A giveaway to celebrate our Independence Day

I am in the process of re-stocking my batting in my brick and mortar. I would love to hear your thoughts on:

What batting do you use ?
Cotton, poly, bamboo, soy, wool?
Pre-packaged or off the bolt/roll?
Machine or hand quilting...do you buy different batts for either?
Warm and Natural, Legacy, Hobbs, Luna, or ?
Does the cost alter your choice?

                                                                           

I have a Red, White and Blue quilt kit, designed by moi,  to giveaway, if you answer my questions please!  Why, yes it is a baby/toddler/lap size quilt! I'll draw a winner the 4th of July, toss me some answers and I'll put your name in the draw. You will have to return to my blog on the 4th to see if you are a winner if you wish to remain private or you don't have a blog. Of course you can enter if you don't live in the US! That's how I roll. Thanks, Elaine
Did ya notice, I didn't mention the goofy chooks!

                                                                                 

Do you have all your flannels done yet?

I was lucky enough to find a HUGE chunk of pink felt when I was ready to sew these squares up. This is the difficult part for the ocd people out there...thank God for them when you're doing regular quilting! Remember, the denim and flannel are both 6 1/2" square, but the filler needs to be smaller. I cut the felt up 3-4" square. No math, no headache inspiring measurements here....wing it! Same goes for the batting, if that is what you're using. And, yes, you can mix it up, little of this or  that! Get creative, use your imagination here. I usually take the narrow weird little strips of batting left over from my regular quilts and save in a bag until it overfills....that is usually enough for a couch cuddler.

Place your stacks together....and take an empty slick glass or bottle

or a coke, lol, unopened! Place it down on top of the stack of flannels or denim and twist the bottle to the right, while holding the stack still on the bottom. Continue in this manner

until the stack begins to fan out...like a stack of cocktail napkins at a bar...don't ask! No, I don't know as a customer either! It makes it easier to pick up the squares!

Now on to layering: take a denim square, right side down, add the filler square and top off with your flannel square right side up.

I love to chain stitch mostly all my quilt pieces, this is no exception. Take the squares and feed one at a time through your machine, like this (from 1 corner to the next):

in a half X, don't cut the thread,  continue on. Don't worry to much about the batting shifting, just hold in place with your fingers while sewing. When you are finished with this, turn the squares to the next side and finish the X sewing again from one corner to the next.

Now stack 'em up and get ready for the next installment of Christmas on a budget.....

Blue Jean quilt-a-long answers

I hope this answers a few questions about the blue jean quilts. There are many patterns, this one is my favorite.

I use a 6 1/2" square of denim, a 6 1/2" square of backing and @ a 4ish" square of batting, like this:

You can use any fabric you would like for the backing, I prefer flannel as if feels softer, like the jeans, after many washings. If you would like, you can sew the jean squares together and eliminate the back/batting altogether. If you notice in this picture,

the flannels are different. One is green plaid the other is a Christmas print. This is a great way to use up pieces of odds and ends to make up the back. Scrappy is good, emptying the scrap box is great! If you don't want to use flannel shirts, then use something else. I am also using jeans that are really old fashioned...remember the acid wash jeans? OMG (oh my gosh), I just aged myself! If you also notice, the jeans pictured above appear to have paint splatters, just adds to the design! Trust me, you're gonna love this project...that is, if you ever wanted to make one of these quilts. Relax, have fun with this and just see how "cheap" you  can get! (see the little leftover chunks of batting...the pink is actually a large piece of felt I picked up somewhere and chopped up for this project...yep, felt works really well!)

I am off to work for the weekend and won't be back until Monday sometime. I am not going to answer any letters personally, just collectively, time crunch. If you have any questions, just ask and I will try to answer in another post. Thanks for reading...Elaine

Batting coupons

I did an internet search tonight for Warm and Natural batting, 90" wide by 40 yds. Sounds like my kinda size to have on hand, lol! I found it on Joanns website. Kinda pricey, ouch! Did another search and ran across mommysavesbig blogspot. She has a coupon good for a few more days for 50% off one item. So, if you type in the code, you get 50% off the batting.....wahooooooo. What????????? The shipping is less too? Weird! I guess when you get 50% off a pricey item the shipping is pro-rated, weird I tell ya! Anyway, check it out!

Repairing vintage quilts

***Not all quilts should be repaired or washed. You have to make the decision about it's care. If you want to preserve a piece of family history or have a treasured quilt...perhaps you shouldn't do anything with it. I would encourage you to contact the American Quilters Society, if you are inquiring about an American Quilts' value, find an apraiser in your area. If it means a lot to you, then get a professional apraisal. If you're not concerned about the monetary value and this is something you want to drape over a chair or bed and a hole or ratty binding is keeping the "quilt" from being displayed..read on***




I found this wonderful vintage quilt at an antique shop and had to buy it because it is so "me". I have seen this before but can't remember the name of the pattern. It reminds me of Christmas candy! It has a hole large enough for my chubby grand-dog to put her head thru, what am I going to do with that girl? Dh said to just go ahead and lop off that whole row but I just cannot do it. I am going to try and repair the hole. I have some vintage flour and sugar sacks that have been waiting.





I cut the raggy pieces away from the quilt top right up to the seam. Now trim the batting. I Made some templates from a milk carton. I use milk cartons, plastic ones, because they have slight curves in lots of spots and it's easier for me to hold the curvy pieces to the quilt to trace the pieces needed.





I have a fun little stash of feedsack fabrics to go thru to find something that either matches or something I really like, make sure it's clean and pressed. Try to chose a fabric that isn't too bright or new looking if you are working on a vintage quilt. You want something that will blend in and not stand out. If your fabric choice appears to bright consider a lite tea bath. (oh Lordy, where did she come from....oh, must be PLQ...pushy little quilter, lol!



Now, examine the batting. It should be cotton. Hold the quilt up to the sunlight or light...does the batting look like it's shifting? Is the batting evenly spaced...no globs...do you see any weedy looking things? Some of the older quilts were made from the cotton picked directly from the field and used in the quilt without the benefit of being in a like little package!

Go through your batting scraps (THIS is why you saved them, lol) and find a chunk of cotton batting that has the same thickness and weight of what you just cut out. Find a piece @ 1/2-1" larger then your hole piece.

Match your backing fabric with unbleached, bleached muslin. You may need to really look around for something that comes close to matching. I have used a vintage tea towel on one and have twice used shirting fabrics that were almost dead on with the back...go figure! If the backing or the front fabrics are to bright...dip in tea dye until it appears to be a little to dark. It should be the right shade once it dries.

I start with the back. I make a patch the same size with @ 1/4" seam allowance. Press the seam allowance inward, pin in place with the excess seam allowance facing inside. I pick a cream-tea thread, which ever matches the fabrics, and blindstitch in place.

Turn the quilt over, lightly stuff the batting inside. Don't be afraid to trim a little if you need to, to make the batting lie flat. Pin to the backing fabric from the outside, otherwise the pins will be be caught on the inside...yes, I have done that not once but twice, lol.

Now, press the seam allowance to the inside of the fabric patch from the front of the quilt, pin down, blind stitch to the patches surrounding the new patch. Remove pins from the front and back. Check your quilting lines from the original quiltmaker. This particular quilt was done in a hand Baptist fan. I use a hera marker and hand quilted the "missing" quilt lines.

All done, now all I have to do is re-bind the quilt.

Have you ever repaired a quilt? Did you find my info helpful? I have never done a tutorial before had fun with this one...sans pushy little quilter, lol!