Airing the Family Laundry

Unfortunately, this laundry doesn't come in the form of panties or whispered secrets.

My most recent customer is responsible for bringing a quilt to the annual Graves Family Reunion.  The names of over just over 50 family members (or family groups) are included on the quilt, and the quilt is raffled off during the course of the reunion.


In recent years, the names of family members were machine-embroidered onto pieces of fabric and then sewn into the quilt top; however, hiring someone else to machine embroider the names can be very expensive.  I called two or three shops and received quotes of $250 to $450 for the number of blocks in this quilt.  As a more economical alternative, I suggested that this year's quilt have the family members' names printed (via ink jet printer) onto fabric.

Crafters who shop at Joann's and Michael's may have seen paper-backed fabric made by June Tailor or another company. This fabric is expensive and a pain to work with.  The paper backing on the fabric has some sort of adhesive on it, and I have never been able to peel off the entire backing.  Some always sticks to the fabric.  For this quilt, I used fabric treated with Bubble Jet Set 2000 by C. Jenkins (www.cjenkinscompany.com). 

In order to print, just iron freezer paper onto the back of each sheet of fabric.  I made the mistake of not trimming off a couple threads, and the printer revolted – once I got that problem fixed, printing was smooth sailing.


After printing, the ink must dry for 30 minutes. Then, you agitate the fabric in cold water to set the ink and let the fabric dry.

Because this quilt had to be made quickly, I used a pattern rather than work one out on my own. Published by Fig Tree & Co. (Joanna Figueroa), the pattern is called "Twinkle" and is made up of just two repeating blocks.

I also hired the Cowtown Quilter, Jerry Mundine, to do the quilting with a long-arm machine. He did a great job and had a quick turnaround. 

I hear the quilt was well-received, and I am open to doing another for other family reunions!

 

Merry Christmas, Much Belated

I started this pillow approximately six years ago.  I was living in NYC and had taken a Hawaiian applique class.  At some point, I decided to make a pillow for my sister for Christmas, and when Christmas arrived, I had the applique and quilting done -- but no finished product.

Given that the applique and quilting are done by hand, you might assume adding a backing to and a pillow insert would be no big deal.  Not true!

The finished pillow is filled with stuffing and sewn shut.  I wanted to make a pillow cover with invisible zipper; alas, I got frustrated.  As a friend used to tell me, "Better done than perfect."

For the Love of TCU

For the Love of TCU

Original design, piecing, and hand-guided machine quilting by Natalie Ford.

Dimensions: TBA

April 27, 2011

Design and photographs ©Natalie Ford – All rights reserved.

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I just finished another T-shirt quilt -- just after 7:00 this morning.  I had created a hand-written tag for the quilt, but the pen I used had too fine a tip, and the ink looked faded after a turn in the wash.  I ran into Joann's and bought a pack of 8.5" x 11" fabric/paper yesterday afternoon.  The ink stuck well and the label looks more polished, but getting the paper backing off is a bear.

This a birthday gift.  The gift-giver will sign her name in the blank space.

©Natalie Ford –  All rights reserved.

This lap quilt is for a TCU fan; since he didn't have a horned frog T-shirt collection already, I picked out nine shirts at Academy about a month after the football team won the Rose Bowl.

The finished quilt, this morning.

©Natalie Ford –  All rights reserved.

The quilting is my favorite part, and I have to remind myself not to make my designs too small or intricate. I am very pleased with the trace of the quilting on the back (notice that the clusters of smaller flowers versus larger flowers affect the brightness of the quilt).

©Natalie Ford –  All rights reserved.

Despite having always said that I would never do machine embroidery, I changed course as I constructed this quilt.  I created the words "horned frogs" using my grandmother's Bernina Artista, which has a machine embroidery module.  Once I got the thread and fabric tension sorted out, the embroidery went quickly.

©Natalie Ford –  All rights reserved.

Below are a few close-ups.  Enjoy!

The final inches.
April 25, 2011

©Natalie Ford –  All rights reserved.

©Natalie Ford –  All rights reserved.

©Natalie Ford –  All rights reserved.

©Natalie Ford –  All rights reserved.

Scenes from the Construction of a Quilt

This week is Spring Break, and I've made progress on my latest commission.  The T-shirts in this quilt are new -- purchased specifically for use in a lap quilt.  I believe there are nine T-shirts (some had usable logos on front and back). 

The central panel (above) isn't large enough to form the finished quilt, so I decided to pull out the embroidery module for my sewing machine in order to learn to use it.  After lots of trial and error, I ended up with this:

Oops...I mean this:

I knew even before I had finished spelling out "Horned Frogs" in machine applique that I wanted the words to spill over the side of the quilt. 

By the way, I constructed the remainder of the quilt top at a retreat at Our House in Milford.  It was a pleasant, productive evening, and I look forward to returning to the facility.

Unfortunately, I don't have a nice, pretty photo of the quilt before I basted the layers together with safety pins.    Therefore, the final quilt design looks rather ragged in the pic below:

As usual, I am doing the quilting on my sturdy Bernina.  I do free-motion quilting and haven't used a template or drawn out the design before I sit down to quilt.  The view below is of the back, so you can see the quilting more clearly.