bold enough in pattern to match the rest.  The zigzag piece is the replacement and I cut it to be exactly the same size as the other.

I hand stitched small stitches along all the edges with sewing polyester thread.

I was hoping for poly cotton fabric when I went shopping but only found polyester fabric. It was the right color and there was enough and the price of $2 was right so it came home with me.

After washing the fabric, I set out to design a way to cover the damage without it looking to much like that is what I did.

I cut the band 8 inches tall. The fabric was 70" inches wide so I cut 3 strips to have enough to cover the width of the bedspread 2 times (top and bottom).

Once I had sewn the 3 pieces together I cut it in half.  I aligned it 2.5 inches away from the edge on the back side and stitched it down.  I also made a seam in the binding of the quilt along which I was gong to fold. I iron the remaining fabric to the front of the bedspread.  Then I fold up the edge to have the band measure 3.5 inches. I pinned it very carefully and then top stitched it down.  I folded the fabric in on the edges and top stitch those at the same time.

For a while before I started this project I thought I would add additional stitching to the band but I don't think it needs it.

More stitching would make it stiffer and that is where I handle it all the time so I don't think that would feel nice.

It took the better part of the day but the quilt will now last another 10 years.  

Super happy with the end product.

I washed it and put it back on the bed.  Wonderful!

Slow Stitching - No. 011 - Kawandi and Respect Traditions

Here's my piece for week 11 - prompt Kawandi and Respect Traditions. This challenge is hosted by Kathyn at K3N Cloth Tales.
Kawandi means quilt in Siddi people of India. Traditionally, the edges are all folded over then stitched to a base foundation and an extra layer of fabric is added in the middle after the outside pieces are stitched. Grains of rice are added to the quilt to wish the recipient full bellies.  The kawandi is considered naked with out the puhlas (flowers) in each corner.

I chose a blue cotton base fabric and stitche my first pieces all the way around the edge folding the base layer and my top scraps as I went. I chose to leave raw edges on the inner pieces of the piece as it was too difficult to turn over edges on such small pieces of fabric. I confess that I forgot my puhlas so they were added at the end. I am so grateful to Kathryn for sharing and presenting videos so well prepared and educational.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

The weather has been so good!  My aunt and I took a long walk in the white spruce forest on Saturday.

In the center of woods people have set up bird feeders so when we could not yet see the clearing the chickadees and nuthatches were welcoming us.  Unfortunately, we did not have food with us but I did have a chickadee sit on my hand for few seconds. Amazing.  I have seen many pictures but had not experienced it.

Woodpeckers were around as well.

When we walked the river trail we found Canada Geese on Big Lake.  There was very little open water on the lake and the river was frozen but they had found the bit.  I really don't know why they are hanging in here.

It's been a couple of weeks since I dropped 13 quilts off for charity.  

These quilts are headed to fire departments and ambulances where victims of emergency situations are given a quilt to keep them warm and to provide comfort.  They get to keep the quilts.

They were all made by my sister as I have not sewn a quilts since I got since last fall.   I am glad to have passed those anniversary with no further issues and improvement in several areas of my health.  God is good.

I am so grateful for those who distribute these to organizations who made a difference every day as first responders.

We are decorating cotton bags as a fundraiser for the gallery.  I think it is a fabulous idea.

I picked mine up the other day and gave some thought how I might decorate it.

I decided to add 3 stripes of fabric wrapped around the top edge of the bag.  I chose 3 different colors of green fabric.  The strips were cut to about 35 inches long by 2.5 inches wide.  I sewed and turned it inside out.  Then I started on the left hand side and ran it across the front, then across the back then back to the front again.  I left a tab on the front which was not sewn down.  I sewed an orange button on the end of the tab to hold it down and add an accent.  As you can see in the first photo I staggered the ends so the buttons where offset.

Despite not blogging I have continued to read.  

I finished this book a while ago. Between You and Me by Susan Wiggs.  It takes place in an Amish community.  I found it interesting to learn more about the life style and beliefs.

