The Boys' #MugRug Sewing Journey

Check out this gorgeous little ditty my kiddo made! I'm so proud of my Big Boy and the creations we're making together.

With all my work travel -- I've been gone in fits and spurts for most of the last two years -- we haven't done much sewing in a very long time. Still, he hasn't lost a bit of his skill, and with the maturity that comes with being 8 years old, he cranked out this pretty Christmas tree a few days ago. My only contribution: The quilting and binding. Period. He did the cutting, piecing and pressing for this beauty, and he designed the quilting motifs. For the next one, though, I'll let him go to town on the quilting, too. My only regret is that I didn't get a picture of him holding it. (This one was made primarily from leftover scraps of Cherrywood Fabrics from my entry in their August 2014 Wicked Challenge. If you haven't checked that out, whoa. Just whoa. You gotta.)

Two years ago, we made our first #mugrug together, and it's become a holiday tradition for him to make them for his teachers and a few special adults in his life each Christmas.  Here's the star effort from last year (2014) -- he loves doing raw edge applique.

Here he and his brother show off their first effort from Christmas 2013 (before binding):

We gifted them rolled up with a simple ribbon.

I knew your basic scrap, quilt-as-you-go technique was something my little guys could handle, and would be a good way to introduce them to sewing and quilting. When starting kids sewing, it's important to pick a project where precision cutting and sewing aren't required to create a nice final product. Here's how we tackled it in 2013:

At the time, Bitty was only 4 years old, so even the cutting was a bit of a struggle.  He got discouraged pretty quick.

No matter, though. Some colors and a huge post-it pad brightened his spirits... 

 

...and got him back in the holiday mood!

 

Big Boy, at 6 years old, was serious about his first real quilting project. 

Wow, he looks SO young in these pictures! He's grown SO much. 

He did a great job cutting batting and backing to the size he wanted.

The strips they cut were pretty ragged, but I didn't want them trying to use rotary cutters or even adult scissors. For what it's worth, even though the kids' safety scissors they used made really short cuts, they did go through the fabric and batting with relative ease.

He did a great job of mixing the colors and values!   

Such concentration!

 

We started by stitching the batting down to the backing around the outside edge. Then we anchored a strip to one edge through all the layers. After that, we added on by laying a new strip right sides together with the anchor strip and sewing through all layers on the loose edge of the anchor strip. 

He learned to press it open, then to lay the next strip down and keep plugging along across the project.

Over the course of a couple of days, we assembled four of them.

Here's our beautiful mess after the piecing was complete. No need to worry about perfectly cut strips... 

...or perfect sewing lines!

Bitty decided to team back up with his big brother for some clean-up trimming.

They did such a great job making them. All. By. Themselves. (As any parent knows: That's important!)

There was nothing left for me to do except bind them. By the way, these are great projects for flatlocking small scraps of batting. Waste not, want not.

Finally, a picture of the finished product with one of our favorite Christmas decorations...

My sweet mother saw this Christmas display and just knew SuperHusband had to have it. I love it.

Once we finish this year's lot of mugrugs, I'll share some more pictures! Have a blessed Thanksgiving Day and a Merry Christmas. Thanks for stopping in!

Easy Scrap Wreath a.k.a. The Boys' First Video Tutorial!

Check out my cool new wreath on the front door! Doesn't it just proudly proclaim, "A quilter lives here!" I can't remember where I first saw this idea -- somewhere on Pinterest, I think -- but I loved it. A few months ago, I came across a metal ring while going through my mom's sewing things, and realized that it was perfect for this project. It's a simple afternoon craft, and very kid-friendly.

The hardest part was taking the time to cut the scraps. I cut them 1" x 5.5". I cut waaaaaaaaay too many, so I'll probably go on the hunt for another hoop soon.

Once you cut the strips, it's as simple as tying a single knot around your ring.

 Meet my little hams -- they wanted to do a demo for you:

This is my normal front door decoration...it was made for my mom and dad by my Uncle B. 

For a few weeks, though, I'm excited to show off this beauty!

Happy sewing!

The QuiltWest tribute ... One year later

One year ago today, 12 first responders gave their lives in an attempt to save others in the small town of West, Texas.

QuiltWest was born of a desire to give whatever small gift I could to comfort the family members of these men.  I wanted to wrap them with quilts and the warmth of knowing other people felt their loss.  I knew I couldn't do it alone:  In all, 18 ladies from across the nation have opened their hearts and given of themselves to make 12 quilts for the families.  These quilts have taken us on a journey of love, compassion, relationships and hope.

I grew up the daughter of a first responder.  You can learn a little more about my mother's legacy as a paramedic and public servant here and here.  She also loved quilts and quilting, and understood the treasure of a gifted quilt.  I lost her just one month before the events in West, and throughout the project, I carried in my heart a quiet dedication to her.

