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Quilted Bible Cover – part 2

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Last week I began sharing my “Book cover” adventure with measuring, cutting and stitching the words. Jackie commented that she wanted information on the Brother ScanNCut™. It’s an amazing electronic cutting (and marking) machine for cutting out fabric, paper, cardboard, etc.

I found a good video on how use the ScanNCut™ on-line. To access that video click here.

These amazing machines are available at Sew Much More in Waukesha. If you don’t live in southeastern Wisconsin, loads of info can be found on Brother’s website, along with purchasing instructions. Click here to link to it!

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And now for the step-by-step photos on how to make the book cover, once the outer cover is quilted. The measuring and cutting instructions were covered in last week’s post. Click here to access that information.

  1. Press under a ¼” hem, twice, along one short edge of the lining fabric.   Topstitch in place.
  2. Iron the flap pieces (right side out) in half so they are 4” x the length.
  3. Place the folded flaps on the right side of the quilted cover along the   short sides, with raw edges aligned. (I didn’t take a photo of this step, but what you would see is the side flaps on both ends of the quilted front covered, with the cover showing through in the middle. In the photo below, the green area under the pencil is one of the side flaps peeking out from under the hemmed portion of the lining.)
  4. Place the lining on top, right sides together. It will be short on one edge, and it doesn’t matter which. Pin. Stitch all the way around using a 1/4″ seam allowance (rounding off the corners is a nice effect).

5. Trim corners and turn right side out through the opening created by the short end of the lining.

6. Turn the side flaps to inside and press entire knife edge well.

7. Insert book/Bible:

And ENJOY!

This really is a simple project. I hope you have the opportunity to make one for yourself… or someone special!

Quilted Bible Cover – Part 1

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Over the years I’ve made a number of book/journal covers, for various reasons. Most often it was as a project for one of Wendy and my Sew We Go adventures.

Recently I’ve been concerned because the large print Bible I purchased at an estate sale was breaking down on the corners.

This is the Bible I carry back and forth with me to worship services, and I didn’t want it to fall apart. Making a cover for it was the perfect answer.

I thought you might like to know how it’s done. I began by taking measurements:

  • From top edge to bottom edge plus 1” will be the length.
  • With the book closed, the width of the cover from edge to edge around the spine plus 1” will be the width.

Then I cut:

  • 2 rectangles of fabric at this measurement – one for the cover and one for the lining.
  • 2 pieces of fabric 8” x the length measurement for the inside flaps.
  • 1 piece of batting at this measurement.

I smoothed the cover fabric, wrong side against the batting and pinned through both layers.

To stitch the words on the cover I needed a pattern. I got out my Scan n Cut™ and a roll of contact paper to create a stencil.

The contact paper allowed me to stick the stencil to the cover fabric. Then I threaded the machine with gold metallic thread, and free motion stitched the words in place, stitching a second time to make them stand out.

Here’s a view from the back side:

The hand marbled fabric I’d chosen for the cover was so beautiful, I didn’t want to do too much quilting on the rest of the cover. So I marked diagonal lines with a sliver of soap and stitched them using feed dogs and a matching thread.

I was pleased with the quilting and jumped right into putting it all together.

Covered Bibles, books or journals make great gifts. Would you like to have the instructions for making the actual cover?

Stay tuned for next week’s post ?!

Buried Treasure

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Last year I wrote a post about a quilt my friend Eileen made for her husband Ken (to read that post click here). It was a traditional bear’s paw pattern done with a fun, new technique.

This past week she came to class with a vintage family quilt top and it’s story:

“Ken grew up in Kentucky and his mom was a quilter. In her later life she became ill with cancer and moved in with Ken and Eileen in Wisconsin so they could take care of her. While she was with them she continued to make quilts. After she died, another relative was allowed to live in her house in Kentucky (for 15 years after her passing!). Recently, Ken took ownership of his mother’s home and, as he and Eileen went through they found a quilt top they didn’t know existed, buried in a bag of material in a closet.”

What a coincidence – it’s another bears paw!

Eileen was quite excited to find this treasure and brought it back to Wisconsin to wash it – and now she wants to finish it.

She brought it to Open Lab this past week and we were all intrigued by the “fussy cut” stripe used in the sashing and border.

Then we noticed that all three of the fabrics used for the paws was the same print in a different color way. It’s quite an interesting print and I was wondering if anyone out there has an idea of what decade this fabric is from. If you have any information to share, please comment to this post.

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And thanks to everyone who left a comment on last week’s post about the cutter quilts. I found your stories such fun to read!

If you missed those comments – click here – and then scroll down to the bottom of last week’s post!

Cut a Quilt?

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I love quilts. I especially love old quilts – and they don’t need to be museum quality. As many of you may know I have a lecture about my “less than pristine” collection of quilts I call But I Still Love You. I also have 3 other vintage quilt/clothing lectures – and you can read about them on the classes page of my website. Click here to see them all!

