Red Hat society

Penny White dropped by a couple of weeks ago with this completed quilt for us.  She loves the wit of Maxine, and thought maybe one of our clients might enjoy receiving this quilt while undergoing treatment.

It was the perfect size for covering a lap, while undergoing chemo.  And lets face it if Maxine can't bring a smile to your face, not much is going to be able to.

Ha, I wish I could make a fashion statement.

This one is my new motto in life.  Eat my DUST old age.

Oh yes Maxine.... I to forget.

I am hoping this quilt will find it's way into the lap of a member of the red hat society and that it will bring a sliver of joy to them.

Thank you Penny for this quilt and all of the other quilts that you have  pieced for Iowa Comfort.  You have a generous and loving spirit.

BTW folks, if you are local and have a need for a comfort quilt or know of a family that does.  Give me a shout, if I have the appropriate size quilt on hand I will be glad to help you out.

My mission has always been to provide warmth and comfort to our local community.  So let your churches and schools know that we might be able to assist if needed.

Now, this week is my surgery so I won't promise a post the next several weeks.  I am proud to say that I have all of the quilt tops quilted, and only have two left to bind before Friday.  

YIPPEEE it feels good to be caught up.  Once I am back up on my feet, I get to start piecing tops together!

Have a great week everyone.

Time saving tricks from Celia and Jan

I actually like to binding by hand, but my hands are not a big fan anymore.  My age is catching up to me, and with the amount of binding that needs to be completed I can't do it anymore.

Now I have wonderful binding fairies, that help me out.  I find that I feel like I am imposing on people when I ask.... I know that really is more about me... but it is how I feel.

So over the last several months I have been practicing different techniques that people have share about machine binding.

Celia has been a binding fairy for me since the beginning of Iowa Comfort.  She has mastered the technique.  Unlike most machine binders, she applies the binding to the front of the quilt.  Just like you would if you were going to hand stitch it down.

Just like this example. Make sure to give that binding a little refresh with the iron before the next step.  You want it crisp.

Jan also does machine binding, and although she applies it to the back of the quilt top.  Her tip for the corners is to make sure that you iron your fold over.  Once you complete that it should look like the picture above.  This is the first step to those perfect corners.

Now this next tip is mine.  I use a contrasting thread in the bobbin.  I really want that so see that stitch line on the back of the quilt.  

Celia's secret weapon.  Yes its glue.  I bought glue at the local quilt shop for  this purpose.  Unfortunately the arthritis in my hands prevent me from having the strength to use the bottle.  Or I just forgot to properly clean it after using, and now it is all gummed up...either way I can't use it.  So my solution was to pick up a bottle of Elmers.

Very carefully I apply a thin layer of glue between the edge of the quilt top and the bobbin thread.  NEVER OVER THE BOBBIN THREAD.  Working with about 12 inches of the binding at a time, I fold the binding just past the bobbin thread.  Then I hit it with an iron to set it into place.  Repeat the process until you have the entire side of the top tacked down.  I also find it easier to work from right to left in this step.

After you have one whole side glued down, take it to the sewing machine and stitch in the ditch from the front of the quilt.  to get Jan's perfect corners, start stitching right at the quilt top and sew to the end of the quilt top.  For this technique you are not going to stop at that quarter inch mark.  Your stitch line should be just a couple of threads into your binding on the back.

I find that my stitch line is always better if I am wearing my glasses.  LOL

Here is the quilt all bound and ready for donation.  This technique has really saved my hands, and I have many completed quilts ready for donation.

I believe these quilts will be a little more durable and will stand up to washing a little better than my hand stitched bindings. That is the hope at least.

So thank you Celia and Jan for the tutelage, and the patience in teaching this old dog a new trick.

Window Pane from Jean V

This beautiful quilt has been with me for quite a while now.  It is a large queen size quilt, and I just never had the right backing for it.

I love working on Jean's donations.  Always scrappy and beautiful.

I sat and tried to figure out how to recreate the pattern using florals.  I was not sucessful, which lead me to a few minutes on pinterest....okay so it was more like an hour before I pulled myself away.  Jean if you have a pattern, please let me know who the publisher is so I can order it.  I know I am just making it way to complex, and my math skills are lacking lately.

Now I told you that I have had the top for a very long time. I didn't have a large enough piece of fabric for the backing.  Well I still didn't....but I made myself a promise that I was going to get all of the quilt tops quilted prior to my surgery.  So I had to make do.

So this was my solution.  I almost had enough of the muted green for the backing...but I was a little short.  So I went ahead and pieced in some blue fabric to make the backing.  I centered the blue in the middle section of backing.... and tried to get the top centered when I quilting it.  I was close....but not perfect.  