Caught between two worlds, Caleb Stoltz is bound by a deathbed promise to raise his orphaned niece and nephew in Middle Grove, where life revolves around family, farm, faith—and long-held suspicions about outsiders. When disaster strikes, Caleb is thrust into an urban environment of high-tech medicine and the relentless rush of modern life.

Dr. Reese Powell is poised to join the medical dynasty of her wealthy, successful parents. Bold, assertive, and quick-thinking, she lives for the addictive rush of saving lives. When a shocking accident brings...   I really enjoyed this book.  I look forward to another book by this author I picked up the other day.

This is my first of Sue Grafton's books featuring Kinsey Millhone the detective.  W is for Wasted.  Not sure I get the title.

Private investigator Kinsey Millhone finds shocking connections between two seemingly unrelated deaths in this #1 New York Times bestselling mystery in the Alphabet series.

This was okay.  The detective seems to have a moral compass and leans toward doing the right thing.  Love life is a bit come and go.

The twist was very good.

I have another novel in this series.  I will decide if another story with Kinsey will add her to my reading list.

Another card for my Dad who is still in hospital   We were all called down on Sunday October 31 thinking he would not survive the next few days.

There were many of us seeing Dad, feeding him his meals, spending the night with him in hospital, helping Mom with anything she needed.  He pulled through the crisis but has a long ways to go.

A move for each of them is in their future so the cleaning process has started.  We went through that when they moved from the house to the apartment and now downsizing needs to happen again.

I was there for 3 days and spent most of my time with Mom.  She is doing well despite the circumstances.  She sees Dad every day for lunch.

We shall see what the future holds. He will celebrate his 92 birthday in early December, God willing.

Sewing - Car Blanket

I decided to make a new blanket for the car.  In case of emergency it would be good to have a good blanket with me. 

I was out on Monday so I went to the thrift store to purchase what I thought I needed.  I bought the navy fleece blanket and the black cotton sheet for the other side.

The fleece blanket is really too small for an emergency blanket so I googled and generally these blankets are 60"W x 84"T.  The old blanket I had in the car was that size so I decided that I would use it as a base.  It was the first bedspread I made in my twenties.  It was threadbare and very worn.  It would work well as a substrate for the fleece.  

The navy fleece would do the bottom half so I went into my stash of fabric and found a piece of white which would do nicely.  I stitched the 2 pieces of fleece to the old blanket. I did just lines on the navy but I decided to be more creative with the quilting on the white.

 

 

I did random geometric shapes.  Circles, triangles, zigzags, etc.  Some quilted the white to the base and others were added when I quilted that to the black backing.  

The back is a cotton sheet in black from IKEA.  I cut it generous in size.  That was fortunate because I was able self bind the edges by bring the black to the front and sewing it down. 

It was trimmed to 1.5 inches then folded over to the front and sewn down.

 

The final size: 59" x 75" inches.

This is a really nice substantial blanket which will be great for the car.

Sylvia's Simple Shots

I was out to a new to me wetland area this week.  There are several water ponds and some walk ways over the water which is frozen these days.

Ice had been cleared for a hockey rink and a skating oval.  With the pandemic raging here the locals have found a way to social distance and still get their exercise and fresh air.

I will certainly be checking this area in the spring when the water is back.  Looking forward to it.

This is a seed pod of an unknown species of plant.  There a hint of snow on it.  I have not been so aware of how seeds get spread in the fall for growing in the spring.

I delivered 13 quilts to my charity contact this week.

These are some of mine as well as some of my sister's.

The box meant to store them was over flowing and I am grateful that they will be distributed to people in need.

The bag was dropped off on her door step at a designated time to ensure no contact.

I did not finish this book which was recently on my night stand. 

The novel is a story about a real life Erwin Schrodinger - was a Nobel Prize-winning Austrian-Irish physicist who developed a number of fundamental results in quantum theory: the Schrödinger equation provides a way to calculate the wave function of a system and how it changes dynamically in time.

