Still MORE Advice please

[Patch]

Hi folks. I'm in need of a little bit of advice from people who take on projects all the time. I've been asked by my women's group at church if I will head up a project for our youth group's fund raiser. They'd like me to use pictures the church has of various people in mission, incorporating it into a quilt. None of them knows how to do that, and can't imagine it would look pretty. I told the leader I'd LOVE to do this project, but she and I are both slightly leary of the fact that there are only 2 months before the auction. I thinkn I can do this project, assuming they get me the pictures in a timely fashion, but I am worried about the actual quilting of it. I'm afraid I may have to send it out, and I know that will take a long time. I'd so much rather just SID and other simply DSM quilting myself, but am not sure if I should commit to it, having only a little practice with it yet.

What do you all think? We determined now is the time to do this, and I guess I should just find out how much people would charge for the quilting and how long turn-arounds are. She may find someone in the church who already does this, as she mentioned another person who does some quilting. So that could be answered already, but my gut feeling is to just say YES, I'll do it! I already think of it as MY project, because someone else talked to me about it a month ago and I got all enthusiastic. But they didn't decide to ask me to do it until today, so we've lost some time.

Thanks for your help! This is the BEST site ever!

[busybee]

How about a photo quilt. They are great way to have memories of past and present. I have seen several and Fons & Porter had a episode on this several times. Have to used fabric sheets and stabilizer. Maybe some on this forum can put input in details more then I can. Nita

[Patch]

Yes, they want a photo quilt, but they don't know it can be beautiful. I know about Printed Treasures from just having used it on my friend's memorial quilt, thanks to Shana. I just wondered if I can actually use my own muslin or something and use freezer paper for the stabilizer, or does it have to be treated fabric for the inkjet to set on it?

[Bekah]

Patty, a photo quilt would be wonderful. I almost always incorporate photos into my quilts that I make for family members. On one quilt I did with DSM, I bought some of that sticky paper with the quilting lines on it and did a really cute border. It went fast and I was pleased with it. I am sure someone on this forum will give you a good quilt top to do. Let us know how we can help

[quiltmonkey]

Patty,

The photo quilt I did was super easy and very fun and VERY VERY FAST to put together. I made it in one weekend at home on my DSM and it turned out exactly as I dreamed it would. This is what I did: I got ten (10) of the Printed Treasures sheets, and I used Microsoft Excel to use as a template to lay out my photos so they would fit on one 8 1/2"x11" Printed Treasures sheet (I changed the borders in Excel to really narrow top/bottom and sides) and then I used this page to arrange to fit four (4) of the photos to fit on one 8 1/2" x 11" sheet. I did this with all different photos on each sheet. Now, you can either make them small to fit four pics on one sheet, or you can make them bigger to fit two on one sheet, or if you want really big photos, you can print one photo on one sheet (but that gets really $pendy with the Printed Treasures,,,you know). Anyway, after I had the photos layed out to fit the sheet, I printed them out and then I cut them down to equal sizes (like 4"x4" so I could piece them into a block). I did really simple block designs, such as a 4 patch (alternating the photos in the block), and then a different fabric in between. Or you can do sawtooth stars and use the photo as the center...whatever block you want to use. Or, you can just do the photos and put sashing in between each one. It's your choice! After I pieced all of the blocks and rows together, I quilted it on my DSM using a really pretty varigated thread and I just did meandering. I didn't quilt on the photos, just the opposing blocks. The quilt I made was lap-sized and I used flannel as the alternate fabric because I wanted it to be super soft (it was a lap quilt I made for a coworker who's husband died of cancer at 33 years old -- they have three kids all under the age of 5) Anyway, I wanted to make the kids a cozy lap quilt to cuddle under when watching TV or reading a book so they could see photos of their daddy while relaxing under the blanket. I also included photos of the kids, too... you know how kids love to see photos of themselves... Well, this lap quilt turned out so nice and fun and just exactly as I hoped it would. I wanted them to use it, not put it away. I told mom that the more it gets used and washed, the softer it will become. I love soft flannel quilts for kids. I used the homespun flannels made by Moda and they are SO SOFT -- just like butter! Oh, and I did not use any stabilizer behind the PT sheets. It is not necessary.

Whatever you decide to do, have fun. It will turn out lovely, I am sure! Enjoy a nice day.

Shana

[Patch]

Thanks so much, Shana! Again you are so helpful. That was a beautiful thing to do for your coworker and her kids. What a heartbreak to lose their daddy so young. My friend who lives in Redmond and works near Sisters had the same thing happen. Her kids were 8 and 5. He died of lung cancer, though he rarely smoked, just an occasional cigar in his car. They never found the primary site, though, so didn't call it lung cancer. Anyway, needless to say I felt so powerless, yet she remembers me as having done something very special just by being there. I wish I'd have been able to make a quilt for them back then, but I did sing at the memorial service - absolutely the hardest thing I've ever had to do in my life, as I was actually crying while singing. I knew then if I could do that I could do anything. So now......

