Modern Bookmarks to Teach Kids to Sew and Quilt

Do you want to teach kids to sew and quilt but sometimes find the task daunting? Although there is nothing more satisfying than seeing a child accomplish a project and be so proud of it!

I have a number of tutorials on teaching kids to sew, but the bookmarks are probably my favorite for those beginner projects. 

How to Make Bookmarks

Supplies - enough to make 5

Scraps of bright fabric

Batting 10” square

Backing 10” square

Instructions 

1. Take your scraps of fabric and with your ruler cut long straight sides. You are looking at about 10” long by 1/2”-2” wide.

 

2. Begin sewing the scraps together along the long side until it is approximately 10” x 10". 
3. Press well.

2. On the 10”x10” backing fabric, on the right side, draw out as many 2” x 7” rectangles as you can, leaving a 1/2” space between each and not getting too close to the outer edges.

5. Layer in order:

         Backing wrong side up

         Batting

         Scrap top right side up

6. Flip over and pin in the center of the rectangles to hold layers in place.
7. Set the machine to a tight zig zag stitch and sew on the lines you made for your rectangles.

6. Once done, cut out close to the stitch line and you have made your bookmarks!

Start enjoying using them! They have endless possibilities and make fabulous gifts! Be sure to send me a note if you make some!

An InLinkz Link-up

Modern Quilting with Bright Colors

Hello!
I have been getting a bit more into my studio now that spring is coming and the winter deadlines are fading as fast as the snow is melting.

With Easter approaching, I thought it would be fun to design my own Easter quilt. The bunny and carrot were done first as they were the trickiest with a few pieces to figure out.
The eggs were nice and simple and bright rick rack finished them off.

Spending some time working on different free motion designs within  a quilt and to play with bright colours and drunkard path blocks. My colours at the moment seem to be bright blue, pinks and greens. 

When watching a movie with the kids, hand sewing these hexies is a great way to keep productive while enjoying family time. 

The national quilt organization I belong to, is hosting a Postcard Challenge this May and you make a postcard, mail it in, and it gets displayed at their annual conference where you can buy the postcards for $5 each and the money goes to the Children's Hospital in British Columbia, Canada. I kept mine simple and modern, hoping that would be a nice draw for someone to purchase. 

Last picture is I am spreading my wings.  My father was an amazing carpenter and could make anything. Most often design his own items. This is a small coaster with epoxy that I dyed blue. I have four more in the making. Eventually I want to make bigger items but need to start small to perfect the process. 

Hope you are getting crafty as spring comes into season!

Repairing a Quilt from a Fire

Fire and Quilt.  Two words that should never be put together.   Never.  

A close friend of mine recently lost her house and everything in it.   The family, with 3 adorable children all got out and everyone is fine.   She was not a quilter, but they lost about 20 quilts.   While running out, the husband managed to snatch their wedding quilt which was hanging on the wall, and saved it.   So to speak.

The quilt and I have a little history together.   It came into my home back in 2007.  It needed hanging sleeves and was sent to me.   I put them on using an old sheet that had special meaning to both of us, I didn't tell her that though,  I just quietly hand stitched the sleeves on and returned it.   I am very thankful now that I took big stitches so that it ripped easily off the wall.

The night of the fire, it rained.   The quilt was sitting for a time in the yard while their house burned down.   It smelled of smoke and one colour ran alot.   Of course it was that darn red that ran.  

The quilt came back to me to see if I could 'fix' it.

 I aired it out for almost a month.  And during that time, I looked at it every.single.day.   I had no idea how to get that red out.   The back was white and pink streaks now ran through it.  I decided that I would leave the back alone.   One, because I knew it was going back on a wall when they got a new house, and two, it was a reminder, part of history, their history.

I called the maker of the quilt, and I called an expert in quilting.   The options were:
1.  Throw it in the wash with hot water and synthrapol.
2.  Take a bleach pen to the spots that ran.
3.   My idea.

I just could not throw this quilt in a washing machine.   As easy as that would have been, I think I probably would have had an ulcer in the 40 minutes it took for the wash to finish.  And all I could think about was what if it made it worse?  How could I ever return it to them?

The bleach pen idea was dismissed as well.  For starters, it was not going to bring the colour back, just make it white.   And it deteriorates the fabric.  

All that left was my idea.   It involved applique.   I detest applique.  Let me clarify, I love fusible  applique, but this quilt was pieced and machine and hand quilted, and there is even trapunto in it!  The quilter is pretty extraordinary.   And I knew there was an excellent chance she may see it again someday.  Imagine if there was fused applique on it!

I took a few pictures of the quilt.  I did not take one of the whole quilt as I did not get permission.  It is a scrappy log cabin pattern with white in the centre with flowers, leaves and stems appliqued on the white part.