Sadly, I occasionally come across a quilt that is in such bad shape, it is unusable.

These are often called “Cutter Quilts” and some crafters will cut them up and make something new from them. This used to make me sad, but over the years I’ve come to believe that it’s better to make them into something new and lovely, or even useful, than have them sit in a box or be thrown away. I am very much against cutting up vintage quilts – unless there is really no hope for them.

Many years ago I made this teddy bear from an embroidered quilt I purchased at an auction. Most of the embroidery had been worn away, so I salvaged the best parts.

I used to participate in craft fairs and one of the friends I shared a booth with made old world santas from tattered quilts. Anita hand stitched the faces and embellished them in unique ways. I had to buy one:

By our next craft fair I was making crazy quilted coats for her santas, we split the profits and they were a hit. I was happy because I was still a “non-cutter quilt purist” at that time and it stopped her from cutting quilts apart.

I think the incident that changed my mind on this topic came about way back when I first began teaching quilting at Madison Area Technical College. I had a delightful woman in my weekly class who was a bit quirky. She lived out on a farm and decorated it with tattered quilts, pigs and anything purple.

Sadly, she came to class one day to say that her husband had run off with another woman and left her with his debt. She needed to have an auction and, through tears, invited all of us to come and give her treasures good homes. I was happy to oblige. I still have a number of her ceramic and wooden pigs in my kitchen. I bought two of her quilts and they were in very bad condition. So I stuffed them in a closet and tried to forget about them.

A few weeks later I was thinking about what I could do to cheer Jeanine up. I decided making a pig out of the tattered quilt with the purple ties would be the best use of that quilt. I cut out the good parts, lined the ears with purple and wrapped it up to bring to class.

She cried – but she loved it!

A while later Jeanine came to class with a smile on her face. She had met a wonderful man. They got married, moved to Florida and had 2 beautiful little girls. Don’t you love a happy ending?

So, if you have a family heirloom, and it is really falling apart, giving it new life might be the right thing to do. Especially if it can be made into a number of smaller items and shared with family members who would appreciate it. Cutting it into smaller “chunks” and placing them in a shadow box or frame is a nice option. Making a number of small table toppers is also a good idea – or maybe Christmas stockings!

I did a bit of web surfing and absolutely loved the idea of placing a quilt piece inside an old window on Sadie Seasongoods website. To read this delightful story click here.

If you’re wondering how I came up with this blog topic – I recently received an email from a site called Jen Reviews. This is what it said:

“My name is Jess and I’m the Editor at Jen Reviews. I was doing some research and just finished reading your wonderful blog. I just published a beautiful cutter quilt snowman tutorial complete with step-by-step pictures and detailed instructions.”

I went to her site and her snowman made me smile. Click here to link to the instructions. 

Have you done something with a tattered quilt? Would you like to share? I’d love to hear all about it at:

A Rotary Blade Changing Aid

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While in Paducah this Spring Eileen and I stopped by a vendor booth owned by Cynthia Ellis. She is not a quilter, but she does beautiful wood turning. I already have a lovely turned seam ripper and pen, but what caught my eye were her magnets – they’re beautiful:

I wasn’t sure why I needed one and then she made it clear. Changing the rotary blade in my cutter is always a nervous time – I don’t like to bleed! With her Magne-Dots (magnets with handles) there’s nothing to worry about. Let me give you a quick step-by-step:

Begin by taking your cutter apart. I like to lay each piece out in order, with the part closest to the handle piece facing up, so it’s easy to put back together.

Pick up a Magne-Dot and grab the old blade.

Lift it off the cutter screw:

And dispose of it in your sharps container.

Pick up the new blade from its case. If it’s a multi-pack, pick up the stack. You’ll notice the lubricant on the blades. This often makes them stick together.

To separate the blades, place the other Magnedot on the bottom blade and slide them apart.

Place the new blade on the cutter screw.

I find it helpful to use the top of the second Magne-Dot to hold the blade while releasing the first Magne-Dot.

My fingers never came near the sharp edge of the blade and I’m ready to reassemble my cutter!

I love it when artists come up with great ideas for using their work and I feel it’s an honor to purchase from them. I’ve ordered a number of pairs of Magne-Dots from Cynthia’s website to give as gifts. To visit her site and get your own Magne-Dots click here!

And remember – they work best in pairs!

Trey’s Modular Log Cabin

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Last week I showed you my latest “modular” style quilt, where the blocks are each finished as individual small quilts and arranged and rearranged on a background quilt through the magic of Velcro™. This week I have one special arrangement to share.

While I was working on the background quilt my grandson, Trey, was very interested. When I noticed this I asked him if he’d like to create his own pattern. He nodded his head in glee, and was happy to help me pull the blocks from my current arrangement on the background quilt. He then began placing a few blocks:

pulling some off:

and starting again:

All of a sudden it seemed a lightbulb went of in his head! He pulled the latest blocks off and quickly began again.

And this was the result:

He’s 4, he’s learning his letters, and T is definitely his favorite!