This book was about his personal life - his marriage, his mistress and their child, his other infidelities and how he interacted with his colleagues.  A lot about how he was feeling and the internal dialogue going on in his head.

It takes place in Austria and Ireland during the Second World War.  It was quite depressing and I don't need that right now so I quit half way through.

 

The dryer vent has been reconnected!  We had the dryer vents cleaned a while back and the service person was not able to get around this elbow with his vacuum.

They cut a hole in the drywall, taped the joint on the bottom of the elbow back together, checked the bottom connection, and fixed the hole in the wall. 

I had to dismantle some of the shelving in the laundry area to provide him the access he needed.  I was finally able to get everything back in the space.   That was a week of no laundry but I had planned ahead so it was no problem. Great to get another thing off the todo list.

I was able to get outside and so a bit of photography as well.  The sun if having a hard time showing up these days still.  On Sunday it was predicted so I kept an eye out and when it appeared at 10:00 am I headed out with the camera.

The top leaf was with good sun and you can see the shadow and the sparkling snow.

The wild grass at the wetlands against a late afternoon sun with interesting clouds in the sky.

The bottom one is a very frost encrusted leaf in the snow.

Flicker Macro Monday challenge this week is "Bathroom".  Here's one of the shots I took.  You can check out my photostream SMDPics to see the photo I submitted.

I am sharing with Angie who hosts Mosaic Monday #107 and Mersad who hosts Through my Lens #268.

Have a great and safe week.

2020 Quilt #10 - Pink and Green Crumb Squares

Back to making small quilts.

I started with 6 Crumb Square my sister made.  

Finished Size: 33.50" W x 38.00" T

Front: 6 Crumb Squares 10" and another 10" column with pink from backing fabric with forest green rectangles then 100% cotton burgundy sashing  

Pieces:
10.00" Crumb Squares 
3 inch burgundy sashing
Pink & Forrest green column

Accents: Crumb Quilted squares 

Thread: White on a cone.

Batting: Plaid Flannelette Sheet

Backing: Bright pink small print pattern 100% cotton measuring 45" W x 50 inches tall

Binding:  Self binding with the fabric from the backer.  

Quilting: I stitched 1/4" around the Crumb Squares and the Pink ones in the middle column

Since I was working with squares I had not designed I just dug into my stash of fabric to see what I had. Bright pink is a favorite color so that was easy.  The flannelette was excellent size as well.  I did need to add some width so I created another 10 inch column with some pink from the back and forest green.  Now I had 3" burgundy sashing around the elements.

In the past I have been quilt as you Mom style but I had the front assembled before I remembered that.  This one was small enough it would not matter.

 Lessons Learned: 

Love the self binding!  Will do that again for sure. No worries about missing the binding on the front.  With the binding well ironed and pinned it worked really fast and easy. I checked on line for the corner but that was easy too.  I was expecting it to be taller so I did not calculate so well.

Sewing Project - Quilt 10 - Appliqued Leaves Two

Another quilt finished but it took me a week!  There were a lot of challenges and mistakes this week.  Cabin fever?

Color was the first challenge which often happens with blues.  I tried yellow and blues but I finally settled with a textured cotton fabric in warm greens.

Challenge #2 was using leftover fabric which led to piecing.

Finished Size: 41.00" W x 49.5" T

Front: Appliqued Batik Leaves, Brocade textured cotton fabric in warm green. 

Pieces:
6.25" Squares for leaves
3 inch soft suede sashing
Warm Green textured cotton fabric rectangles 10.5" tall x 11" wide

Accents: Appliqued Batik Leaves

Backing: Warm Green floral print fabric 100% cotton. The 2 pieces were not wide enough so the gap had to be filled with a piece of cotton. I  chose a warm teal piece of cotton.


Batting: Flannelette Sheet leftovers
  
Thread: Grey thread on a cone dispensed with my Christmas gift.
Binding: Warm Teal cotton fabric cut to 2 5/8 inches wide and 200 inches long.
You can check out this
Fool Proof Quilt Binding video for how I now do this.

