Craftster Best of 2012

This month I've been waiting impatiently for the annual Craftster Best of 2012 choices to be announced...hoping that one of my projects would be among them. The announcement came out this week, and WOO HOO, not one but TWO of my projects were recognized--and much to my surprise, two of the swaps I coorganized were recognized too!!

One Groovy Quilt is the project I was hoping would win, so I was very happy when I saw that it had. I made it for my partner, onegroovyday, in the Invite Your Partner swap last spring.  Since it was all hand-quilted it was very time consuming to make, but I knew she would appreciate it, and she did!  I love the colors and the log cabin pattern.

Then I discovered that two purses, A Rainbow and a Luna Moth, that I made for my partners in the Surprise Swap, were also winners!  They were both made using my standard zippered tote bag pattern, then I personalized them with the recipients' favorite themes.  These too were time consuming, but the results were really worth the effort.

I enjoyed looking at all the different projects that won "Best Of..." in the different categories--there are really a lot of winners!  It wasn't until I reached the very last category--swaps-- that I realized I had won again, for the Halloween/Autumn Ninni Swap (which I coorganized with Susan), and for the Craft This Tote Round 2 Swap (which I coorganized with Wendie). The interesting galleries are what made these two swaps notable (click on the name of each swap to visit the gallery).

All this excitement makes me want to get busy on some new projects (and potential winners!) Every project posted on Craftster this year will be considered for "Best Of 2013", so if you are crafty, YOU can put your projects in the running too!  If you are not a member of Craftster, don't worry, signing up is easy, and you can start posting your projects right away.  Craftster is a wonderfully encouraging community, and I highly recommend it!

A Look at Cutter Quilts

"Cutter quilts" are old, worn-out quilts that are considered too damaged to be a useful covering any longer; rather than throwing them in the garbage, they are re-purposed by cutting them up and using the "good" parts in other items, like pillows or stuffed toys.  I've always taken a dim view of this practice, because pieces of cutter quilts were being sold online, and what was to stop sellers from cutting up quilts that were still in good condition?  I worried that pretty soon ALL the old quilts would be cut up, and once they're gone, they're gone.

Recently, however, I took a look at vintage quilts on eBay, specifically those labeled "cutter".  There are TONS of them, and they generally sell for under $40.  Vintage quilts in good condition (not labeled "cutter") were selling for hundreds of dollars.  Clearly there is a distinction between them, and sellers realize they will get more money for a usable, intact quilt, so my fears were put to rest.

I put bids on a few of the cutter quilts, and I ended up winning three of them.  The first one was mine for just $10!  I could hardly wait to get my hands on it, to see the actual condition.  Here it is:

It's a full-sized scrappy quilt, with a large and interesting variety of fabrics, which I love!  One edge is completely frayed and shredded, and there are MANY holes and missing pieces of fabrics, especially in the middle.  The first thing I noticed as I took it out of the box was that it smelled of cigarette smoke, so I had to wash it.  The picture above was taken as it was drying on my back porch--(it would have gone to pieces in the dryer).

Here you can see one of the intact areas of the quilt:

This quilt was entirely pieced together by hand!  The quilting was done by hand too.  I think the big, uneven quilting stitches are charming, and this quilt will be perfect for re-using.

The picture below shows one of the many damaged areas.  Some of the fabrics have completely disintegrated:

It probably won't surprise you to know that the first thing I've made with my cutter quilt is some hearts:

I want to salvage as much of the quilt as possible, so I cut the small blue checked heart (below) from a scrap.

The fabrics are beautifully faded and soft.

On this heart (below) I used a piece of the backing (from an area where the front had a big hole) as the base of a small collage of  fabric and buttons.

As I make more hearts and other things from this quilt, I will be careful to always tell the people who receive my gifts that they were made from a vintage quilt.  I want to be sure the work of the unknown quilter is acknowledged and appreciated.

Love Never Ends

I spent this morning making the nicest card I was capable of making, and I mailed it to my Aunt Helen this afternoon.  Her husband, my Uncle Jack, recently passed away after a long and happy life and I wanted to write to express my sympathy.

