Author: Teresa

Quilts, good books and dogs. Plus a cup of tea. Life is good.

A fun quilt pattern to make with your ‘tween or suitable for a quick charity quilt

April 20, 2024

Take a look at the Layer Cake Shake, a free quilt pattern offered by Fat Quarter Shop.
The FQS video tutorial for this pattern may be found here.

Why I like it:
1) Great way to use up leftover layer cake (10″) squares
2) Simple piecing with fewer match points
3) At 56-1/2″ square, it makes a perfect size quilt for a ‘tween

This variation of the Friendship Star block lends itself to all sorts of creative interpretation. Be as scrappy or as matchy-matchy as your heart desires. If you need to make it a little longer, consider adding a row of 8-1/2″ Friendship Star blocks or colored strips across the top and bottom of the quilt before adding the borders.

Hint: The quilt center consists of 4 large blocks. Before sewing all the rows into the four 9 patch blocks, lay them out first and decide which block is 1, 2, 3 and 4. Seams on blocks 1 & 4 will be pressed alike and seams on blocks 2 & 3 will be pressed alike. This makes a difference when you sew the blocks together.

This quilt is also very easy to work on in chunks. When I was still working full-time, this was the exact type of project that kept me sane. By working on it for an hour or so each night, I would have a completed top by the following weekend.

And more more advantage to this pattern – it’s a good size to practice my FMQ skills. Can’t wait to see how my free motion quilting plan for this quilt turns out!

The sad state of my local Joann’s

April 16, 2024

Last night I took Big Girl shopping at the Joann’s in Kennesaw. It’s one of their Maker Studio concept stores. It’s a neat place and the only one of its kind in the Atlanta region. It also serves as a hub for online order fulfillment.

Chapter 11 has hit this store hard – particularly when it comes to quilting and sewing. There are obvious holes in product availability throughout the store. Large sections of aisles are bare. While there is still fabric available, sewing and quilting notions are extremely limited and your available options are few. It’s surreal. If I’d needed to buy a twin size package of Warm & Natural quilt batting, replacement blades for my rotary cutter or a pincushion, I’d have been out of luck. It was a similar situation for cross-stitch supplies and the Happy Planner section. Staff told me that they get two trucks a week. It must be all the home decor and seasonal items up front, not items that I typically buy at Joann’s.

Is inventory of certain product categories being allowed to deplete because they are planning a major reset soon? Or is it due to bankruptcy? Think Big Girl and I are going to take a trip to the Alpharetta Joann’s later today for comparison. I’ll report back. So we made the trek to the Alpharetta location. A little more inventory is available, but it’s obvious merchandise hasn’t been replenished in a while. Some empty spaces in the displays, but not as jarring as the Kennesaw location. There’s one area that’s full of boxes. Another area full of clearance stuff. Looks like a reset or a shrinkage of floor space devoted to sales is in the works. I sincerely hope Joann’s emerges from bankruptcy in a good position. We need a solid brick and mortar retailer in the sewing and crafting space.

By the way, I did buy 3 yards of a really cute white-on-white print I needed for a specific donation quilt project.

Photo by WeStarMoney on Pexels.com

Why I volunteer

April 12, 2024

Her smile says it all. Big Girl is so happy to be back in “her” library doing what she does best – spreading some Sadie sunshine among the staff and patrons – in addition to listening to elementary kids read to her. Most of the time, you never know the impact your volunteer efforts might have, This week I did.

Six years ago, a rising 8th grader began reading to Boomer. She was new to the U.S. and spoke no English. We worked with her from late spring through the following winter. This week, her little brother came to read to Sadie. Mom recognized me and thanked me for helping her daughter so much all those years ago. Her daughter graduated high school and is now now working to save money for college.

Most of my personal sewing time is spent making things for others. Much of it is donated through the East Cobb Quilt Guild’s community service outreach. Yesterday was a “charity sewcial” where a large group of us gathered for fellowship and to work on charity projects. I pieced blocks for my bee group’s charity quilt, put together the sashing strips and sewed the rows together for another charity quilt made from last year’s Middle Georgia Shop Hop blocks, plus sewed pillowcases that will go to nearby children’s hospitals. I returned home with additional pillowcase kits and fabric to make even more blocks for my bee group’s charity quilt(s).

Charity quilt layout using blocks collected from 2023 Middle Georgia Shop Hop

If you’re in a guild or group, don’t let a lack of fabric (or the funds to buy fabric) keep you from participating in charitable sewing endeavors. If you have a sewing machine and are willing sew, there are plenty of materials available at no cost to you to create projects for donation. Reach out to a sewing friend or fellow guild member to ask if materials are available or let folks know you’ll be happy to take fabric scraps and excess stash to make items for charity. My guild’s current community service team has been diligently processing the influx of fabric donations to create themed kits and curated collections for charity sewing volunteers. They’ve done a great job! A few members of the guild have a challenge where they create quilts using only donated fabric and whatever current free pattern they’ve agreed on. Two of the ladies sitting with me yesterday were feverishly working on their charity challenge quilts. It was so much fun to see the action and listen to the banter as they sewed.

P.S. If you are a quilter with a large stash, consider leaving instructions with your estate documents to donate any remaining machines, fabrics and supplies that your heirs don’t want to a local quilt guild, quilt museum or pet rescue group with a resale shop. Your donation will make a world of difference.