Here is what I decided to do. I took my ruler and measured the rectangle, or section I was going to applique over.   I added a 1/4" to all sides, and then cut out the piece from a  similar piece of fabric.   I folded the sides in and ironed them, and with very tiny stitches appliqued it over the bad section.   Slowly.

We had some lighting issues.  Today was very dark.   But above is the 'before' shot.  Below is the after shot...come on... you are surprised it turned out so well aren't you?  I sure was=)

Here is another after shot... you can see the two spots where I pieced due to the fact that they were going to run into the original applique.

Did you know that dragon flies are a symbol of renewal?   And it is also known that dragon flies are a creature of the water and those whose habitat is in or around water, dragon flies bring luck, prosperity and peace.   Do you know why I am telling you this?

  You already know I like to leave a mark on all my quilts, just a symbol of some sort=)  Did you also know that I live on the largest fresh water island in the world?  My friend lives here too.   I would think that qualifies for a habitat around water don't you?   

There were quite a few of the darker sections that needed replacing. Here is my little secret  (my friend doesn't read my blog so I know it is safe with you).  On the darker fabric I had to replace, I used the same fabric each time.   Ready for the identifier, it has dragon flies on it.

The places I had to do this, I was thrilled with.   When I did the white, you can find the sections if you are looking because it is white and there are still one or two places that show a light pink.  But when I covered up the red spots here, it was gone, and you couldn't even find where I did it... except by the dragon flies.  Now don't tell!

Lastly, the sleeve was done in sections.   Two of the five sections were still on there.  Even though they wouldn't match the new sleeves I was adding, I just didn't feel it right to remove them.  So they stayed and three new sleeve sections were added.   

While this isn't my quilt, I feel that we have a bit of history together.   I look forward to walking into their new house someday and see it hanging.   That will bring a big smile to my face.  I hope the dragon flies do their job too!

Fabric and Running and Driving and Life

I have been exhausted all day today, like a fog is over me. Too much going on. Gram went into the hospital last Thursday and it was a bit touchy, but she seems to be rallying back to her normal spirits. But that has meant trips up to the hospital.

Took the kids to Sudbury yesterday, and they were as good as gold. There is a certain big box store that starts with a 'W', that is cutting way back on their fabric and they had batiks on for $3 a metre, so that was a good score!

Ran again today, just a short one. Have one more short run on Friday then off to Sudbury for the race Sunday morning.

Saturday morning is the first soccer game for my kids. Did I mention that I have never played and I am coaching 11 kids. 2 are my own, so we were out practicing today in the yard. They have never played either. The only way I could guarantee they were on the same team is to volunteer to help, they were obviously desparate for coaches! But since then, I have received a manual from a friend on soccer for kids, sent various emails out and am feeling somewhat confident of what to do. Plus the kids are supposed to be in Senior Kindergarten to play. My oldest is in JK, and my youngest is still only 3. Don't tell.

Hopefully it will be nice out and we can bike, play baseball and soccer. They start baseball in 2 weeks as well. And I didn't lie about their age this time! But I can't find their gloves anywhere and I have turned my house upside down.

Doormat

Can you believe this is a door mat? I got it in Elliot Lake and am disappointed I didn't think to get my mom one for her birthday. It looks just like the quilt pattern, square in a square.

Tonite is the big night.... when I go before Council and present my case to raise chickens. I spent Sunday nite doing more research, and the past 2 days, practicing my speech. Crazy, I know, but now I think I am ready to answer whatever question they throw at me, whether it be about neighbours, pests, or the avian flu... did you know the dangerous strain is called H5N1, well I do, and I can tell you all about it, the effects in Canada and world wide. I can even tell you how many vials of the antibiotic to combat it Canadas has purchased. 23 million, in case you were wondering.

Yep, my homework is done, now I just have to present it and hope for the best. The late Dr. Jeno Tihanyi said that swimming the actual race is only 10% of the job, and 90% is the practice that takes place before it. So in this case, 90% is the homework I have done and the 10% is just showing Council my stuff. According to this logic, I should win=) I should mention he was Alex Baumann's coach, ya, the Olympic Swimmer that captured 2 gold in the '84 Olympics. As an aside, there is a painting in my house of him, autographed to me, wishing me 'all the best'.

I can use that tonight, Sasha!

To Bead or Not to Bead

Let's start with that first. I am doing some beadwork on a quilt, well, quite a lot. I thought I had purchased several containers of this type, but was mistaken, I only have 2. It is going to be nip and tuck. I have reduced myself to looking between the couch cushions for any that may have fallen. And believe me, that is scary, you never know what you will find there. That is my quilting story to date, I am beading 1 1/2 hours each nite. I have 13 objects to do and it takes me that long to do one. I am hoping to be done in 3 weeks, as I am out some nights coming up etc.

