Q is for Quilt

It's the start of week 4 of the Blogging from A to Z Challenge! Wow. We're just plodding right along, aren't we?

I spent the weekend getting caught up on some blog reading. I've visited a pretty good number of A to Z participants, but there are still a lot out there for me to go see. There are so many good blogs this year! 

I'm having a good time seeing what everyone has come up with and I'm enjoying finding some new blogs to permanently read and some new bloggers who are becoming friends. This is just such a fun event!

Today is letter Q. Of course, being a crafter, Q has to be quilt. What else would it be? 

Today I'm featuring a quilt I made for my brother for Christmas.

I moustache you a question...do you like moustaches?

I do. I'm a little obsessed...especially when it comes to my youngest brother. I can't tell you why, it's just a thing. A couple of years ago I made him moustache pajama pants. There's also some additional moustache themed gifts coming up for letter T on Thursday.

This one was a pretty simple quilt. Really, if you want to get technical it, was more of a blanket. I won't tell if you don't.

I was inspired by some fabric moustache napkins that I found on one of my wanderings through Hobby Lobby. (That place will get you if you're not careful. There are too many fun things and stuff is always on sale.) Of course I snapped up a handful of them. At $1 each, I totally couldn't pass up that deal.

I trimmed my napkins and then alternated them with rectangles of gray cotton to create the front of my quilt. I completely failed to take any pictures of the back of the quilt, but it's just a black and white chevron pattern. You can see it in the trim of the quilt on the final photo.

I stitched my rectangles together by row and then stitched the rows together. Easy peasy.

The gray blocks needed a little fancying up, so I decided to add some moustache appliques. 

I cut out some moustache shapes in cardstock using my pazzle. I used those as a pattern to cut out each moustache in fabric that was backed with fusible interfacing.

I ironed each moustache on to it's respective square and then used a zigzag stitch around the edges to secure them.

After that, I lined up the front and back layers of the quilt and stitched them together, using the overage from my backing to create a binding. (I may have put a layer of light batting in between the two layers, but to be honest I totally don't remember. I'm pretty sure I did, but don't quote me on that.)

I did a zigzag top stitch to keep the binding flat and then put a few securing stitches in at the junctions of the gray rectangles and moustache rectangles to keep the top and bottom layers from shifting and bunching.

That's it! all done. Nice, lightweight lap quilt perfect for lounging on the couch.

Miss any of my A to Z posts so far this year? Find them below...

1. A is for Anna (Easy Anna Cape)
2. B is for Bath (Appliqued Bath Mat)
3. C is for Child (Children's Growth Ruler)
4. D is for Denim (Denim Bib)
5. E is for Etch (Etched Casserole Dishes)
6. F is for Felt (Felt Hopscotch Mat)
7. G is for Good Night ("Good Night" Envelope Pillows)
8. H is for Hood (Easy Hooded Towel)
9. I is for Insulated (Insulated Beverage Cozies)
10. J is for Jumper (Embroidered Spring Jumper)
11. K is for Know (Know When to Hold 'Em/Fold 'Em Laundry Sign)
12. L is for Loveseat (Envelope Loveseat Pillows)
13. M is for Mittens (Fleece Baby Mittens)
14. N is for Ninja Turtle (Felt Ninja Turtle)
15. O is for Owl (Owl Stuffies)
16. P is for Princess (Princess Peg Dolls)

Are you visiting from A to Z?

Be sure to leave me a comment (including your blog link) so I can come over and return the favor!

I have some work to get done this week...Friday's U project has yet to be completed. I will say though, I'm terribly excited to put up Wednesday's letter S post. It's one of my top three favorites this year!

Custom Toddler Memory Quilt

Sometimes funny things happen on Facebook. I belong to a couple of local buy/sell/trade groups. Lots of things go for sale on these sites. I've seen clothing, pet supplies, books, furniture, you name it.

A little over a month ago, I commented on a post asking about reasonable pricing for rag quilts. As a result, I got a message in my Facebook inbox. A local woman was looking for someone to make a memory quilt for her daughter's upcoming 3rd birthday. She had saved all of the clothing from the time she was a newborn and wanted to know what could be done with it.

This was a slightly new endeavor for me. I'd made a t-shirt quilt before, but not one that mixed this many types of materials or styles. It sounded like a fun challenge. I considered what I would need to do and the time I'd need to put in and quoted her a discounted price since this would be slightly experimental for me. She was very excited.

And that's what I've been doing for the last three weeks...sewing. After she presented me with a large black garbage bag full of clothing, I went to work. I cut apart onesies, and t-shirts, and swimsuits, and dresses, and even one Halloween costume.

There's been a lot of random fabric hanging out in my family room for just under a month.