We smile a lot when he’s around!

My Modular Log Cabin Quilt

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The Madison Quilt Expo has a challenge every year and I entered it a few years back when the theme was Autumn in Wisconsin. This was the quilt I made for that challenge. I call it “Which Way Does the Wind Blow?” because of the mariner’s compass leaves.

This year’s theme is log cabin. Participants are to make an innovative quilt with this very traditional block, 30″ x 40″. So ~ what can you do with the log cabin pattern that hasn’t already been done?

Well, since I’ve been absorbed in my latest quilt-venture: “Modular Memory Quilts”, it became obvious to me that I should make a background quilt and attach “individual log cabin block quilts” to it through the magic of Velcro™. It was great fun to make all the blocks ~ and quite a challenge to figure out how to get it all to work (the black stripes on the background quilt are the Velcro™, the back of the blocks have Velcro™ strips also):

When piecing the blocks, I decided to change the width of my logs to create a curved effect, and I alternated the placement of the green background and the scraps to add even more interest.

Now I have the parts made and I’m trying to decide on my favorite set. Since log cabin blocks can be put together in a myriad of ways, I’d love your input.

Which is your favorite?

Straight Furrows
Alternating Circles
Straight Furrows and Circles
Curvy Pinwheels
Barn Raising

Please let me know your choice in a comment to this post.

And now for my true confession. I got so into this project, and was having so much fun, that I never even thought about reading the fine print in the challenge rules. Once it was done I discovered this in rule #7: “Quilts in multiple pieces or in frames are not accepted”. UGH!!!

I’m grateful the challenge got me to make this quilt and annoyed with myself for not reading the rules. But even if I had, I would have made this quilt for the sheer fun of it! Since it can’t get into the challenge at the Madison Expo, I think entering it in the actual quilt show there is a great option. I’ll let you know if it gets in :-).

And a quick follow up to last week’s post…

Mary Margaret responded to last week’s post with a few photographs of her quilts.

She said: “I like to take my quilts out to photograph them in fun places. I took some of the photos up at the clearing in Door County, but most were from old Falls Village in Menomonee Falls. I put quilts on doorstops, hanging over barn doors etc.” 

What a great idea. When my friend Di designed my original website she photographed a number of my quilts out in our woods. Click here if you’d like to go to my Gallery page, then scroll through the quilts. You’ll be able to tell which photos were taken by Di :-).

I think I need to photograph my quilts in unique ways like this. Thanks for the inspiration Mary.

Oak Leaf and Swirl – Part 2

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I had a number of readers ask about the thread/machine I used to do the quilting in the background of this quilt. I have a Handi-quilter Sweet 16, sit down mid-arm machine, and I used polyester thread. Now I have a confession to make, I continue to have problems with tension and breaking when I use thinner threads in my mid-arm. I get the best results with Gutermann polyester thread in the top and bobbin.

Since the background was quilted in part one, it’s time to share a bit about my appliqué technique. But I don’t want to put the cart before the horse, so I’ll begin with the design process I used to create the twisted Oak Leaf and Reel patterns.

I know this border is actually vertical in the quilt, but it fit better horizontally here for explanatory purposes. Do you see how the block on the far left looks like a typical oak leaf and reel block? Then, as you travel to the right, each subsequent block has a little more “twist”?

I created this effect in Photoshop using filters. I selected “distort” followed by “twirl”. Then I typed in the percentage of twirl and here’s what I came up with:

I hope you can see the gradual change from zero to 100% rotation. The 100% drawing was what I used to create the quilting design for the center of the quilt. My hope was to portray the wind swirling the leaves around.

To make the appliqué border blocks I began by layering a piece of the brown plaid border fabric, right side down, with a silk square of men’s necktie fabric on top, wrong side down also, and lastly the paper pattern – pinned at the corners:

Next I free motion stitched on all the pattern lines:

When I turned this block over to the fabric side I was able to see the stitches (I used white thread for demonstration purposes – in the actual block I used a matching thread so it wouldn’t be obvious):

I free-motion stitched over these lines a second time, slowing down my hands to achieve a short stitch length, because this will be left raw edged and I don’t want things to come apart. Once the stitching was done I trimmed away all the extra plaid fabric and – voila – a raw-edge repliqué block!

This is the same way I created the windswept tree!

Once the left border was added I had a minor surprise. I made the quilted background 2″ longer than needed to allow for shrinkage when quilting, but the length was now 1/2″ too short for the contest!!!

What to do? Don’t panic! Simply add triangles along the bottom!

I raw-edge appliquéd these triangles too and I think they add a lot of interest. What a fortunate mistake! It’s all about attitude :-).

I hope you enjoyed learning about my creative process and the techniques required to get ‘er done. I know some quilters have everything planned before they begin, and I’m sure that’s a good way for them to work, but I love to fly by the seat of my pants and wait for the “what ifs”.

How do you work? Intense planning? or “let’s see what happens”? Please comment and let us all know.