At first I thought of sending her a card along with some of my stuffed hearts, with words of love and encouragement on them, but I know she is living in a small apartment now, and I didn't want to send something that might be in the way.  I didn't want to send just a card either, so I came up with a kind of compromise:  a card with a flat heart on the front, which I cut from a piece of a damaged antique quilt.

 I started by gathering supplies.  I had a "practice" heart left over from some sachets I made for Valentine's Day this year, so I used that as the model for this heart.  I cut out a paper template, and I found a piece of scrapbooking paper with an interesting vintage look to it.  In the picture below, you can see these items sitting on top of the damage quilt square.

After cutting out the heart from the quilt, I gathered a few more things:  pink and green embroidery floss, felt for a flower and leaves, and a butterfly charm.  As it turns out, I didn't use the butterfly.  I wrote the phrase "Love never ends" on a piece of white fabric, using a light box and a Micron marker, and machine-sewed it to the heart.

Next, I embroidered around the edges of the phrase patch, then added the green vine and pink blanket-stitching around the edge.  I cut out a flower and four leaves from the felt and sewed them in place with the embroidery thread.  A few French knots and two buttons completed the heart.

If you look closely, you can see the lines of hand-quilting sewn by the maker of the quilt:

I softened the appearance of the scrapbook paper with a piece of patterned vellum cut just a bit smaller than the front of the card.  

I wanted the heart to be secure on the card, but I value the old quilt too much to use glue or anything else that would be permanent, so I sewed it onto the card using the same embroidery thread I used on the heart.  I was really surprised at how easy it was to sew through the card!

Halfway through, here's how it looked on the inside:

I lined the inside of the card with a piece of writing paper, and wrote my letter to my aunt there.  At the end of the letter I explained how I made the card.  My love of quilts actually began on a family visit to Aunt Helen and Uncle Jack's house when I was 14 years old--that's where I first saw a hand made quilt.  As soon as I got home from that visit I started sewing my first quilt, and I haven't stopped sewing and quilting since then!  That's why using the antique quilt for this card was especially appropriate for Aunt Helen.

The finished card:

Happy Birthday, America!

"God Bless America" wallhanging, 9 1/2" x 11 1/2".  Cotton fabrics, polyester batting; machine pieced; appliqued, embroidered and quilted by hand.  This has been half-finished for the longest time; I finally managed to add the binding this week!  I will add a hanging sleeve to the back and find a place for it on a wall in my living room.

One Groovy Quilt

Since the age of 14 I've been a quilter; the biggest and best thing I can make anyone is a quilt.  So, when I signed up for the Invite Your Partner Swap on Craftster, with the amazing onegroovyday as my partner, a quilt seemed like the obvious thing to make for her.  That thought was confirmed with just a quick glance at her Pinterest--she has a lot of quilts pinned--so I knew she would truly love and appreciate a hand-quilted quilt.  Here it is:

Anyone who knows quilts will recognize this as a Log Cabin quilt.  It has "logs", or strips of fabric pieced into a square shape to make each block; the key is the placement of darker colors on one side and lighter colors on the other side of the block.  I had a lot of bold prints and bright colors, but fewer lighter, quieter fabrics, so I sewed some of the fabrics with the "wrong" side up (which is a lighter than the right side) to get good contrast between the lights and darks.

I didn't want the back to be boring, so I sewed together larger panels of the fabrics I used on the front.

To commemorate the occasion, I made this label (below) and sewed it to the back.

I pieced the top on the machine, then did all the quilting by hand.  I LOVE hand quilting!  There are 48 log cabin blocks, and each one took about 45 minutes to quilt, so that part took about 36 hours.  The boarder quilting was probably another 8-10 hours, plus a few hours for the binding--for a total of about 48-50 hours of hand-sewing time.  It's hard to calculate the time I spent piecing the top together, but I would guess somewhere in the 8-10 hour range.  Each log cabin block is approximately 7 1/4" square, and the whole quilt measures 50" x 64".  It's a bit big for a lap quilt, but it's better too big than too small!

I loved making this quilt because the colors are so fresh and pretty!  Enjoy it, onegroovyday!  (And to all you future swap partners--sorry, I don't think I'm going to make another quilt like this for a swap!  I'm keeping the rest for myself!!!)