Now I know you are dying to hear about my running. I got up early and headed to the treadmill. Ran my 3.2 km this morning in 20 minutes. I have got that one down to a science now. Mainly because I mentally don't lose my marbles for 2 km, and the last one is just a sprint , die, repeat, till I finish. This week I have to do a 5 km, and an 8km run, and am supposed to go away and I have a cold. I have to figure out where to get that 8 km one in... it is the time factor that I find difficult to deal with. How do you find that much time in a day with 1 or 2 litte ones at home?

Now you may be wondering why I have put a set of scales on this note. I have discovered something wonderful about non digitalized weight scales. I have been trying to lose that 5 lbs (well it did creep up to 10 a while ago, then back to 7), but I digress. I noticed that if you stand at just the right angle looking down at my scales, they could use an adjustment. For the betterment of accuracy. Do you see where I am going with this? So in an effort to be true to myself, I adjusted my scales and low and behold, had lost 2 lbs. Try it, you wouldn't believe how good it makes you feel! It almost made me forget my 6 pieces of date squares I had yesterday.
I can't wait to adjust, I mean weigh in next week!

Sense of Humour

My mom and her friends have a great sense of humour. So much so, that I always tease them for laughing more than quilting when they get together to quilt. This wallhanging was made for a friend of theirs moving down south. But they made a similar one that hangs in the Mindemoya Hospital as well.

I did a 5 km run yesterday, on the treadmill, and was happy about the time. Not because of what it was, but because I was able to work thru the fear of not having enough energy at the end.

Since running is a new sport for me, I always think I need to save energy, not go as hard as I might. Totally unlike swimming, where I know exactly how fast I can go for how long, to do the best I can in a race. I don't have that kind of control over running.....yet.

I have 5 more weeks until the race, so will continue to follow my schedule. At some point, I am going to have to abandon my treadmill and head outside. I am dreading that as I know my time will falter and it will be more of a mental training than anything else. But unfortunately I can't run the race on my treadmill=)

I am loving this warmer weather for a number of reasons. But one of them is I am outside more and not so tempted by walking thru the kitchen and eating whatever is on the counter.

Must get out there and enjoy this beautiful day with my family.

Two for Twins

My mother in law loves me these days. In one week, I finished both rag quilts for her to give to a set of twins. I got the twins bamboo plates and bamboo forks and spoons from the 'Green Collection' store online. I haven't learned how to make it link right to the website, so you will have to google it until I figure it out.

Ran today, had to go hard as I knew the kids would only sit still for about 20 minutes. Yes, I turned the tv on, and that is how I knew I only had 20 minutes. Don't judge me! haha. Anyway, I took another 30 seconds off my time for my little 3.2 km run.

And my 'dear' friend emailed today and we decided on April 24th as the day we will have lost our 5 lbs. She wants to celebrate by buying clothing and I am not sure what I will do to celebrate. I am wondering if I lose the weight prior to this date, and then put it back on, is that still a win?

Tonite I started quilting my next project and am thrilled about that. I won't mention that I am already thinking about the one after that. I guess that is why quilters spend so much money on fabric. Not me, of course! I don't do that bad though, because I purchased a bolt of white fabric and what I usually do is pick a commercial fabric or two and then dye the rest of the fabric I am going to use to match my focus fabrics. And yes, the white fabric is much much cheaper than a commercial print fabric. So if you think about it, I am actually saving money. Well, as long as you don't think about it for too long!

NJS Here We Come!

My quilt got accepted into the National Juried Show in Saskatoon , hosted by the Canadian Quilters Association. If I was any more excited I would fly there and deliver it myself. My friend from our guild also got in, so it really puts Manitoulin on the map!



That pretty much made the day terrific. Plus the kids did some great skating, both able to stop now and we played outside and had a ton of fun this afternoon. Life is good.

Ice Day

Freezing rain kept us in for some of the day, but my boys were perfect all day long. I had a terrific day today. We baked cupcakes, cookies all for Valentine's Day. Well, there was some sampling done today. Below is a picture of what will hopefully turn into the skating wall quilt I mentioned in one of my earlier posts.

Cold and Cold

It is -20 out today and totally cold and I have a cold. We still managed to go out twice today, once to walk to the lake and then so my oldest could ride his skidoo. Despite being totally wiped I did manage to do a bit of quilting. Tomorrow, hot soup is on the menu.

A Long Wait

Sigh, sigh, and triple sigh. If you can't do it yourself, don't expect others too. And always, always do your homework. This quilt is going on it's 3rd year in the making. It has seen the best and worst of me, and currently is testing me, beyond what I thought quilting should be testing me=) As one quilter told me, "you have perseverance". Or maybe I don't know when to quit. Regardless, I am going to see this one through. My goal is to have it done by January 2010.