Community Quilt from Cheryl

I have another quilt that got lost in the email. This one is also from Cheryl. She writes:

Are you ready for a cutie patootie quilt?  This lil top was made by Katy in Janesville, Wisconsin.  Katy sent the top to you and then you forwarded it to me for finishing.  That was so long ago, and at that time I wasn’t even recording the dates of incoming tops. I sat on this top for so long because I didn’t have a place to donate a child-size quilt.  Until now.  What’s better than a flag for a kiddo quilt?  Four flags, of course.

Katy’s top is 43” x 56,” which makes it just the right size for a child’s lovey.  I hope this quilt gets dragged around for many a year by a tiny tyke.

The yellow-headed pins show where I am going to add basting stitches down the side before I quilt out a row.  Normal longarm folks don’t need the pins, but I’ve never been accused of being normal, so I pin EVERYTHING before sewing the fabric down to the batting and backing.

This quilting design is “Starlets” by Lisa Calle.  I purchased it from www.urbanelementz.com. It is such a simple design that looks complicated when it is stitched out.  It’s the perfect pattern for a star spangled quilt.

Below:  Here is the first row of quilting showing a partial row at the top edge, and then a full row below it.  This pattern does both rows in one back-and-forth pass.  Hurrah for digital patterns! 

I first learned about quilting as a child from my aunt and grandmother who gathered their friends in the neighborhood or Women’s Missionary Union circle to quilt around a frame set up in their living room or church fellowship hall.  But only in the winter months.  During the summer in Mississippi, it was just too hot to wrestle with big quilts — remember, no air-conditioning in the Good Ole Days.  Other relatives have studied my quilts and said “And to think that Grandmother did all this quilting by hand.”  To which I think, “If Grandmother had a longarm machine, you can bet she would kissed those tiny hand stitches good-bye.”  But I don’t say that aloud.  Some folks still think that hand quilting is the superior method.  Not me!  Miss Arthritis Fingers would never get a quilt finished if it had to be done by hand.  

Below:  You’re not upside down.  This is a view from the back roller looking toward the edge that hasn’t been quilted yet.  I do NOT stand on this side of the quilt as I work, just check it periodically to see if the tension is correct and the loose threads have been trimmed.

Here I am attaching the binding with my flat fell foot.  I sew the binding to the front of the quilt first, iron it out flat, fold it over, and then sew the binding to the back.  This last step is the easiest and I’ve gotten better with practice.  

I use lots of pins to keep the binding corners in place.  When I die, my grave marker will read “Lived dangerously.  Sewed over pins.”  

Come out to the backyard and see the little flag quilt on display.  It was an overcast day when I took this photograph, and with the Dallas heat, overcast days are always welcome.

The flag quilt got a plain white backing courtesy of a white sheet I purchased at Thrift Giant here in Dallas.  I love using plain white fabric for backing because, well, that’s what my aunt and grandmother did with their quilts, so they set the standard for me.  The white fabric also shows off the pretty star quilting motif.

I matched the binding with fabric from my stash to coordinate with the maroon in the quilt.  Who would ever know the fabrics came from two different quilters in far apart states?  

Katy’s quilt is going to Joy Meadows Foster Care Community in Linwood, Kansas, just outside Kansas City.  Joy Meadows has a clothing closet that provides free clothing for foster, adoptive, and biological families.

Thank you, Katy, for letting me finish your top and send it on to a little one in Kansas.

WOW…I love this little beauty. What a great quilt. Many thanks to both Katy and Cheryl. I love seeing your work.