Hi everyone. Just trying the photo gallery for the first time. Hope everything turns out ok. They are pictures of a baby blanket I made for a friend.
Heather
Hi everyone. Just trying the photo gallery for the first time. Hope everything turns out ok. They are pictures of a baby blanket I made for a friend.
Heather
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Replies
Heather, what a nice blanket for your friend. Such cute fabrics--is it flannel?
The fabric is all flannel. When I was on my mac computer at home the pictures didn't seem so large. The PC at work the pictures are much larger. Again I will have to make some adjustments to pictures so eveyone will have a chance to see.
I would love to see your pictures, but the files are way too big. I'm sure it is a beautiful blanket.
Rodezzy, try your 'zoom' button probably located at the bottom right corner of your screen (where it says '100%). Click on that & choose 50% - it worked for me. :)
Gloria
What a good hint - learn something new every day!
Glad to help. We all learn something from these threads every day. Love them.
Gloria
That is a really cute quilt - thanks for sharing. Also, it's a wonderful gift.
Gloria
Your baby quilt reminded me of my mother who made her quilts (really tied comforters) by the hundreds. She made some for baby gifts, some to sell at craft shows, and some to sell to neighbors and friends.
When her doctors told her she was going to die, she decided to give away her quilts. She had a few full size ones, but most were baby size or lap size because as she got older she could no longer manage the quilting frames and the bulky sizes.
She had a closet filled from the floor to the ceiling with her yarn tied baby and lap quilts. First her great grandchildren came and were to pick out one. But alas, picking one was too difficult, so many of the children ended up with two. After they picked out the ones they liked, they took them to my mother's bedroom and showed what they chose. She then told them where the fabrics came from and any special stories about that particular quilt.
The process was repeated with the grandchildren, and her children took ones that were left over, particularly the ones she was using in her own home.
Some friends got a call from her to come pick out a quilt. Her brother came to see her and was showing her pictures of his new granddaughter, and of course, I was instructed to go into the closet and pick out a quilt for him to take to this new baby. He did not know she was giving away these quilts. In fact most people didn't realize she had that many. She sent some to her church for new babies born to the congregation.
What would have been a very difficult time of my life ws brightened as I watched her give away her quilts.
I am going to try to attach a picture of just one of many I have here of my mother's tied quilts.
That was a beautiful and joyus quilt. It almost sings with delight. Thank you for sharing.
sewornate: "What would have been a very difficult time of my life ws brightened as I watched her give away her quilts"
What a beautiful story. The quilt is beautiful, and knowing that your Mom could give the story of the fabrics in it is so lovely. That is the type of experience that sticks with a child through to becoming an adult, at which time we can appreciate what a very special gift was given to us.
Thanks Scrubble4
It is amazing how much a qulit can mean to someone. Our church has a qulit club that meets once a week to make quilts purley to give a way. They get shipped all over the world to help out those in need. I do not belong to the club because it meets during a weekday afternoon and I am work. But perhaps when I have a child I will be able to stay at home and help out the fellow members of my church. I love to give away home made gifts it gives me that "warm fuzzy" feeling inside.
Heather
That is a beautiful quilt, sewornate, and it looks, to my eyes, so randomly put together. I love quilts and have not been successful because they have always seemed to stress the "art" involved and I would get too boggled down just thinking about it. Please tell me it is random! Then maybe I will try again to corral my scraps into a thing of beauty. I can see this machine quilted in less time than it would take me to tie it. Easier too, since arthritis has finally taken away my hand sewing capabilities.
edit: darn, I just went back and took another look at that quilt! There is definitely a pattern there. She was very clever.
Edited 2/5/2008 11:26 am by sewelegant
The only pattern my mother used for these was between light and dark. I believe this one was a four patch. That is she put together blocks of 4 patches. She stacked them and grabbed them as they came on the stack. She worked mostly with squares and triangles. Many of the fabrics were reproduction prints from the 1800's and featured animals. She did cut some blocks to feature a teddy bear or something in it.
She would sit in her lift chair with a lapboard and draw around a cardboard pattern piece, and cut them with scissors one by one, while she watched her favorite TV shows or listened to her beloved country music. (Not the way my sister or I would cut them, what with rotary cutters and mats.) Given her health issues, this is what worked for her. There is red, pink, lavender, blue, green and variations thereof. My sister and I are more likely to plan colors more and not have the wonderful random effect with kid appeal that Mom's quilts have. She did some that only had two matching fabrics in them, usually done in a pinwheel pattern made of triangles.
She also finished them by tying them with yarn, and they are bound with the back being brought around the front edges and machine stitched.
The block size on this one finished at 1-3/4" but was generally dictated by the scraps she had. When she got down to very small pieces, they could finish at 1" to 1-1/2" and she called these "postage stamp" quilts.
Her adult grandchildren and older great grand children still have their old quilts made by "Gram" and they are a bit worse for wear, but the kids won't part with them. Mom used to beg them to go pick out a new one and throw that old thing away, but that didn't happen. There was an emotional attachment for many of the children.
t
Please do try again! I also have arthritis in my hands, but have really enjoyed learning to quilt as it is something I can do when I feel well enough to work on, no worries of timelines. (As long as I keep it a secret from the person it is for). If your sewing machine has a darning stitch setting, it works well for "tieing" by machine.
I made my mother a beautiful quilt with machine embroideries that she loves. I made it as a throw size, but she loves it on her bed. I have finally figured out how I am going to enlarge it by removing the binding and butting the batting up to the edges. It will be a real challenge for me, but I just keep researching how to do things.
You also might try "crazy quilting". As you learn, you figure out many ways to do it easier. For Christmas, my youngest grandson got a quilt with tiger embroideries and I used tigerhide looking fleece backing instead of a batting and backing. I also serged the edges rather than binding them. It was so easy, I added a pillowcase and a huge pillow to sit on. You can also use a sheet for the backing so that skips some of the work too.
You can roll up the excess fabric as you go with "bicycle clips" found at the larger sewing stores or Hobby Lobby and some quilt shops.
Now I am going to make placemats and potholders so I can learn more quickly without so much investment as a whole quilt takes. Mary
This is such a happy quilt. How special for you and your family to have quilts that she lovingly made, and to know the stories behind them. Thanks for sharing the story of your mother.
Your quilt is beautiful, what a blessing to have this beloved heirloom from your mother. Thanks for sharing the heartfelt story also. Mary
The quilt is beautiful I just may have to make me one of those after I get settled in to my new place
smaller....
We can see this much better. Very nice!
you are more than welcome:)I'm just a couple doors down at Breaktime, just peek in there and say hi from time to time
Just darling! Looks soft and cozy...
This is certainly easier to see. Your friend is very lucky to have someone like you!
I was able to view your first pictures this way: open the jpeg; Right click on the picture and press "copy" then go to microsoft word (where I keep all my files) and paste it to a file page. It will fill up the whole page, but then I click on it and go to a corner and drag the corner inward until it is a viewable size. From there I can either save it or delete it. There are so many ways to do things on the computer and this is just one of them, but it is easy so thought I would share.
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