Making Pillows

I really have pillows on the brain right now, because I'm in the Cushion Cover Swap at Craftster.  I wish I could show you the one I'm working on for my partner because I like how it's coming out!  But it involves a lot of handwork, so it will be another week or so before it is done (and then I have to wait for it to reach my partner in England before I can show it here!)  So instead, I will show you two scripture verse pillows I have just finished. 

I love making these pillows because I love scripture, and beading them is really fun! 

I make the tops just like a mini quilt, layering the front with batting and a backing fabric.  Then I do a little hand-quilting, and add all the beads.

Here's my secret for making a nice smooth pillow:  I also layer the back of the pillow like a mini quilt.  In this picture, the pillow front has been trimmed; I will just flip it over onto the layered backing, pin it, and take it to the sewing machine to sew it all together.

I leave an opening for stuffing, turn it, and fill it with polyfill.  Sew up the bottom and ta-da!  Finished!

These pillows are about 9" square, and make a wonderful little gift.

These could be made with any quote on the front; I add the words with a sakura micron marker and a light box.  They are really versatile that way, and could be personalized to anyone.

Cutter quilts

A while ago, my awesome friend Susan sent me (among other things) this sweet little heart that she bought from a seller on etsy called Wordz of Life.  The seller makes these ornaments out of old, worn out quilts, referred to as "cutter quilts", because that's all they are considered to be good for--cutting up to use for something else.  Here's the front:

Here's the back:

The first thing I said to Susan about the heart was:  "I love it!" and then, "I want to make some like this!"  She hadn't heard the term "cutter quilt" before, but she is really good at finding information online, so it wasn't too long before I received another package in the mail:  Susan had found another seller on etsy with cut-up squares of vintage quilts for sale, and she bought one for me!  (I told you Susan was awesome!) 

I love the look of the old quilt block, with the hand-stitching, the small holes, tears, and worn spots, all of which tell of its history.  Someone made this by hand, and it was used, and hopefully loved, until finally, it didn't look nice as a bedcovering any more, and was discarded.  Maybe the etsy seller got it at a thrift shop, or at an estate sale; either way, the quilt is now living its second life--it is being "re-crafted".  I decided to start using it for three of the hearts in the Jar of Hearts swap I participated in at Craftster (that's why it now has heart-shaped holes in it!)

The recipients of these quilt-hearts have told me they love them! I made mine 3-D, sewing two pieces of quilt-heart together, and filling them with fiberfil.  I left the raw edges showing and the cotton batting exposed. A simple button in the middle adds a little something without detracting from the simplicity of the heart.

I will admit that I have mixed feelings about cutting up old quilts; ideally, I would like to see them remain intact and used as a decorative element--over the back of a sofa, on top of a bookcase, or at the foot of a bed.  But some old quilts are too far gone, I suppose, for anything but being repurposed.  I am happy to see the usable parts of those quilts live on in other ways, like these hearts.

My First Mug Rug

Recently I was in the Mug Rug swap at Craftster, and I made my very first one!  A mug rug is bigger than a coaster and smaller than a placemat; the idea is that it is big enough for a drink and a snack.  It is really just a little quilt, so as a life-long quilter, I jumped right in!

I looked through my partner's Wists and I saw this picture:

I decided to use that as my inspiration.  I drew up a pattern, cut out the pieces, and hand-appliqued the fruit onto the background--that took a few hours.  Since her favorite color is yellow, I used that and red as the main colors. 

For the back I drew a message, using a sloth (also taken from her Wists) and a heart to represent our Craftster usernames.  I love the yellow dot fabric on the back!

When I was finished, I knew I had done my best work--but was it appropriate for something that would quickly be subjected to coffee stains and cookie crumbs?  Hmmm, not really!  Luckily, my partner, who is also a quilter, realized this too, and said that she plans to hang it on the wall in her kitchen.  Yay!

This experience served to remind me of something I already knew:  you need to take into consideration the function of the item you are making when you decide on the techniques you will use.  Fine hand-applique should be reserved for things that won't receive a lot of wear and tear.  Next time, I'm using Heat n Bond!