If anyone would like to make pocket prayer crosses for soldiers, private email me. I can give you the information you need.
My brother-in-law is a Navy chaplain and he distributes the pocket crosses to troops that are deploying.
Thanks!
USE UP YOUR OLD FLEECE BLANKETS for PLACEMATS, THROW PILLOW TOPS, SMALL QUILTS
During the shutdown/slowdown, I’ve been doing a lot of the “projects” with those collected fabrics going back years ( ! ) and items cleaned out of the closets.
One way to save a couple of bucks is to use old acrylic blankets or fleece fabrics as batting in small quilted items. I’ve been making placemat sets with some of my stored fabric, with one or two layers of fleece inside.
Friends of mine make small lap quilts for hospitalized kids with donated fabric and fleece as batting. Cheaper than buying new virgin batting! Sometimes you can hit a fleece sale as well, because the color doesn’t matter as long as it harmonizes with the outer fabrics if it shows through sllightly.
With multiple layers, it’s important to FIRST wash the fleece in hot water and the outer fabrics in the warmest water possible to avoid fading colors, and iron the outer fabrics as hot as they will take, so that there will be no uneven shrinkage once the layers are assembled.
PLACEMATS, QUILTS, PILLOWTOPS
You can assemble placemats with a top fabric layer, a fleece layer, and a back fabric layer, baste the edges, and stitch a bias binding around the outside to finish them off—or you can sew the layers together on the wrong side and them right-side out.
If you choose the turn-out method, pin the layers together and sew around with a 5/8” seam; it will form nice padded edges when you turn it right-side out. Leave an opening on one side, clip the corners (or curve-stitch and trim), turn them right-side-out through the opening, and blind stich the opening closed by hand. Press them and put a row of top stitching around about 3/4” to 1” from the outer edges.
***One mistake to avoid if you are going to stitch and turn them right-side out: Put the top and back fabrics right sides together, and the fleece on top of them before sewing around on the wrong side. If you put the fleece in between the top and back on the wrong side, when you turn it right-side-out the fleece will end up being the back of the placemat instead of the batting!***
For placemats and quilts, you can machine quilt the top to the fleece first, then add the back and stitch as above, or you can machine quilt through all 3 layers once it’s assembled, or you can quilt through all layers and add bias binding. For quilted pillowtops if your pillow will have a zipper opening, you can back the fleece batting with a thin layer of muslin or gauze so the stuffed pillow form will slide right in.
BIAS BINDING
I make wide bias binding with a metal ruler that is about 1-1/4” wide and 20” long. Cut the bias strips, sew your needed length by stitching strips together at a 45-degree angle, and then lay the strip on the ironing board with the metal ruler in the center of the strip. Press the sides up over the metal ruler with a steam iron, moving the ruler along as you go.
The strips will not be precisely flat because of the 1/16” thickness of the ruler, so you need to go back over them by lowering the steam iron flat onto the strips a few inches at a time without rubbing.
GIFTS FOR MEN OR APARTMENT DWELLERS
Men like the placemats with their sports team or college colors to use in the man cave, on a TV tray or a glass top coffee table, or for singles on a regular table when their girlfriend comes over. I made some sets when my sons/nephews left home before they got married. They will use placemats, and sometimes even cloth napkins! Apartment-dwelling young women like placemats, also—anyone who uses a laundromat appreciates a dressier set of placemats when having friends over instead the everyday plastic wipe-cleans, or having to launder a tablecloth. Good for elder folks, too.
Looking for help from fellow fiber friends.
My sister’s grand daughter wants to sew clothing and wants “Mimi” to show her how. We went to Joann’s to find fabric yesterday but there’s really nothing but 100 percent cotton. Nice for crafts, but ... ironing clothes!
Any suggestions on where to find decent cotton-poly blends for kids’ clothes?
Meanwhile, back at the ranch ..... I have started blanket #2. This is the one I REALLY wanted to make - the first one was 'practice', more or less. IF I can finish it in time (x Aug 8) and IF my niece doesn't have anything already & wants it, I will give it to her for my great-nephew's baptism. It's white, which is a traditional color for baptisms.
So far, so good - the lessons from the first blanket are paying off applied to this 2nd one. I've worked through 2 rounds (20 rows each) so the pattern is finally showing up. There was one pattern blip (poorly written), but I figured it out after ripping back the first row to the border (love those lifelines!) and since that little episode, I've been sailing along. It's a good thing the garden doesn't need a lot of attention right now. :-)
PS - I have been a crocheter for years & LOVE it; however, with working to speed up my knitting (self-taught, so big hand position issues), getting comfortable with how the stitches work (so I can unknit, recover stitches that aren't right, etc.) and getting some beautiful results, I am very much falling in love with knitting.