Binding stitching: Stitch in the ditch.  I pinned very closely and had near perfect capture of the folded edge on the back. Used grey thread

Quilting: I assembled the quilt with Mom's Quilt As You Go method starting on the right hand side. quilted the Ginger Fabric panels with 1/4 inch top stitching. The quilting the rectangles was done with a grey thread.

Lessons Learned: 
Using leftover fabric brings some challenges.  Having pieced the backing I decided to off set the column of blue to the other side of the leaves on the front.  When I came to quilting this presented a problem because I did not want to cross the blue strip. Should have been both on the same side.

The flannalette I used as backing was in several pieces.  I should have created a layer of flannalette before I put in between but I did not. Bad idea.  I just pinned it but ended up with a pin stuck between the layers.  I did have to open a seam to get it out.


I had the flannalette bunch in between the front and back layers.  I can't tell the hours spent getting it back in place so I could quilt the squares.

Silky thread - Bad Idea - I chose it because I thought it matched the green pretty well but because it was silky and shiny it stuck out like crazy.  I had to rip it all out. Sewing tired and late at night is not the best practice.

Bent straight pins - really!  I bent several straight pins while pinning the binding.  This warm teal cotton and the textured cotton seemed to be too much for these.  You can imagine my fingers if the pins look like this.

The textured cotton did not seem to have a right and wrong side.

The warm teal worked better with the backing than the front of the quilt so I would have preferred using the soft suede from the front.  I should have tried using to piece the back as well.  I may not have enough but it would have been worth checking.   It is what it is.

Sewing Project - Quilt 9 - Appliqued Leaves One

I finished another quilt.   The wonderful appliqued leaves which are the focal point of this quilt were given to me by the lady in charge of quilting group. The ginger fabric also came along for the ride that day.  The backing of the leaf squares is wonderful batik as well as the leaves. Beautiful! Thank you Linda.

Finished Size: 41.5" x 50.25" T

Front: Appliqued Batik Leaves, dark brown cotton sashing and Island Paradise by Northcott in the large panels.


Pieces:
6.25" Squares for leaves
3 inch brown sashing
Ginger panels 10 inches and 22 inches wide

Accents: Appliqued Batik Leaves
 
Backing: Tone on Tone Caramel cotton fabric which had to be pieced from two pieces.


Batting: Flannelette Sheet
  
Thread: Warm brown on front and light cream on the back for the highlight stitching and binding. White for assembly and quilting.

Binding: Ginger print fabric cut to 2 5/8 inches wide and 200 inches long.  You can check out this
Fool Proof Quilt Binding video for how I now do this.




Binding stitching: Stitch in the ditch.  I pinned very closely and had near perfect capture of the folded edge on the back. Used warm brown thread on top and bottom for it to disappear.

Quilting: I quilted the Ginger Fabric panels with 1/4 inch top stitching. The quilting was done with a warm brown thread on top and light cream on the back which works with the light backing. It was a lot of pinning and it worked out well.

Lessons Learned: 
It took a bit of time to work out the layout as the image on the right was the first layout considered.
I was just not a fan of cutting up the Ginger fabric into small pieces.  I am really happy with the layout I chose which makes the column of leaves the focal point. Thanks to my sister for the brainstorming session.

Working out how to piece the backing fabric to be large enough took a bit more time.

I did really well this time with my stitch in the ditch binding so it disappears.  I am getting better.

I was not sure the cooler dark brown would work well with the other pieces which were warm browns.  Under social distancing I was not going out to find a fabric that worked better.  There was some of that brown in the leaves.  I think it worked out.

I am super happy with the quilt.  I am glad I stretched my comfort zone and tried a different layout.

The blue leaves will show up in another quilt.

Sewing Project - Quilt 8 - Green Polka Dots

I finished another small quilt today.  Doing my part, staying apart gives me a lot of time for hobbies.

I have been a fan of sashing between squares but on this one I went into a completely different direction.  I cut rectangular pieces and sewed the pieces next to each other.