Thanks for the ideas. Is there a picture of your photo quilt on your website? I'd love to see it.

[lindasewsit]

PAtty, hi! How big is the quilt they are wanting you to make? I agree with Shana, they can be very nice. I don't think it would take you too long to put it together as long as like you said they get the pictures to you in a timely fashion! I like the idea of the flannel blocks in between the picture blocks. Don't think you would want to quilt the picture blocks, so that would cut down on quilting time. Depending on how big it is, it sould be able to be done nicely on your Bernina. More PPP for you!!! linda

[Patch]

Hi Linda, I don't know how big they want it. They don't know how big! They don't know much about sewing, much less quilting. It never ceases to amaze me how most women my age haven't got a clue about sewing, because they've been raised in the liberated era (I guess). It makes me want to do a little workshop with them and teach them to sew quilt blocks or something. But for some reason they are less than enthused about that idea. They seem to just want to hand me the pictures and let me go, which doesn't really bother me because I love to do the same thing to my imagination, LOL! "Here, Imagination, here are these pictures. I have to come up with a beautiful quilt for the youth BASH auction in two months. Now, GO!!" Now, that's freedom.

Oh, and I'm a little afraid to do flannel, as I've never done that before. I've stuck to cotton prints all this time, and hardly ever sewed with flannel. Only for a toddler's nightie, I think, and my hubby's jammies too. Isn't that what flannel's supposed to be for, LOL?! But I've got a stack of flannel in my closet that's been waiting for several years to be made into a quilt, so maybe now's the time to learn, eh?

Any advice on sewing flannel quilts??

[lindasewsit]

Good Morning Patty!! We woke up to lots of snow this morning and expecting 14" ! Yeah! I love snow!! Now , about your quilt! I love sewing with flannel! I have made allot of lap quilts out of flannel. I really don't find too much difference in working with that or cottons. When I freehand quilt it, it does seem to not "glide" as easily as just your cottons, but not so much that I think you would have problems with it. Time to get your flannel stash out!! I have a group of young ladies at my church that want me to teach them how to quilt! We are going to start in a couple of weeks. They want to quilt by hand. I told them we will put together the quilt by machine and I will then teach them to quilt by hand or machine, which ever they prefer. They are so cute! Some of them don't even have a sewing machine!! (I can't even IMAGINE that!) (I started sewing in the 7th grade!) ancient!! I think it will be a great time of learning and good fellowship! NOW.....Girl......Get that flannel out and get to sewing!!! linda

[lindasewsit]

Patty, forgot to say, the quilter's gloves will help you allot!! I have a pair of gloves that came from my son when he used to work at an egg farm...just light weight knitted gloves with little rubbery things on the fingers and plams. Works for me!! linda

[dancingstitcher]

You did such a nice job on that quilt for the teacher friend who died Patty, I can see why you want to tackle this one and your reputation must be spreading.

Here is a fascinating Stack and Whack done with fussy cutting photographs. It is made by Caryl Beyer Fallert of her trip to Africa. She is offering it for sale for $10,000.

Vicki

[Patch]

Wow, Vicki, thank you so much for this picture! that really gives me some ideas, and I hope I'll be able to do something like this in the BASH quilt. It's perfect, because the two major missions our church does are in African countries. This is beautiful! Of couse, the flannels I have aren't quite african..... just brownish backgrounds with florals.... but I bet I can work in a zebra or an elephant somewhere, LOL!

[Bekah]

Vicki, do you know the name of that particular pattern? is it in one of the Stack and Whack books? it is awesome. I think I could even do that and it would be perfect for my youngest daughter who thinks she is neglected because she doesn't have quilt. None of my kids do, with 19 grandkids to make quilts for, the "kids" have to come last. grandkid quilts are so much fun to play around with.

I think Patty this would work wonderful for your project. I have worked with flannel a lot and don't seem to have any trouble with it. Keep us posted

[letaj]

Originally posted by Patch

Hi folks. I'm in need of a little bit of advice from people who take on projects all the time. I've been asked by my women's group at church if I will head up a project for our youth group's fund raiser. They'd like me to use pictures the church has of various people in mission, incorporating it into a quilt. None of them knows how to do that, and can't imagine it would look pretty. I told the leader I'd LOVE to do this project, but she and I are both slightly leary of the fact that there are only 2 months before the auction. I thinkn I can do this project, assuming they get me the pictures in a timely fashion, but I am worried about the actual quilting of it. I'm afraid I may have to send it out, and I know that will take a long time. I'd so much rather just SID and other simply DSM quilting myself, but am not sure if I should commit to it, having only a little practice with it yet.

