Thimble Pleasures ~ A full-service quilt shop

So many of our Thimble Pleasures’ customers are generous, giving people that we thought you would like to know about an interesting charity for children. Quilts for Kids, Inc. (QFK) was established in 2000 to transform discontinued, unwanted fabrics into quilts that comfort children in need. The children who receive the donated quilts are often fighting a life battle with cancer, AIDS, other serious illnesses, or are victims of child abuse. QFK’s goal is to link design centers and fabric sources nationwide to their communities, so that children in need in those regions may be served with the kindness of a quilt.

Founder, Linda Arye told us, “It seems like only yesterday that I discovered a wealth of discontinued fabric samples being thrown away. I was looking to save the fabric samples from a landfill. I was assured by all my friends and family that this was a dumb idea and no one would make “quilts for some stranger’s child…and do it for free”! Well, ten years later quilters like you have proved these naysayer’s wrong, for you have given from your heart and helped to turn tears into smiles for the tens of thousands of children that you never knew existed.”

Over the years, funding and fabric sources for the organization have greatly evolved, but one thing remains unchanged, all quilters have to do is request a free quilt kit from the organization and do what they do so well – QUILT! QFK is a small grassroots charity comprised of six women. They manage to fold, pack and ship about 300 kits a day, working out of Linda’s home where they have slowly taken over five rooms of her house! This small personal mission has grown and grown in ten years and their goal this year with their corporate partner, Downy, is to wrap 10,000 children in the comfort of a handmade quilt. What a great charity!! QFK also sponsors quilt retreats where you can join together with other quilters to sew, chat, network, and make awesome quilts for children! ‘Sounds like a lot of fun!! Check their website for dates and locations!

There is no charge for the kit or the shipping to you. If you would like to make a donation to offset shipping costs, your donation is tax deductible. All quilt kits include the fabric for the top and backing of the quilt. You provide the batting (low-loft 1/8” – 1/4” poly or cotton). The pattern and an official Quilts For Kids label are included in the kit. The quilt must be machine pieced and machine quilted with lots of quilting. They cannot send hand-quilted or hand-tied quilts to the hospitals, as hand-tied quilts can become a potential choking hazard.

When your quilt is completed, check it for pins and wash it. Sew the label to the back of the quilt. Please make sure you sew around all four sides of the label … you can do this by machine. Sign your first name to the label and return the quilt to:

QUILTS FOR KIDS, INC.
11 EFFINGHAM ROAD
YARDLEY, PA 19067

www.quiltsforkids.org

When you return your quilt, if you have the ability to donate a quilt made from your fabric stash, it would be greatly appreciated. Read the inspiring stories of the children who have received these very special quilts on the QFK website. I can tell you from personal experience while working in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at Duke Childrens’ Hospital, that these quilts make a difference! UNC Children’s Hospital has also received quilts from QFK!

Here are some photos of the QFK quilt I made from their kit:

 Quilts for Kids is always looking for volunteers to donate fabric, thread, batting, pennies, or time to make quilts and machine quilt them for children at UNC Children’s Hospital who are receiving chemotherapy for life-threatening illnesses. Quilts should be 40 x 45″ or smaller. Our contact person is Donna Van Dalen. triangleqfk@gmail.com.

Soooo, what’s a quilt journal? A quilt journal is anything you want it to be, really. One use for a quilt journal is to keep swatches of fabric organized by project and pasted onto the pages, so that you have the colors and textures of your fabric in one small, easy to carry book for shopping purposes. Depending upon the size and complexity of your project, you may need several pages to keep the fabric organized, you could also draw out the quilt design, hold photos of the project, write notes, record memories (what inspired the quilt), write down quilt dimensions and fabric requirements. Now that I have EQ6, I print out my pattern and glue it into my journal, so I don’t sketch as often.

You can use a simple spiral bound notebook, a commercially made journal, or make one yourself.  Your entries and organization of your journal can be as simple or detailed as you like. While I do the practical things described above, I am also finding that I am writing down my thoughts and feelings about the quilt as I make it. It’s important to me to know what date I started and truly finished each quilt and who quilted it. It amazes me how long some projects take to finish! In some respects, it has become my quilt diary. You should read the entries about making my Blooming Nine Patch quilt, that took over a year to finish……it was a “blooming” project, if you know what I mean. I love that quilt and it’s my husband’s favorite, but I talked to myself a lot before it was finished! I hope quilting is one of my legacies someday and I hope my children will enjoy reading these entries and laughing at the things I had to say. They will have the quilts after I’m gone, so why not save some thoughts for them too!?