Finished Size: 41.5" x 45.25" T

Front: Green Polka Dots ranged from small to very large across the fabric.

Rectangular pieces: 9.5" W x 5.0" T inches

Accents: Bright green 4.0" W x 5.0" T   & Dark Green 2" W x 5" T

Backing: Green Geometric Fabric  It needed to be pieced from 2 different pieces. I took the opportunity to add a polka dot strip to bring the front to the back.

Batting: Flannelette Sheet
  
Thread: Dark Green for the highlight stitching and binding. White for assembly and quilting

Binding: Same fabric as the front at the large dots end cut to 2 5/8 inches wide. Check out  Fool Proof Quilt Binding video

Binding stitching: Stitch in the ditch.  I pinned very closely and had near perfect capture of the folded edge on the back. Used dark green thread for it to disappear.

Quilting: I chose the Quilt as You Go method across the rows of 5 inches. There is no top stitching on the quilt.  The quilting was done with white thread which works with the light backing.

Lessons Learned: 

Planning of the rows and which direction they were supposed to go would have prevented the dark green strip over 3 rows.  Paying more attention. More math and planning may have produced better results.  I am happy with the overall irregular layout of dot sizes.

I decided I need a few solids in each row to break up the very busy dot pattern.

Sewing Project - Quilt 7 - Blue Hexagons

I finished another small quilt today.  I just loved this fabric when I saw it so I brought it home. 100% cotton.

Finished Size: 39.25" x 48.25"

Front: Original Waverly Bridal Gingham fabric in true blue







Backing: Tone on Tone textured light blue cotton




Batting: Flannelette Sheet
  
Thread: Navy for the highlight stitching and binding. White for assembly and quilting. 

Binding: Navy Blue cotton cut to 2 5/8 inches wide Check out the Fool Proof Quilt Binding video for details.

Binding stitching: Stitch in the ditch.  I pinned very closely and had near perfect capture of the folded edge on the back. A couple of the corners had to redone.

Quilting: I chose to highlight the hexagons on the fabric with navy thread which I stitched on the single layer before assembling the quilt.
I pinned the 3 layers together and stitched in white near the navy line I had done earlier because I did not want dark thread on my light backing.





Lessons Learned: 

I loved using the hexagon in the fabric rather than always doing it like I have before.

Better pinning may have doing the binding perfect.

I think the navy stitching on the hexagon is just enough to make them more visible.

Into the box it goes.

Sewing Project - Quilt 6 - Green Squares in Tan

I have completed another quilt for donation.  This project morphed from the original materials I had selected.  I chose black for the sashing but decided the fabrics were too dark to have dark sashing. 

Finished Size: 42.50" x 55.25"

Front: Green patterned fabric cut into 10" squares

Backing: Hunter Green Flannelette

Batting: Cotton Sheet



Sashing: Caramel dual texture fabric cut 4 inches wide

Binding: Caramel dual texture fabric cut to 2 5/8 inches wide  You can check out the Fool Proof Quilt Binding video for details.

Thread: Dark Green cotton thread  

Binding stitching: Stitch in the ditch.  I pinned very closely and had perfect capture of the folded edge on the back. Excellent.

Quilting: One quarter inch around each square on the square with green thread keeps the caramel intact and matched well with the green back. I remembered to add the next row of sashing before quilting so I have a good edge to follow.  A quarter inch foot helps a lot! Great investment.


The thread spool was taller than my regular spools and was dancing around on my spindle.  I added a straw on the spindle that fit into the hole of the spool. Perfect solution.

Lessons Learned: 
Measure twice cut once - on the rows of sashing I cut them 42 inches after doing some math (not my strongest skill) thinking that would give me extra but the row of squares was 43" wide when it came to quilting.  I did have enough fabric to re-cut the 5 rows of sashing to 45" to leave me some extra.

It worked out in the end because the too short sashing was turned into the binding.  I did have to add about a foot to have enough.  I was going to use black for binding but since I had what I needed I went ahead with the caramel.

It is getting easier as I improve with each one.

Made several green scraps disappear as well!