What do you all think? We determined now is the time to do this, and I guess I should just find out how much people would charge for the quilting and how long turn-arounds are. She may find someone in the church who already does this, as she mentioned another person who does some quilting. So that could be answered already, but my gut feeling is to just say YES, I'll do it! I already think of it as MY project, because someone else talked to me about it a month ago and I got all enthusiastic. But they didn't decide to ask me to do it until today, so we've lost some time.

Thanks for your help! This is the BEST site ever!

[Patch]

Leta, are you there?

[Patch]

Please tell me more about sewing quilts with flannel. I have always religiously pre-washed all fabrics I've made quilts with, but I wonder if it would be better not to do that with the flannel.... unless of course it will shrink like the dickens, which I've always thought flannel does. I mean, once I wash my cotton fabs I always dry them by ironing, that way they don't have tons of wrinkles in. Will that work with flannel???

Also, I very much like a design I saw with each picture cut in a circle or oval. Am I playing with fire to ask if they'd like that design, or is there a simple way to do that?

[quiltmonkey]

Patty,

Absolutely do wash your flannels. I always wash my flannels for two reasons: 1) because it seems to shrink more than the regular cottons; and 2) because washing really removes a lot (A LOT) of the lint when sewing/piecing the flannel together. Flannel is really messy and lint gets all over in the bobbin, around the sewing machine needle. I always wash my flannels, and then dry to slightly damp, then fold the pieces by push by hand to get out as many wrinkles as possible. When I'm ready to use the flannels, that's when I press with an iron. I try not to let the fabric completely dry in the dryer. Another thought about the flannels - they fray a lot in the washer & the dryer, so use a lint catcher. If you have pinking shears or a pinking rotary cutter, you might want to pink the sides of the fabrics to cut down on the fray. Buy the good quality flannel, such as Moda or the other quality brands at the quilt shops. The cheapy flannel at the chain stores is yukky and gets those annoying little fuzz balls. Plus, there are way prettier fabric selections at the quilt shops! Have fun!

Oh, one more thing: Do you have a walking foot? I've found that when working with flannel (especially when sewing two pieces of flannel together) that when stitching the fabric seems to slip a little bit. I have had better luck piecing with my walking foot on flannels and it eliminates the slippage. Or, you can raise your presser foot a little to ease up on the top fabric and it might match up better at the end of the seam.

[countrystitcher]

Another idea along with photos - how about signature blocks? Did a fundraiser for our new church building and sold signature blocks to church members and memory blocks to those who are already with the Lord. I then entered the names in the computer and used a fancy font and printed on treated muslin; then used the 3X3 in the middle of a star pattern. It is going up this week in the new building for dedication on Sunday. I am so excited to see it hanging where it belongs (I know I will cry when I see it because all along I dedicated the project to the Lord's work). It was the very first quilt I did on my new machine and it also won a 2nd place at the state fair -- all a blessing from above! Will post a photo of it maybe next week after the dedication. With God all things are possible!!

Sharon.

[Patch]

Sharon, that is beautiful! Thank you for sharing your story with us. I love the star idea, and have chosen a simple star pattern from a book by Carol Doak: Simply Sensational 9-Patch Stars. I plan to make part of the sashing shaded a little differently so as to make a cross in the center, with the stars having pictures as their centers, all kind of radiating from the cross. There will also be blank squares to put Bible verses in that the women will choose and work up nicely on their computer and size for the block, so I can just print it out and don't have to spend so much time on the computer.

I asked if any wanted to be part of the sewing of the quilt (not the quilting), and got several hands. Now I'm trying to figure out why I asked them that...... I think I do best when left well enough alone to do things, but then, it IS supposed to be a group effort. In the old days our mothers would have done the quilting together around the frame, but since it's a rush job and I'll be using the machine for that too, we can't really sew it all together...... I'm just afraid if others sew some of the blocks they won't all be square, ya know?

They're supposed to get me the photos next week, I think. Another week just waiting, arrg! I had thought they'd be there today, but oh well. Thanks everyone so much for your help and advice, all great stuff.

[Patch]

Ok, folks, here I am talking to myself again, but no matter. Somebody will trip over this again sooner or later, I know. LOL!

One of the gals from my church group emailed me that her aunt is an award-winning quilter, and she attached three pics of a scrappy photo quilt she'd made my friend for high school graduation. I thought it was beautiful, and was disappointed that the group leader had axed the idea of a scrappy look, as it didn't appeal to her personally. Well, she felt she had to get a handle on the project, I guess, so took the reins so it will get done. But it will take more time to do a star pattern and other stuff we want in it. They want that quote about "He has no hands and feet but ours", or whatever it is, so I'm planning to include appliques of hands and feet - OR just quilt simple hands and feet or something.

Well, enough from me again. See you all later.