Jayna's First Quilt from Wilma

A beautiful quilt! This quilt top was made and gifted to Jayna by her birth mother, Wilma shortly before Wilma lost her struggle with cancer. 

I was asked to finish it. We found a lovely olive fabric for the backing and the quilting is a pantograph call Plumeria by Urban Elements. The thread is Glide and Glide 60 Cream.

But there's more to this story. From the front, the quilt top was perfect. All the corners and points were lined up to perfection. It was ironed flat, no ripples at all. However, when you looked at the back of the quilt top there were many area, particularly around the thin green stripes of the central square on point. Some of the seams were so narrow that they were ripping out or if they hadn't yet, they certainly would once the quilt was used.

How could I fix this? I needed to strengthen the integrity of the quilt without ruining the integrity of the design. I asked some quilting groups of which I was a part and most said to redo in someway or other, but I didn't have the same fabrics, nor could I ask Wilma for scraps. I didn't want to swap a new fabric for what was in there. This was from Wilma and I wanted it to remain as Wilma planned it. Plus, cost was an issue as well. To have me redo would have been labor (and therefore) cost intensive.

In the end, what I did was to take in the seams a little more (up to 1/8") which distorted ever so slightly the perfection of the square, but after quilting, it shouldn't be that noticeable. And then to keep it from ripping out I used some sewable Heat n Bond, fusing strips to white fabric which I then fused to the underside of the top to reinforce those seams that were the weakest. I then proceeded as I normally would to quilt it. 

All in all, we were both pleased with the way it turned out. The back was the perfect color to match the front. To see the corrections, you would have to know what to look for in the front. Though it wasn't included in the cost, I couldn't let this quilt go back to Jayna without a quilt label telling the who, what, why, where, when of the quilt's story. 

Cathy's Happy Spring Quilt

Cathy brought me this quilt to quilt made from colors that just made her happy. I can see why. I wish I could tell you the name of this quilt pattern. I asked and she said she thinks it came from MO Star Quilting, but didn't know the name off the top of her head.

She chose a black and white striped binding, which you may not think would go well with the bright spring colors, but it turned out great. The quilting is the "Bora Bora" pantograph from Urban Elements which really adds some movement to this happy quilt.

Cycling T-shirt Memory Quilt

A client's quilt that she made (her first!) with t-shirts from years and years of cycling. I quilted it in a meandering loopy pattern using MonoPoly thread on the front to not take away from the many colors of the t-shirts. I bound it using leftover backing fabric.

Second of Five Plush Animal Design Quilt

 

You may remember me telling you that many long years ago, a sister of mine cleaned out her fabric stash and gave me some. In this gift, there were some fabrics that were obviously from the same line and some other fabric that coordinated well. This is made from some of that fabric.

I wanted to try out a new pantograph pattern before putting it on a client's quilt, so I used this quilt as a practice. Lookin' good.

Multi-size Square Scrappy Quilt

A scrap quilt using all the "ugly" fabric (which aren't really ugly - just don't read as a solid color which is what I prefer). It is made up entirely of squares cut to 2", 3-1/2" and 5". The back also has some of the 3-1/2" squares to add some pizazz.

 Being one who wants to use every scrap of fabric and never waste anything, I bought and read the book by Joan Ford called "Cut the Scraps" and later the sequel "Scraps Plus One." Using her method, I had cut a lot of squares into those sizes. This pattern is based on one of her quilts in the book, but I had to entirely refigure since I wanted a twin size and hers was only a baby size.

I wanted to use up all the scraps that were too busy to read as a solid color. I began by randomly sewing squares together as the leaders/enders to chain piecing. Eventually, my random had to become less random to keep it looking random. I then quilted each size a little differently so the amount of quilting would be more consistent and to try out some new ideas.

Trying to have it flow where the sizes met up took some planning, but I think all in all it turned out well.

I used Glide Cleopatra thread (which reads as a metallic gold) on the top and Glide 60 Military Gold on the bottom which blended well with both.

The quilt label was attached before I quilted it. The advantage is that it is well secured with the quilting, but the disadvantage is that it is trickier to sew it on the back in the right place.

Bars and Stripes Charity Quilt

Cute little baby blanket to give to charity. I practiced some freehand quilting...

as well as some ruler work on this which turned out pretty well.

There are still things I need to practice more, but that's what practice quilts are for. 

My Homemade Healthy "Chocolate"

We pause now (from all the quilting/sewing) for a station identification. ;-)

Or, at least to share with you my own way of making dark chocolate. Technically it can not be called chocolate because it doesn't have cocoa butter and whatever else is required for it to be officially chocolate. But I love it. And this is DARK. 

I came up with this recipe when I was on a special healing diet where there were many things (like sugar) that were taboo. I missed chocolate, so after experimenting with things I could have, this is what I came up with.

This is made from 3 ingredients: 

2 parts coconut oil, 

4 parts cocoa powder, and 

1 part honey.  

All of these things can be stored separately in long term food storage, so that's a plus during the apocalypse or the next pandemic. And one could argue that all 3 ingredients are healthy (though some argue that chocolate is not, I'll side with those that say cocoa is).

Note: once made, it must be stored in the refrigerator or freezer because coconut oil melts at room temperature.

I am making a lot here, which I then keep in the freezer, but it can be made in any size batch.

First is the 2 parts coconut oil. I'm using Tropical Traditions' Gold Label, but it works with any food quality coconut oil.

I put it in a pan and heat until warm.

It does not need to boil, just be melted and warm. However, if it does begin to boil, no harm done. It will just take longer to cool (and if you are using raw honey, it will kill all the wonderful enzymes).

Next add 4 parts cocoa powder. My favorite is from CocoaSupply.com, the Royal Mahogany cocoa powder, but here again, whatever you have will work. I'm just spoiled after eating this amazing stuff.

Dump in the 4 parts cocoa powder and mix. I'm mixing with a small whisk to get all the lumps out. 

 

This particular brand of cocoa powder tends to have a lot of chunks, but the heat of the coconut oil helps them dissolve and mixes up well.

Once it's all smooth, it's time for the honey.

This is the honey I used this time, (from Sam's Club) but any honey will work. Raw honey just has some amazingly good healing characteristics that I would recommend to make this the healthiest.

Add 1 part honey. Whisk until smooth. Again, with the warm mixture, this is easier than if using cold ingredients. (Been there, done that.)

Once it is mixed well, it is ready to cool. I have some candy molds that work super well. I spread it out in the mold on a tray and put in the freezer until hardened. Then I can pop them out and store then in a container with a lid or a ziploc bag. 

If you don't have handy-dandy candy molds, you can line a pan with either a silicon mat or parchment paper and spread a layer out. Then freeze and break into bite size pieces when frozen. This way gets a bit messy because as you break them up, your warm hands immediately begins to melt the chocolate. But it still works. That's what I did for a long time.

Remember, this melts at room temperature, so don't leave out on the counter or hold a pile in your hand unless you like chocolate soup. Tasty, but messy. Chocolate does stain. 

Janet's Quilt

Beautiful quilt made from batiks by Janet. This quilt top she made some time ago, but never got around to finishing. I was very grateful to quilt and bind it for her.

The pantograph I used here is called "Knit 1 Purl 2" by Urban Elementz. The thread is Glide Mocha on the top and Glide 60 Mocha on the bottom.

Lovely throw quilt. Well done, Janet!