The families who live in West will receive their quilts today.  My heart broke when I realized work and family schedules simply wouldn't flex to allow me to deliver them personally, but my contact with the City of West has put me at ease.  The fire chief has graciously agreed to pass them along and to see that the remaining quilts are sent to the out-of-town families who couldn't make the trip for the memorial gathering. 

As QuiltWest winds down, it's extremely hard to put my emotion into words.  If you'd like, you can read an excerpt of my letter to the families here.  It's really my best attempt to explain all this.   Thankfully, I have many, many photos of this wonderful journey and the lovely ladies who stitched their love into every quilt.

I truly hope you'll check out the QuiltWest Collection on Flickr for more photos of the quilts, the process and their makers.

If you'd like to learn more about QuiltWest, check out these previous blog postings:

Calling all quilters!  QuiltWest for First Responders' Families - April 25, 2013
Update: QuiltWest - Quilts for West, Texas first responders' families - May 7, 2013
Tutorial:  Basic Jelly Roll Quilt - QuiltWest - May 21, 2013
Today's Photo Journal:  Over the QuiltWest Hump - October 21, 2013

Our love and prayers remain with the families of West, Texas -- all the families of that community -- as they take time today to look back in tribute...and forward with hope.  May God's blessings be with you. 

Basics: The Great Fabric Stash Organization project

Okay, so I have a confession to make:  I'm a fabric hoarder.  No, not like those gross people on TLC, but I really do struggle with throwing away bits of fabric, let alone yardage(!).  I just can't stand the waste.

If you sew you know how it is -- when you first start sewing, you don't have a stash, so you have to buy new fabric for every project.  Depending on the project, you may have a few bits let over, or you may have quite a lot of fabric left at the end.  It's not just a quilter thing:  Home dec and especially garment sewing usually leave larger, more holey, and funky-shaped scraps. 

Basics: Flatlocking and our 100th Day projects!

Whoa.  Apparently, the 100th day of school is a big, big deal these days.  Okay, confession time:  I kind of dreaded this assignment.  We didn't do anything special for the 100th day when I was a kid, and really, who wants to walk around finding 100 different objects, sticking them to a piece of paper and watching them fall off?

I looked around the house and found a large piece of white paper, but my very serious artist explained he wanted a colored page.  Then I found construction paper, but he said that wasn't big enough.  (Some of the kids were using poster board, but it was too late in the day to make that happen.)  My attitude started looking up when I figured out that it didn't have to be a piece of paper, though -- fabric stash to the rescue!  Then Big Boy got jazzed about designing his own custom background.

Goals for a New Year

Ugh.  My blogging has slowed way down.  The last couple of years took away a lot of steam.  At times, my self-imposed blogging deadlines helped me cope, I imagine, but at other times, they really added stress in an already tough situation.  I've already started quilting like crazy again, though, and I'm ready to rediscover the fun in writing!

Part of the solution is to stop feeling guilty about everything.  We women are the world's worst about beating ourselves up with guilt.  A little guilt can be a great motivator...  A lot of guilt can be a paralytic force of devastating proportions.

In 2013, there were some major guilt issues:
...not spending enough time with the children or not being engaged enough when I did -- perhaps the common lament of every parent everywhere since the beginning of time.
...not having the physical or emotional stamina to do everything for my mother I wished I could have.  (That guilt reached back to 2012 when Daddy passed, too.)
...not getting enough estate work done, or tax work, or house work, or church work, or well, you get the point.
I felt guilty about things I didn't even do wrong, thanks to a few rather harsh critics.

But as if those weren't enough, I even gave myself grief about small, inconsequential blog things:
...not blogging twice a week, then once a week, then once a month.
...writing anything that didn't relate to my blog's sewing and quilting focus.
...writing a blog posting without imagery to accompany it.
...not having time to compose lengthy, illustrated tutorials.
...sewing something for sheer enjoyment without stopping to wait for the right afternoon light to take pictures of the project in-progress.  (Shock!  Horror!)

Eventually, I didn't want to do anything at all, because nothing I could ever do would keep me from being overwhelmed, and therefore, I couldn't shut out the guilt.

And so, as we move well into 2014, I'm going to make a few resolutions:

1.  I'm letting myself off the hook.  It's not okay to wallow or be indefinitely paralyzed by stress and guilt, but it is occasionally okay to have a movie day, a sad day, a lazy day, an eat-all-the-chocolate-and-potato-chips-you-want day, a curl-up-under-an-OliviaFurryBlanket day, a sleep-through-the-rain day or all of the above at once.  There's no more room for guilt when it comes to the arts that have previously brought me comfort-bliss. 

Today's Photo Journal: Over the QuiltWest Hump!

