Refugee Charity Quilt Tied by Teenage Young Women

Here is the second quilt the young women (teen girls) and their leaders finished for a refugee. I made the top from precut fabrics on the free table at my quilt guild and the girls tied it. It was delivered last December to a family that had just arrived in the states.

Refugee Charity Turning 20 Quilt Quilted by Teenage Young Women

A friend, and the leader of the teenage girls youth group at my church, asked if I would be willing to teach the girls quilting. After some discussion of what aspect they wanted to learn (she said to tie a quilt to donate to some Afghan refugees), I offered to make 2 quilt tops and backs. We could then set up a quilt for tying in the living room and another on my longarm and the girls and their leaders could finish two quilts.

This is the quilt they quilted with wavy lines. It is quilted in Mocha Glide thread. May I just say I love my workhorse of a machine that can handle newbies quilting on it.

 

Cynthia's Tula Sunrise English Paper Piecing (EPP) Quilt

Cynthia made this beautiful Tula Sunrise quilt using the EPP (English Paper Piecing) method. Which means it's all hand pieced!

She wanted the same thread as last quilt which was Glide Essence (invisible) on the top and light pink MicroQuilter on the back.

Custom quilting, but not too dense. It's almost easier to see the quilting on the back than the close up shots.

But I give them to you anyway. It turned out really well.

Star Wars Empire Strikes Back Sleeping Bag Quilt - Reversible Antique Car Comforter

My sister, Emerald, made this quilt for a friend of a friend’s husband. Growing up, he had a bed cover with antique cars and an Empire Strikes Back sleeping bag that he loved to snuggle under, and though they were worn to nearly thread bear rags, he didn’t want them gotten rid of. It took untold hours to plan and over 80 hours to put together.

Realize that the polyester fabric of the Star Wars sleeping bag was super thin and slippery to work with, so cutting it into the squares on point was a tricky. She had to fix it to the living room floor, mark the ends of each line and then use several large rulers and a chalk line (the kind used in woodworking), to snap the cutting lines on the fabric.

Each square (which didn’t want to keep its shape) was then adhered to white cotton fabric. And that was just the beginning and only one side. The other side she fussy-cut around the cars, added coordinating colors and made it patchwork-y, preserving as much of the original bed cover as she could.

I had the easy part of quilting it with white Glide thread using the Contempo pantograph pattern by Urban Elementz and then binding it.

 

Sewing Zippers onto the Longarm Leaders/Making Detachable Zipper Leaders

Starting with a zipper the same length as your longarm leaders. I marked the center of the zipper with a line and the number "0" and then made dots for each inch and a line for each 5" increment. Is this really necessary? Maybe not. Mostly, I don't look at those numbers, but every once in a while I'm glad for them.

I center the zipper on the leader, matching the center points.

I have the zipper pinned with the pull tab on top which puts my markings showing on the top.

The longarm leaders are lined up flush against the back of the zipper teeth on the underside.

Carefully zip it together. All your dots should line up.

Using the longarm, sew the zipper to the leader, removing the pins as you go.

All the way down and all the way back. Not sure if that was the best way, but it worked.

Next was to make some zipper leaders to baste the quilt back to. The fabric I used was a cotton, thicker than normal quilters cotton, but not as thick as the canvas. I feel it was a good choice because that leader gets extra pulling on it when you rip the basting out time after time. Again I lined up the center points of the fabric leader and sewed. I'm not sure why I did it with the zipper facing down, but maybe it was so I could see the writing I did on the other side.

I labeled the zipper leaders (yes, the top of the quilt back should be on the bottom of the zipper) and marked my zippers the same way as above. The first time I used them, I realized that the pattern on the leaders was facing down. Oh, no! But then I realized that it actually makes it easier when I'm sewing the back to the zipper leaders. The right sides of the zipper leaders and the right side of the back should be facing down, so I can match the direction to help me remember which way to sew the back on.

I have made several of these and used different colored fabric pens to make sure I had the matching pair together. I'm not sure it was necessary, but it made me feel better to do it that way.

Basting Quilt Back onto Leaders for Using Zippers on my Longarm

I've been asked how I sew my zipper leaders onto my quilt backs. It's super simple, but a picture paints a thousand words, so here it is. I mark the center of the quilt back with a pin on both top and bottom (or both sides if putting it on the frame sideways).

Lining up the center of the leader with the center pin, I begin basting the two together, lining up the edge of the backing fabric with inside edge of the seam allowance. My preference is to use a medium width and largest length zigzag stitch and the cheepest thread I have because I think it comes out easier.

When done with the first side, I turn it around, return to the middle and sew to the other edge. Repeat on the other side. After that, I can zip the leaders onto the zippers I sewed on my longarm, making putting the quilt on and taking it off a breeze.

Cynthia's Kaleidoscope Flower Quilt in Gold, Green, and Burgundy

This kaleidoscope type of quilt was made by Cynthia from my quilt guild.

I quilted it in Glide military gold thread using the Autumn Oaks pantograph pattern.

Beautiful choice of colors.

Cathy's Pickle Ball Quilt in Blue

This lap quilt was made by Cathy for a pickle ball lover. Pickle ball fabric. Who knew?

The back is white minky and I quilted a meander with White Glide thread.

Dorothy's 4-patch on Point in Purple, Red, Blue with Strip Background

Another quilt made by Dorothy.

I quilted it with the Bourbon Street Baby pantograph pattern from Urban Elementz in Glide Tabriz Orchid thread on the front and light pink MicroQuilter on the back.

Scrappy back.