Then I fretted over the binding.  I looked through my stash for over a week, trying to find just the right fabric, one that would do the top justice.

On about day 10 it dawned on me what fabric I should use.  How about the blue that I used in the backing?  It worked perfectly.

Now I think this quilt is really special.  And I am going to be really protective of it, I want it to go to someone that will truly apreciate all of Jean's love and hard work that went into creating it.

I have been in contact with Dallas and Madison county Dept of Human Services.  I have given them my name and number.  The hope is that when a local youth ages out of foster care, that Iowa Comfort can provide them with a warm bed size quilt for their new home.

So for right now this one will stay close, until I get the call.

Hope you all have a wonderful week, and make sure to stay warm.

Swoon

Diane L. donated this quilt top to Iowa Comfort. She has donated several tops over the last few years. I love the top, and I love how the fabric placement changes the view of the quilt.

Take a close look.  We have two blocks that have the same fabric placements. Three other blocks that are identical.  Finally four other blocks with same fabric placement.

All of the blocks are the same pattern.  The fabric placement makes each of the blocks look different.

Here is the block up close.

The top had soft florals in it..... so I found this floral in my closet and decided to use it as the backing. It wasn't perfect but...I am getting better at using what has been donated to me.

This quilt was the perfect size to be our first quilt for cancer treatment.  

I want to thank Diane for her generosity to Iowa Comfort over the years.  All of her donations have been wonderful, and I couldn't ask for a better friend to Iowa Comfort or myself.

Success updating the blog!

Yes I was finally able to update the blog and the photo gallery. 

 This is the first year that I was able to manange it on my own, and I am pretty sure that my son is pretty proud of me!

As promised last week I have a couple of finished projects to show you.

This is the first one.  This is yet another double sliced layer cake from donated fabric from the Adel Quilting and Dry Goods retreat a couple of years ago.  When we kitted this quilt we put a lot of orange in it, and there are pumpkin fields in it.  So very fun!

I found this fabric in my closet.  Actually I think it called my name when I was looking for a backing for the quilt. Look it was perfect!  Green and yellow fall colors with a pop of orange, and pinecones... what is more fall than that?

This quilt is a bed size quilt and I am going to hold on to it until I get a call from DHS.   When they have a teenager that ages out of the foster care system we will provide a quilt to them.

Here is a small hope quilt. That was pieced by the Ladies of Adel Christian Church.  Several years ago Donna G, took a bag of flannel that was donated and had her group make several quilt tops from it.  I recently found this one in a drawer, and feel bad that it took so long to quilt it.

It has some really fun fabric in it.  I am going to have find a fun little beany baby to go along with this one.  Either a rabbit, kitty or maybe a sheep.

I managed to machine bind both of these quilts....and although they are not perfect...they are good.  With each quilt my techique gets a little bit better.  Hopefully I will have it mastered before long.

This past week I didn't get any quilting done at all.  My week was occupied by genealogy and a trip to Des Moines everyday.  Doctor appointments and visiting an ill family member.

Hopefully this week will be better, and I will get a large quilt bound and two smaller tops quilted.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week!

Fabric and news

I have been busy quilting and binding this week for Iowa Comfort.  I completed two more quilts and they are ready for donation.  

I am having problems updating the website so the finished quilts will be shown in the near future.  Don't know why every year I have trouble with the photo gallery.

Now the important news prior to showing you the rest of the fabric that was donated.

Most of you know that I fund Iowa Comfort by quilting for customers.  To my quilting customers:

There is going to be at least a six week period from Feb 26 to mid April, that I am not going to be able to quilt.  So if you have a top that you need done prior to May, you need to get it to me soon.

I know that is around graduation time and other events.  So just plan accordingly.

Lets look at fabric!

I love black and white fabric....but to be honest I decided to share the love with this fabric.  Jackie O makes comfort quilts for alumni classmates of ADM.  All of those quilts are made of red, black and white fabric.  That bottom picture can be used for backings on her comfort quilts.  One can never have enough variety of fabric when you are using three colors.  So I sent this fabric home with Jackie, I know she will make wonderful comfort quilts with it.

  
This fabric keeps getting moved around in my bins.  I can't quite decide it it is feminine, masculine or if it could be considered neutral.  

Determining that will help me know how to cut it.  Fairly confident that this fabric is going to be used for lap quilts for senior facilities.

 This is an entire line of fabric, in various color ways.  Each piece is a half yard cut.  While there is some floral in there, there is also more masculine fabric.  I should be able to cut at least 10 lap quilts out of this fabric.