P.S. ‘Speaking of legacies…….I heard an interesting idea for your UFO’s. Put all the fabric, thread, and pattern for yur UFO in pretty tissue paper and box with your child’s name on it and put it in your closet. After you pass on, your child will find the box and enjoy finishing the quilt you never would or could finish! This can be a “sweet” or “devilish” thing to do for your child…….you decide! I have a friend who found an unfinished quilt of her mother’s and is having a wonderful time finishing it! She and her siblings included signature blocks with her mother’s “favorite expressions” written on the blocks in the quilt. Some of them are hilarious! I guess the kids got to be “devilish” in the end……

Barbara

We’ve covered some introductory information about quilting your quilt. Do you feel any more prepared to start? Maybe a little…..? “Best to start small and work up”, I say. So, with new knowledge in hand, I quilted a baby quilt for a friend on my own this week and I really liked the results!

Laying Out the Quilt:

I measured the quilt top and added 4-5 inches to each side to determine the size of the batting and backing (e.g. a 40 X 50 inch quilt top needs a 50 X 60 inch batting and backing). If you have to piece your backing, try to do it with a vertical seam that is off center. (Most quilts are folded in half and placing the seam off center minimizes normal daily wear on the seam.)

Then, I taped the edges of the back of the quilt to the floor to keep the fabric straight while I put the batting on top of it. I smoothed all the batting and edges and taped the corners to the floor (hardwood) to keep it in place, then put the quilt top on. I used large safety pins to “pin baste” the top, batting, and backing together, placing the pins in a staggered fashion about 5 inches apart. When pinning was complete, I untaped the backing and batting from the floor.

Preparing My Machine for Quilting:

I prepared a bobbin with neutral colored “Bottom Line” thread by Libby Lehman. This is a lighter weight polyester thread (60 wt.) that almost disappears on the back of your quilt. Therefore, it is very “forgiving” for first time quilters. Then I changed the need on my machine to a new “quilting needle” (size 75). New needles just go through the fabric more crisply and don’t snag the fabric.

Then I made certain I had complimentary colored top thread and that the smallest spool cap was on the spool, so that there was as little tension on the thread as possible.

Finally, I put the “walking foot” on my sewing machine. What’s a walking foot you say?  This little gadget allows all three layers (backing, batting, quilt) to move smoothly across the feed dogs without creating tucks or creases on the backing of the quilt. (I also use my walking foot when I sew on bindings.) This is a great investment, quilters, and “yes”, you really need one to successfully quilt your own quilts.

To add additional interest, I increased the stitch length and selected a decorative stitch that produced a mildly wavy line.

Planning Your Quilting:

I wanted a simple successful plan for this quilt, so I decided to sew diagonal rows across the blocks. My blocks were 6 inches square and I used a removable (non-permanent) marking pencil to lightly draw sewing guide lines on the top of the quilt, to keep the rows straight. Each block would have an X pattern as the lines crossed the center of the block.

Quilting:

I started sewing with the longest stitch line on the quilt. So, I had to bunch up the quilt inside the throat of my sewing machine, keeping the sewing area and the fabric flat and smooth. I sewed 2 stitches in place and gently pulled up on the top thread until the bobbin thread came to the surface of the quilt and snipped these threads. I aligned the notch on the walking foot with the guide line drawn on the quilt and I away I went.

 When I reached the end of the stitching line, I again sewed two stitches in place to secure the thread and pulled the bobbin thread to the top of the quilt and snipped them off. I stitched in the ditch around the two borders, sewing along the side of the seam without the ¼ inch seam allowance under it. The outer border was larger than the inner border, so I used my wavy decorative stitch again to sew a way line down the middle of the outer border.

Look at the back of the quilt in the photo, the quilting lines show nicely, with just the right amount of “fluff” between quilting lines. Try to keep your quilting evenly spaced so that you have equal areas of quilting density and fluffiness across your quilt.

Finishing:

I added the binding with the walking foot and prepared to hand stitch the binding now! Voila – I quilted a baby quilt from start to finish in less than two hours and I liked the result! Next month, I’ll show you some specific block quilting with more detailed quilting patterns.