Play Time!
Sometimes you just need to let go and have some fun! I have had a wonderful/stressful/successful/wild and crazy busy year. You too? I “fell over the finish line” of teaching at Houston and when I returned, I was aching to quilt. I had a zillion ideas percolating in my head, but none of those ideas were well formed. It was one of those moments when I knew I NEEDED something fun to quilt.
So I got out my charity quilt kits from my local guild, the Folsom Quilt and Fiber Guild, and started quilting a few tops. I wish I could say I have done a ton of these this year, but I think I’ve only done one other. I love having the time to do charity quilts. It gives back to the community and also gives me a chance to romp across a quilt.
I needed some easy, straight forward quilting to do, just for the pure pleasure of quilting. I used 2 of my “go to” motifs to romp across the quilt lickey split and be done. I think the quilting took less than 2 hours on each quilt.
I don’t really cull through the quilt kits to find the one I like best, I just take the one or two on top. This one seems especially cheerful! When I was in middle school I went gaga over daisies and I’ve still got a little bit of that in me. Daisies are such simple flowers-they make me smile.
If you have pets, you KNOW what happens when you lay a quilt out to block or photograph! Basset Boy thought I needed help. He seems to be mugging for the camera here, ya think??
So I just did this in a simple big all over bubble. It’s kind of fun how the quilting disappears on the busy black print.
This one has a more masculine feel to it.
People call this motif different things but it’s essentially a variation of what Diane Gaudynski calls “Headbands”. It may look a bit complex but it’s super easy once you “get” it. This is THE quickest way to quilt a piece that I know of.
You can probably see it a little better from the back.
The whole point of this little post is that charity quilts are fun for many reasons:
-you can practice a new motif in a no-stress situation
-you can quilt when you hit one of those spots where you don’t know what your next project will be
-you help your guild or organization
-and you help someone who could use a fabric hug!
Deep Thoughts on Charity Quilts
Now I have a thought about charity quilts. In class I talk up doing charity quilts as a way to practice your new found skills. More than one student has responded along the lines of not wanting to give charity quilts with anything less than our very best work. I disagree!
If I were down for the count, and someone brought me an unattractive quilt with less than stellar quilting, I would be touched-and I think most of us would be. I can’t imagine that I would be looking at it thinking, what a lousy quilting job! I would treasure the fact that someone put a quilt together for me. I would rather have a less-than-perfect quilt than none at all.
So please be encouraged to include charity quilts in your repertoire! It is a great way to practice AND give back to others who need a boost.
Just think about this: The people who receive charity quilts are not quilters. The adults are appreciative that someone made a quilt and gave it away to them. I’m sure if someone told them that the quilting was not the best the recipient would tell them, “I love this quilt that someone made for me.” The children love the colors and the snuggliness. Keep on making those charity quilts and practicing your quilting on them.
Absolutely! It kills me when students think they have to be “good” before they start a charity quilt. And I know you would just be happy to get a quilt too-no judgement, just enjoyment!
I agree with you. Also, a charity quilt that you use to practice a technique or new quilting design does not mean it is a terrible quilt. It just has to be fairly pretty and constructed well enough that it wears well and can be washed.
Yes Betty Jo, I would just want it to be a bit pretty, not perfect!
I agree that a charity quilt need not be perfect to be loved by its recipient. That said, I’m thinking there’s a difference between it being slightly imperfect and being…well…badly done. As a knitter, for example, I wouldn’t put mittens with thumbs going the wrong way on to a ‘mitten tree’ for charity. Or a scarf full of holes made by dropped stitches. However, I would donate a pair of mitts where one is a tad larger than the other. I would donate a scarf with a small but consistent error in the pattern (no holes unless it’s lace!)…
Similarly, I wouldn’t donate to a food bank only the stuff in my pantry that I don’t like, just to get rid of it…
So you see what I mean.
Even when practicing a new technique for a charity quilt, one needs to do one’s best even though one knows it won’t be “perfect”. :-)
Oh yes, I agree that it shouldn’t be absolutely so awful that anyone would know it’s bad. But seams that don’t match perfectly, big variation in stitch length, wonky motifs, etc are fine by me. But I wouldn’t want mittens with 2 left thumbs!
There is no such thing as perfection. The sooner we all get that, the more fun we’ll have! Nice job here — those quilts will be cherished.
Yes Franki, that is what my first few years were all about-letting go of perfection. Obviously I have been successful at that! Reading Art and Fear forever changed me for the better and helped launch my artistic career.
I think I have that exact same daisy print in my stash! I bought it thinking I’d use it in a quilt for my sister, who loves daisies so much that she has a daisy tattoo. I am very intrigued by the quilting you did on these tops, because the scale appears so much larger than what you do on your other quilts. I know that the less dense quilting is probably more appropriate for the intended use of these quilts, but I’m wondering how easy it is for you to switch back and forth between small scale quilting stitched densely and large scale quilting spaced far apart. Isn’t it more difficult to move the quilt on a domestic machine for these larger scale quilting designs on your charity quilts? Any tips or suggestions? I do love that softer, more open quilting and think it would be great for snuggly baby quilts as well as charity quilts, but I worry that I would not be able to quilt the paisleys or stippling or whatever as well if I tried to make them big instead of tiny.
The daisy thing never left me, giggle! Actually it’s not hard at all to do the larger quilting, nor to go back and forth between the two. When I am doing the larger motifs, I’m kinda thinking in staccato: swoop. swoop. swoop. think about where the next one goes. swoop. swoop. swoop. As opposed to a more fluid thought process for smaller stitching.
Also, you will need to move your hands A LOT because your motifs are so big that you do one motif and then need to move. I’ve always thought it important to stop the machine to move your hands-a good and necessary habit for good quilting. Quilting those larger motifs will train that into you because you are moving so much that “walking” your hands (moving them while the machine is still running) will not work well at that pace.
Also, I run my machine faster to get even “swoops”, but also stop more often to change hands. Try this on a charity quilt or a practice sandwich. I think you’ll see it’s actually pretty easy to get the hang of the larger motifs.
Thanks for writing!
Yes, I like seeing those quilting motifs also. Especially the “headband” one. And Yes, I agree with most commenters–the people receiving the quilts are not from our world (of quilts,) and most likely think our worst efforts are beautiful. Certainly more beautiful than any they have seen in the stores.
I love your idea of doing charity quilts during that downtime. Hmmm. I have a few of those I’d like to get done myself!
Well you’ve got a lot of snow up there Debby-a perfect time to quilt up those charity quilts! Hope you have time to quilt over the holidays. Merry Christmas!