An Improv Single Girl Quilt

I love Denise Schmidt's Single Girl Quilt:

I love the simplicity and the old fashioned yet modern design. Most of the fabric is solid and the colorful circles are made with scraps, making it a budget friendly project. Being the patternless sewist that I am, I thought this might be a great pattern to embark upon actually following. With further research, and to my great disappointment, I discovered it's loveliness to not be as simple as this married girl had hoped. Each of the circles takes 32 separately cut shapes using templates. Doing the multiplication, I realistically decided such a pattern is not for moi. A smallish baby quilt alone would take nearly 200 smallish intricately cut pieces. Oh dear. A bit much for a highly non-perfectionist girl who likes to see a happily finished product sitting around the house in less than a decade.

So. What about an improvisational version? This girl, needing pillows around the house, and lots of them, alighted upon a small experiment, hoping for a simple way to create an Improv Single Girl circle. I think I did it. My own way. This one circle measuring about 22" x 22" was joyfully held up for my married man's approval in less than an hour and turned into a pillow shortly thereafter:

 

Although married man didn't jump up and down or burst out in melodious praises at the greatist of  accomplishments, this girl is now ready to begin the Improv Single Girl Quilt journey. Not being in the hunkering for a journey alone, and being somewhat enticed by the idea of an old fashioned quilting circle, I'm welcoming a few kindred dearies into my homey home for said circle of happy sewists.

For those of you kindred ones who can not make it to this homey home filled with quiltie friends, a tutorial is in the workey works. I promise. But as my homeschool week is upon me, time for reading good books and guiding my remaining two is quite at hand for this girl...

Today I'm linking up with Kojodesigns. They have some pretty amazing tutorials.

Simeon's Quilt - Loved

This boy and his momma made a quilt:

He made all the different shaped doggy squares.

You can see this boy was a tiny bit younger when this project he began:

I put them together:

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I always take another quilt of the desired size and lay it on my bed. Then I arrange the squares on top. It's my small-house version of a design board. Simeon had a big say in the design process here. After arranging them, I cut and pieced in the brown negative space, or sashing. A lot of up and down from my machine to the ironing board, then to my bedroom, and back....

You can read more about our process here.

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The back of the quilt is simple.

  A dog house on two of the corners,

One for Beau and one for Maddie, 

was sweetly insisted upon by this boy 

who misses his doggies so:

 for once upon a time, 

buddies they were:

 

 

Sewing with Kids - Caleb's Quilt - Finished!!!

 

 Day 13

We are almost there! Today we sew on the binding.

(If you are just now joining us, you can see what we have done so far here)

 Today, Caleb begins by cutting seven 3" strips of our 45" width binding fabric:

We used a Kona Cotton 

He sewed them into one long strip, right sides together:

Next, he ironed all seams open:

 Then we ironed the long strip in half all the way along making one very, very long 1 1/2" strip with happy sides out. This was then sewn along the edge of the quilt all the way around. Be sure to start with about a foot of the binding hanging off. This helps at the finish when joining up ends.

Since I sewed my finger recently on this powerful not-going-to-stop-for-anything machine, he was a bit nervous. You can see him holding it quite far from any needle action.

I still have the blue painter's tape on the machine as a guide.

Caleb chose to not use pins, but rather to arrange it by hand as he went along. Do what ever you think is best for your child's sewing ability.

And, he makes faces while sewing, too!

I told him so:

Now, the directions for corners:

When you come to the corner, stop about 1/2" from the edge. Stop with your needle down. Pick up the pressure foot, and pivot, then back up off the edge.

Remove the quilt from the machine and trim threads.

This doesn't make sense, but it really works. Trust me. Caleb did :)
Now fold back the strip, off the quilt in the direction you just backed off, making a perfect little triangle:

Then fold it back straight along the edge in the direction you will continue to sew. You will be able to feel that perfect triangle under your thumb:

 Now put the quilt to the machine again. Begin sewing 1/2" from the edge, being sure to not catch that 'triangle' you folded underneath. You will begin stitching just after that triangle, keeping it free:

Here you can see the blue painter's tape that helps guide Caleb's straight stitching:

When you get all the way around to the beginning, stop sewing about a foot from where you began.

Remove the quilt from the machine again. Lay the binding around, and mark where it will meet with a chalk marker.

Do this on both ends. This marks where it will be joined:

Now open it up, pinning where the chalk meets, and stitch.

Trim off excess. Caleb had a lot of excess. Better safe than sorry, I say:

Next, fold the strips back together and finish sewing the binding on to the quilt:

Umm. Caleb was pretty excited at this point! Almost done!

Day 14 - Finish!

Snuggle up on the couch, turn on a good movie, and hand sew the binding - together. Just fold it over and slip-stitch it down. We used dull scissors since we were sitting on the couch. He also used 2 bobby pins to hold down the binding, moving them as he went along, instead of the usual pins. I thought this might be a bit too tedious, so I joined in to help him.

 Guess who slept happily covered in his own quilt last night! 

He thanked me for helping him make it. So precious.