While the project was occasionally daunting, it turned out to be a lot of fun. She had given me a lot of terribly cute clothing to work with and the challenge of putting some unique touches in made it even more entertaining.

The Pooh costume was an interesting piece. The shirt and stomach were actually only attached by two thread sections. I had to piece them together and then sew a pocket in for the stuffing so his belly wouldn't explode all over the inside of the quilt. The pleated BSU jumper was originally two separates.

That red, white, and blue piece to the right of Pooh? It's a bikini; one of two swimsuits in this piece. Lycra is a challenge to sew.

There are three photos included. One as an infant and then one each from her daughter's 1st and second birthdays.

So many fabrics. So many different shapes and colors.

She selected a dark pink minky for the back side and a pink/purple border fabric. It actually went together quite well.

I had some small slip ups along the way that made some stages take longer than I expected. I initially sewed my binding on without remembering to open my flap for the first attachment. That was a 3-hour error that led to a lot of seam ripping, repinning, and resewing. It also led to me staying up until 4:30 in the morning when I had to be up for work at 7:30. That was a bad error.

But then the project was done. On Thursday afternoon, I said good-bye. At her request, I delivered it folded up with the front side folded in. She'll be opening the quilt on Saturday afternoon at her daughter's party. The fact that she hasn't seen the finished project makes me kind of nervous, but she has told me that she's already thrilled with it based only on the backing she's seen plus the photo preview she got of the initial layout. I'm hoping she loves the finished product just as much.

I plan on doing more of these. There is just a large sense of satisfaction in the process for me. It was fun and challenging and I learned some new tips and techniques that I can use for future quilting endeavors. I'm so glad that she gave me this opportunity.

Better yet? When I dropped it off, she asked if I would be interested in making a few more. Turns out she has some family that might be interested in something as well and she's saving up her son's clothing for another customized for him. It's all very exciting. Sometimes I love the things that crafting has offered me.

"X" is for Xilinous

Wow! We're almost done! Today is "X" in the A to Z Challenge. Only two more days after today.

We're going to round out the end of the alphabet with another BSU post. Because I love my Broncos...and so does the family.

Today's "X" word is "Xilinous". Xilinous is an obscure word meaning "of, like, or pertaining to cotton" (source). I just happen to have a lot of cotton in my fabric stash...in the form of t-shirt material left over from my dad's BSU T-Shirt Quilt. See...we're totally coming full circle here.

"Q" is for Quilt

In EPJ land, Q is very often for Quilt. It was an obvious choice for "Q" in my A to Z Challenge posts. There are a few of them already on the blog...here ...here ...here. And this won't be the last one that you see before the 2014 A to Z is finished.

"N" is for Names

Let's start off the second half of the A to Z Challenge with a bang! N is for Names...more specifically, name quilts.

I made these quilts for the girls a few years ago (when there was one less girl). At the time, I had a lot of fat quarters sitting around waiting to be put to good use. That's when I decided to move ahead with this project. It was my first foray into large scale applique. I think it turned out alright.

"B" is for Boise State

It's "B" day on the A-to-Z Challenge!

In our case, B is for Boise State! Our family is a huge fan of the Broncos. Football season is a serious time around here. One of the biggest fans is my dad...so I decided that he needed a Boise State themed present for Christmas in 2012.

For those of you who have been around for a while, you know that each Christmas I do the Christmas Project Countdown, where I try to finish everyone's gifts before time runs out on Christmas Eve. I've gotten better at it every year, but it's still always a challenge. You also know that each year, one person gets the big present...the one present that is the total time suck (it's almost always a quilt...they take FOREVER). Well, in 2012, it was Dad's year.

Rag Quilts - Making Me Look Craftier than I Am

I am not a very good seamstress. I will admit it. But I have a love for fabric and I love my sewing machine. So...I have tried my hand at a few projects. Right now I have a hand-sewn quilt in the works (I'll post pictures of it at a later date).  Prior to attempting the current project I've sewn a few blankets and mended some clothes, but nothing terribly major. My one claim to fame in the sewing department is my photo rag quilts.

I learned the rag quilt technique from my friend Kari about eight years ago. I decided it would be even better to put photos on the quilt and make it a nice cross between sewing and scrapbooking. In December of 2005 I put my theory to a test. I made a photo rag quilt for my then mother-in-law with pictures of all of the grandkids. It turned out pretty good if I do say so myself. Unfortunately I failed to take very good pictures of the finished product so a limited view is all I have available. (Don't worry...I have photos of one in all it's glory later in the post.) I still think you can tell that it's pretty darned cute.

I felt pretty good about the result of that quilt, but felt slightly guilty for not making one for my own mother. So when Mother's Day 2006 rolled around, I made my mom a photo rag quilt of our family - her siblings and us kids all as children along with photos of her and my dad when they were dating and our family together. I don't think it turned out too bad and she seemed to like it.