That, my friends, is perhaps the largest stack of binding ever.  (Okay, except maybe in a factory where they make the stuff commercially, but you know what I mean.)  That bottom layer measures up to roughly the size of a 9-inch round layer of cake!

QuiltWest is still in full swing.  So many lovely ladies have come together to make these beautiful quilts!  Need the background?  Check out these posts:

Calling all Quilters! QuiltWest for first responders' families
Update: QuiltWest - Quilts for West, Texas first responders' families
Tutorial:  Basic Jelly Roll Quilt - QuiltWest

Here's Miss Sherry putting together that binding...

Busy, busy!

Wow!  So much has happened!  We've been all birthdays and company and traveling and Air Force duty, not to mention QuiltWest, which continues to progress.  Nearly all the quilt tops are in from our hard-working sewistas, and I've completed long arm quilting on two of them!  Check out these rockin' paisleys, yo.

I bet you think I've totally let the shark costume drop off the map, but I haven't.  I'm in the process of revising some of the pieces and steps to make it WAY easier with far better results.  Might be a few days yet, but HOORAY for easier/better!

Speaking of sharks, here's a quick preview of Big Boy's birthday cake.  More to come on that...

So on to some BIG NEWS:

Sewing with Precut Fabric Bundles

Since I selected the Jelly Roll Race quilt technique for QuiltWest, you probably noticed I'm finally coming around on the whole precut fabric thing.  For years, the frugal homemaker inside me just couldn't come to terms with paying so much extra for the process of having someone else do your cutting.  Frankly, I saw it as a luxury I couldn't afford.

Boy, has my perspective ever changed...

Tutorial: Basic Jelly Roll Quilt - QuiltWest

Goodness!  We're about halfway through our project to make quilts for the families of first responders in West, Texas.  Several people have asked me how to make a Jelly Roll Quilt, so here goes!

First, check out this great video tutorial with Jenny Doan from Missouri Star Quilt Co on this technique.  A lot of people call it the Jelly Roll Race, because it goes so fast that they want to race each other to see who can get it done quickest!

Now that you have the basic idea, let me walk you through in a little greater detail.

Supplies you need:

Update: QuiltWest - Quilts for West, Texas first responders' families

Goodness!  I'm sorry I've gone so long without providing an update on the QuiltWest project.  People have been so incredibly generous with their time and talents, so we've been busy, busy! 

First, I want to highlight the people who have provided our inspiration.  Their selfless actions remain at the center of this project:

Kevin Sander, emergency medical technician
Captain Robert Snokhous, firefighter
Captain Doug Snokhous, firefighter
Joseph "Joey" Pustejovsky, firefighter
Captain Kenneth "Luckey" Harris, firefighter
Cody Dragoo, firefighter
Cyrus Reed, firefighter
Jerry Chapman, firefighter
Perry Calvin, firefighter
Morris Bridges, Jr., firefighter
Jimmy Matus, honorary firefighter
William "Buck" Uptmor, honorary firefighter

Here's where we are in the process:

Best Practices: Working with 100% Cotton Thread

If you're quilting Jelly Roll Race quilts along with us for QuiltWest, you'll know that I requested participants use 100 percent cotton thread for both the piecing and the quilting.  I have a confession to make:  I pretty much hated quilting with cotton thread until a fellow long arm quilter gave me some tips...

Calling all quilters! QuiltWest for First Responders' Families

A few days ago, our nation felt the impact of two devastating events.  For the families at the heart of the devastation, the whole of their lives changed dramatically in a matter of seconds.  Particularly touching to me was the tremendous loss in West, Texas, with 10 first responders among the fallen.

I wanted to help, but what do you do for someone who's lost so much?

Getting on the bus...and off the roller coaster

I'm sorry I haven't been around lately.  You see, I lost my mother in March, and it's been hard to focus on sewing or writing.  When I do write, I get lost in emotion.  The endless photo search just results in waves of silent tears, and then surrender.  Even when I'm trying not to think at all, everything seems to remind me of her.  Even weird, silly things that you wouldn't expect.

Like today when I put Big Boy on the school bus.

Best Practices: Pin Perpendicular to the Seam

I have a confession to make.  With few exceptions, I am a perpendicular pinner.  Though you may find it counter-intuitive, I am unapologetic.  No matter what your grandma taught you, I'm pretty sure I'll have you converted by the end of this post.

Wanna take that challenge? 

Tutorial: Scrappy Roll-Up Changing Pad

A few weeks ago, I outfitted this already useful, pretty Thirty-One Utility Tote with a pocket divider liner to make a totally fabulous diaper bag for my girlfriend.  When I finished the liner project, I had lots of large bits left over from the fat quarters.  What better way to use up the scraps than make a matching accessory?  In this case, I thought a changing pad was in order.