Thursday, October 6, 2011

My Grandaughter is a new quilter!!

This is a very long post with lots of pictures. It is the story of my grandaughter Leah's first quilt made in the summer of 2010. I should have posted this long ago, but here it is... 
Wednesday Aug 4th - My grandaughter Leah wandered into my sewing room to see what I was doing. Looking at my sewing machine, she asked "what's this button for"? I told her I'd show her and had her sit down at the machine. I brought down a box full of scraps like the ones they used to play with when she and her brother were little and she started to pick through them. She wanted to know how old I was when I made my first quilt. I said I was 16, the same age as she is now. She asked if she could sew some of the scraps together and, from that innocent beginning, her first quilt was born!
She sewed together 12 crazy pieced blocks. I helped with pinning, pressing and trimming.  It was wonderful to work along with her and teach her about this "thing" I do and love! She made up a few different layouts with my help and decided to do her blocks 'on point' with sashing strips between.

Thursday Aug 5th - We figured out the sizes of the corner triangles that were needed to surround the center piece of each block, I cut them and she sewed them on. We went hunting through my stash and found a red fabric for sashing and borders but I didn't have enough black for her plan. She also decided that the setting blocks were going to be purple so, that meant a trip to the fabric store. After supper, we cut the borders from this funky black and white print she picked and sewed them on. She worked until 11  PM and got the white borders added on two sides of her blocks.

Friday Aug 6th- Leah went to the sewing room by herself and started pinning and sewing the last border strips to her blocks today. I'd barely finished checking my email and she was done all of them. I got busy and cut her red sashing strips. Then, she was back in the fabric closet looking for something for the cornerstones. She picked a yellow/lime green. Wow... it makes the sashing pop! I cut the purple for the setting squares, side triangles and corner triangles and she put it all up on the design wall. Here is what it looks like now.



Saturday Aug 7th - Today Leah started off by joining cornerstones to sashing strips, then sewing the sashing pieces to the quilt blocks. She moved on to start joining rows of blocks to make the quilt top. I've been helping by pinning and pressing then running back and forth to the design wall (in the next room) with blocks. We got about half of it done before this G'ma was played out! I'm sure she would have LOVED to sew all night...

Sunday Aug 8th - She finished sewing the main portion of the quilt top together!! Now, to decide on the borders and cut them. Using some of the leftover scraps, she decided on a narrow black and white border, then a white a bit wider followed by the widest border in the red with the black and white binding. I still had enough of the red and white but, we needed more of the black and white print.
Monday Aug 9th - Back to the fabric store for another .25 of the black and white print. I cut the strips for the borders and Leah joined them all into one long length. She measured and cut the first borders adding a little cornerstone of green.

Tuesday Aug 10th -  Today, she measured and cut the second borders from the white fabric and added another green cornerstone to each corner. (That was the last little bit of green that was left!)

Wednesday Aug 11th - Today we tossed around ideas for the corners on the final red border as she doesn't want to have the red as a frame type border. She decided on nine-patch blocks. I cut the squares for her and she assembled her four nine-patch blocks for the corners of the final border.

Thursday Aug 12th - Finished sewing on the final border today! Went hunting today for something to use as a backing. We checked the thrift stores for a sheet but didn't find anything she liked at either thrift shop. We went into the "Bargain" store and found a brand new 200 thread count poly-cotton sheet for $7.00 that she liked so we went with that. I also bought a set of pillowcases that she can customize with some borders to match the quilt. Also, went back to the fabric store for some batting as I didn't have a piece large enough on hand.

Friday Aug 13th - Discovered today that the sheet is not quite long enough. She picked out the top hem only to discover that it was a separate piece. I cut a couple of strips of purple and some red which she pieced onto either side of the 'hem' piece she had removed. Then, we sliced the sheet about a third of the way down and sewed in the pieced section. Now, it has some added interest and is long enough! (Sorry - I didn't get a picture of the back!)

Saturday Aug 14th - Today she did the final pressing and trimming threads on the quilt top then, after taking all the furniture out of the dining room, we laid out the quilt on the floor so she could pin baste the layers together. She finished the job around 11PM with the help of her girl-friend who was staying over. Moved the table and chairs back into the dining room so I hopefully won't be bumping into them anymore... (I kinda forgot the table was there in the living room a couple of times and have a bruise that matches the purple on her quilt!)

Sunday Aug 15th -  She started her machine quilting! Worked on sewing a line a quarter-inch or so in from each side of all the sashings.
Monday Aug 16th - Continued with the machine quilting. Got all the sashings stitched along both sides and the border stitching completed.

Tuesday Aug 17th - Leah is working very hard getting her quilting finished as she has to leave for home tomorrow! She used different widths of tape to mark her stitching lines and worked for 8 hours on it today! She also discovered what happens when you get your finger too close to the needle...
Wednesday Aug 18th - Finished the last of the quilting! Trimmed the edges and sewed on the binding. Leah will finish the hand stitching on the binding at home. Here is the final picture taken just before she had to leave.

What a super job on your first quilt Leah!! I am SO VERY PROUD of you!


Circular Knit Dishcloth

This pattern is taken from a much photocopied, old typewritten pattern that has been in my possession for over 25 years. There is no authors name on it. Following is what is written on that original pattern. Any changes or additions for clarification done by me will be shown in purple.


A VERY UNIQUE and serviceable dishcloth, the directions may be confusing at first. Just remember to TURN when it says TURN. The stitches remaining on the left needle are supposed to be there. They make it form a circle. I use mine under my teapot. Not only does it look pretty but it protects the table from the heat and any dribbles from the teapot. 


CIRCULAR KNIT DISHCLOTH - HOT PAD

Sugar'n Cream Yarn Ombres - Strawberry Cream OmbreMaterials:  1 skein (ball) Lily Sugar 'n Cream cotton yarn
Knitting needles #9 or #10 (equivalent to 3.75mm or 3.25mm - US size 5 or 3) I use a 3.25mm

Cast on 15 sts.
Row 1 - Knit
Row 2 - K 3, YO, K 11 (1 st left on needle) TURN
Row 3 - Knit
Row 4 - K 3, YO, K 11 (2 sts left) TURN
Row 5 - Knit
Row 6 -  K 3, YO, K 11 (3 sts left) TURN
Row 7 - Knit
Row 8 - Bind off 3 sts, K 2, YO, K8 (4 sts left on needle) TURN
Row 9 - Knit
Row 10 - K 3, YO, K 8 (5 sts left) TURN
Row 11 - Knit
Row 12 - K 3, YO, K8 (6 sts left) TURN
Row 13 - Knit
Row 14 - Bind off 3 sts, K 2, YO, K 5 (7 sts left) TURN
Row 15 - Knit
Row 16 - K 3, YO, K5 (8 sts left) TURN
Row 17 - Knit
Row 18 - K3, YO, K5 (9 sts keft) TURN
Row 19 - Knit
Row 20 - Bind off 3 sts, Knit all sts to end (you should have 15 stitches)

REPEAT ROW 1 THRU' 20 7 TIMES more (for a total of 8 sections - this is different from the original instructions)
Row 1 - 20 forms 1 section of the dishcloth. Completed original dishcloth has SEVEN* sections. I do 8 sections in mine to get it to lay flat. Yours may lay flat at 7 sections. When last row is completed, Bind off and sew seam.

If you have any problems following this, please let me know!