I hope he always remembers our time making a quilt together. I know I will.

A Journal Was Made

A journal was made

for a dear friend so sweet,

who from her place far away

sends me lovely notes on scraps of paper.

Paper torn and layered,

then covered

with doodles.

Whimsical doodles,

of flowers,

squiggles,

butterflies and such.

A multitude of designs

happy and bright 

intertwined with heart felt notations

of memories of time together spent

and hopes of new shared moments yet to come.

A journal was made

with my own Quilty squiggles

 and buttons

and stitches

french knots
a scrap
and more stitchy doodles

for my friend far away

to fill with her doodley art....

until we again shall meet.

 

 ******

To make a journal for a dear friend of your own, sew a tube that fits over the ends, that is nearly twice as long as your book laid open (no rulers and math necessary), and with edges  neatly finished. I only did my quilty stuff on the  front  part of the tube using free motion quilting. This is a picture of the back of the tube. You can see how very long it is and the one seam down the middle. The fun part is embellishing it with doodles and odds and ends.

Sewing with Kids - Caleb's Quilt -Day 9 thru 12

Here is Caleb's quilt after a few sittings over the summer. You can tell it's summer by the bare back and the short hair (see below). Sheesh! I think he has even grown since these pictures were taken. To check out what we have done so far, click here.

We started this next step by drawing a line down the middle of the quilt with a chalk marker. You can use any kind of erasable pen specially made for quilting.

 We set up my machine at the kitchen table, fitted with a walking-foot attachment. The machine is pushed far to the right, giving room for the quilt to lay on the table as he sews. We also set a high stool next him, close to his side to help take some of the weight, so it didn't pull away from the machine. I sat with him for quite a few rows, coffee cup in hand, guiding the quilt, until he became comfortable enough to quilt on his own.

 

He quilted one half of the quilt starting at the chalk line, continuing to the edge before beginning the second half, and removing safety pins as he went. It took him about 2 sittings to complete each half. I wanted it to be a joy for him, rather than a chore.

When using the walking-foot to quilt lines, it is important to begin each row at the opposite end in order for it to not all get pushed in one direction. For example, row 1 begins at the top, row 2 begins at the bottom, and row 3 begins at the top again.

Also, knowing my 13 year old would probably not have the patience or skill to make straight lines (neither would I), I thought it might be nice to make them intentionally and dramatically crooked. I like how it turned out.

I will get the next step up soon, for the weather is encouraging more cozy days in the home, and I am finally figuring out the Mac my husband has set me up on.

Vintage Floral and Aqua Quilt

Here is my latest and final quilt that I designed using mostly vintage fabrics. It is similar to Caleb's quilt, only smaller, a baby-sized quilt. As usual, my favorite part is the random yellow square in the corner. This quilt, along with my other vintage floral quilt, was mostly made of vintage fabrics a friend gave to me. This one has a Sage Kona Cotton surrounding the 'coins' rather than being all floral prints. I think I prefer it this way.

I love the backs of quilts.

Both quilts are now in my Etsy shop for purchase. They would make a great gift for twin girls!

Or if you want to make your own, a tutorial should be up soon.

Sewing with Kids - Caleb's Quilt

Day 8

Today, Caleb puts it all together!

Here he is taping down all the layers on my nice clean floor. Umm. This is one way to get me to mop! But did I mop the whole floor? No. Only what was necessary, of course. First, tape down the front of the quilt with the right/happy side down, stretching it nice and flat as you go. Next tape down the batting, smooth and wrinkle-free. Lastly, tape down the back of the quilt with the right side up.

In the picture below you can see all three layers are taped down, and now Caleb is pinning it together with safety pins. I helped Caleb with the pinning while we watched, well, mostly listened to, a good movie. The pins are 6-8 inches apart.

Now he is ready for the quilting...

Sewing with Kids - Caleb's Quilt

Day 7

Today Caleb made the back of his quilt:

First, using some remaining scraps of various widths, sew a strip of them together that will stretch across the width (shortest length) of the quilt, like a stack of coins. Iron the strip. Next, sew the backing on either side, placing the strip as desired. Caleb placed it unevenly, with more of the blue beneath the coins than above. We used 2 pieces each 60" in length for the blue, sandwiching the coin strip between. Iron again, pressing edges inward and you are ready to put it all together on another day.

Sewing with Kids - Caleb's Quilt

Day 6

The summer fog has rolled in.

A good day for sewing.

Today we joined the 3 block strips to 4 solid strips.

Since there was alot of fabric, I helped lift the bulk of it so it didn't cause his sewing to get wonky.

Next, sew on the top and bottom strips, trying to match the corners the best you can.

We are taking a while to complete this quilt, simply because I want it to remain a joy for him to do. We don't do too much in one sitting, and if I suspect burnout or frustration, we take a break. Some days, I just leave it all out on the kitchen table so we can sew as we please, taking breaks for leggos, lunch and outdoor fun. Caleb is now begging to start the quilting, so we will soon be off to the store to buy batting and a solid for the backing.