Another line of fabric in multiple colors.  This fabric screams kids quilt to me.... how about you?  I do have some fun cats and dinosaur fabric that this would complement.

 Just thought I would show you a close up of the fabric.  Kind of reminds me of a night sky.  LOVE IT A LOT!

Hope everyone stays warm this week!  Have a great week, and I will try to get some of the finished projects on the blog next week.

A new quilt shop in De Soto?????

Well according to my husband there is!  This past weekend I recieved an email from Colleen T.  she had another donation from Fon's and Porter for Iowa Comfort.

I am sure you know that the Fon's and Porter quilt shop in Winterset has closed its doors.  Evidently fabric that wasn't sold was donated to several organizations that donate quilts of comfort.

Iowa Comfort made out like a bandit!  Take a look 

Yes those are bolts of fabric.  And since my customer base is down, and that is how I fund Iowa Comfort, this is my new backing material.  Colleen told me that the skull fabric would be perfect for doggie blankets.  It is the very first bolt in the top picture.  :-)

Just so you can get an idea of the amount of fabric, take a look at the side view.

32 bolts at least 5 yards on each bolt....that is at least 150 yards of fabric for backing.  Much of this fabric is floral and I have a lot of floral fabric for quilt tops.  I think the care centers will love them.

There were 34 fat quarters donated to us also.

A large stack of fleece was donated.  These will be used as covers for the doggy beds.  I plan to get them all sewn up and ready to be used as I fill the doggy beds.  They will look like this when completed.

In addition to the fleece donation we recieved this batting.

Colleen thought that the bumper pads could be used in the dog blankets.  I have never quilted anything with this thick of batting.  So sometime this week I am going to give it a try.  Skull fabric with thick batting.... note to self that binding is probably going to need to be bigger!

There is more fabric to show...but it will wait until next week.

I did get two tops quilted this week.  Only one has been bound, I needed to find a place for all of the fabric.

The goal this week is to quilt two tops, and make up all the fleece covers for future doggy beds.

Thank you just does not seem adequate, but thank you Colleen and Fon's and Porter for the donation.  This donation will help Iowa Comfort meet its mission for the next several years.

New Year, New Focus

Well sort of.  We are still going to be making quilts for comfort, I am just expanding our mission.

This past fall I was contacted about providing lap quilts for senior housing facilities.  Additionally I was asked to thinking about providing quilts for patients that were undergoing chemo treatments.  After giving it careful thought....all of about two minutes....<wink wink> I think those would be excellent projects to undertake.

We will continue to do our Hope Quilts for the kids as we have in the past. 

If you would like to provide a lap quilt for the senior centers here are the guidelines:

We will make two sizes for the senior centers.  I was specifically asked if we could make several for patients in wheel chairs.  

Because of the wheel chair these quilts must be a specific size, 36 x 36.  That is the maximum size they can be, otherwise they will wreak havoc with the patients mobility.

The second size for the senior centers is 45 X 45.  These will be for seniors that have no mobility restrictions.

Should you decided to make a donation top please remember that we will need quilts for both genders.... we tend to get for femine donations... so if you can keep the quilt gender nuetral that would be great.

For the chemo patients we need a little larger quilt.  I spoke with my Aunt and a friend that were undergoing treatment, and they agreed that a quilt to cuddle under while undergoing treatment is wonderful treat.  Now I am going to try very hard to use flannel as a backing on these quilts to make them extra toasty.

Here are the min. and max. for those quilts.

These quilts can be anywhere from 50 to 60 inches wide, and should be about 70 inches long.

The varying widths will accomodate just about everyone, and the length will make sure that a six foot person can be snug as a bug in a rug.

Of course we will still take other quilts outside of these projects...but this is where the focus will be this year.

Speaking of focus, with it being a new year I thought it was a good time to clean my quilt room and take inventory of what I have in the que.

I spent Sunday and Monday cleaning and preping for future quilts.  I discovered that I have 10 quilt tops to be quilted for Iowa Comfort ranging from Hope quilts to several bed size quilts.

I measured each top, found a backing for it, and cut the batting for the project.  Then the three pieces were placed in a bag waiting for its turn to be loaded on the long arm.  

The goal is to have all of these quilts completed by the February 7th.  Two a week, sounds like a reasonable plan to me.  Of course customer quilts will go to the front of the schedule...should any come in.

I have a bed size quilt on the long arm now.  Here are a couple of Hope quilts that I managed to complete this past week.

Well that is all for now.  I hope everyone stays warm this coming week.