Quilting

About once a week, I get together with a local group of ladies and work on a quilt. We make 1 quilt a year and raffle it off at our annual Homesteaders event.  I've been involved in the quilt making 3 or 4 years now.

The quilt we raffled off on October 1st was very nice.  The design is called "9 patch".  Here's what it looked like.

2016 raffle quilt

We using the "strip" quilting method.  For those who aren't familiar with quilting, "strip" quilting means all the fabric to be used is first cut into uniform strips (in this case 4 1/2 inches).  Then the strip is cut into squares (again 4 1/2 inches).  These squares are sewn together into "blocks".  The squares in the blocks are now 4 inches wide, the 1/2 inch being the seam allowance. The blocks are then sewn together with another strip, the background color (here it's orange and 6 inches wide). These are then sewn together to make the "field" of the quilt.  Then the border is sewn on (brown in this case and 6 inches wide).  The quilt "top" is now complete.  We sent the top off to a local lady who has a larger sewing machine specifically for quilting large items.  She added a layer of cotton batting, and a "backing" (in this case a king sized sheet), and then sews all 3 layers together - the actual quilting.  The border is folded over and is attached to the backing, giving a nice finished edge.  She did a great job on the quilting.

We used new 100% cotton fabric, washed it and ironed it before we started any cutting.  We used a rotary cutter, ruler and cutting mat to make the strips and blocks.  This makes the cutting much easier.  We take turns doing different tasks, but I normally do the ironing.  I can't cut the strips straight with my wiggly hands...

Last year's quilt was a big more difficult.  We still used the strip method but the sewing was trickier.

2015 raffle quilt

This quilt came out very well, it was also king-sized.

This year's quilt to be raffled off in 2017 will be another 9 patch, in blue/red/yellow.  It will also be king-sized 100% cotton.

Several years ago, I saw that the Parkinson's Disease Foundation was seeking 24 inch quilt blocks from people with Parkinson's, which would be put together and displayed in Scotland.

I was really enthusiastic about this, and make a square to be included.  I used 100% cotton fabric, already dyed using the batik method.  Batik dyeing uses more than 1 color.  The fabric is bunched up, folded or waxed to make the pattern.  I love batik fabric because of the wonderful interplay between the colors.

I used the applique method of quilting.  This is done by cutting all the pieces into the proper shape, and then stitching them fast to the background fabric.  This is done by hand-stitching rather than machine, using the blanket stitch.  I sewed the pieces down the embroidery floss.  The color range on floss is amazing!