I liked the fabric so well from the first one and had enough of the pattern left over that I kept the basic design the same. This time though, I put the pictures in sepia to go more with my mother's Tuscan style decorating.

The photo of me as a baby that I used in the quilt. Wasn't I cute?

It was by the time that I finished this second quilt that I learned a valuable lesson...jean material bleeds. The blue color slightly tinted the photographs and while it gave them a somewhat more rustic feel, it was not what I had planned.  (There was one other small error as I made the unfortunate decision to include one of my engagement photos of myself and my now ex-husband. Maybe one of these days I'll be nice enough to change out the square for her.)

Darn jean. Faded and slightly dyed photos. Just makes the whole thing look older than it really is.

By the time I decided to make my next rag quilt, I had discovered color catchers.  The fabric "washcloth" goes in with the load and sucks up all of the loose dye. Fantastic! At about $4 each, they're well worth the money. They're reusable for around twenty loads. I've kept the ones I've used since and use them whenever I have an iffy item that I don't trust to play nice with the other clothes in the batch.

There are now Shout Color Catchers, but I don't know that I would use them regularly. The commercial shows the lady putting red blouses in with whites. That's a little ballsy if you ask me. No way I'm risking my clothes and trusting in a 20-cent piece of fabric paper to save the day.

How much would you trust these guys?

So after this quilt I had a nice little lull of a couple of years. Then Collin and I got together and there came a Christmas when we had NO idea what to get his Mother. Rag quilt to the rescue. In about a week's time I busted out a quilt with photos of Darian. Surprise, surprise I forgot to take a final picture. You'll just have to imagine it. Basically it's the same as the one I made for my mother, but with pictures of Darian instead. And...luckily enough...I made one for Collin's Grandma Jean last Christmas using some of the same photos. I did finally run out of my lovely star fabric though, so we had to change gears. I ended up going with a brown polka dotted fabric that I love.

This time not only was I smart enough to take a final picture, I also documented the process. Go me! So now I can actually explain to you how I make them.

Obviously, the first step is picking out your fabric.  The fabric needs to be of a type that will fray easily, otherwise you won't get the rag edges. I like to use a combination of the jean and a patterned fabric. That way, if my patterned fabric doesn't fray completely, the jean tends to do the job.

The next thing to do is determine the size of your quilt and the number of photos. I've done a few different sizes.  This last one I used 6" photo squares and 7" fabric squares. That way I had a 1/2" seam all the way around each square to use for the frayed edges. Cut out all of the squares for front and back and then sew together with batting in the center. I use a low loft batting, but any type will do. I then sew them together with an "x" across the center in order to hold the batting in place and leave the majority of my edges free.

One square of each type ready to assemble.

The next thing I do is prepare my photos. I haven't been brave enough to try color photos so I generally convert mine to either sepia or black and white (I tend to like the sepia better). These are printed onto iron-on fabric paper - pretty much the best thing ever invented. One side is fabric, the other is a slick iron-on surface. These are then ironed on to whatever fabric you've decided to use as the backing. I like to use the jean ones.

Isn't he handsome?

After this it's all about the sewing.  I sew each row individually first, alternating pattern and photo. The squares are sewn together so that all of the seams face out. When it's all sewn you should have all of the seams on the side of the photos and the other side should be a smooth quilt.

Individual squares

I've found that I always have to draw myself a blueprint first so that I make sure I put the photos in the order I want and also get enough squares in each row. 

Single rows

Once the rows are sewn, then I double them up. Then the two rows become four.  Finally, I sew the two halves together. That step is always a bear. My poor sewing machine gets pretty worn out by then and I generally plan on breaking at least one needle and jamming up my thread at least a dozen times.  (There has been swearing on occasion.)

Multiple row sections

After the sewing is complete comes the really labor intensive part. What? You thought it was over? Nope. Sorry. Once they're sewn together, bust out the scissors. Now it's time to snip the edges. Every edge of every square needs to be clipped to near the seam so that a bunch of little frays surround each square. I cut them to about 1/2" sections.

Finally, once the snipping is done and you've removed the piles of thread that will be covering you, the couch or chair you're sitting on and the floor surrounding you for a 4 ft. radius, it comes time to wash the quilt.  I take mine to a local laundromat so that I can use the large capacity heavy duty machines.  I don't use any soap.  I just toss in the dye catcher and run it on a regular cycle in cold water. There have been a couple of times where I've had to run two cycles when the fray didn't get completed. After that I tumble dry it. And...voila! Finished product!

All done! Phew! (Don't mind my crappy camera angle.)

Now...maybe one of these days I'll actually make one for myself.