Biblical Quilt for Campfire Bible Camp

I recently attended a Banquet which was a fundraiser for Campfire Bible Camp just outside of Markdale, ON. Once summer comes, the camp is totally booked with summer camps for the inner city Hamilton kids. It is also used for family reunions, church related seminars, winter fest, spring fest, and fall fest.

Jacoba Gelderman (pictured here with me) and 22 other quilters worked on this beautiful biblical quilt which was donated to the Bible Camp.

It will be hung there along with this lovely label.
Jacoba says that the colours in the quilt were chosen for their symbolic meaning:
Red is for our Redemption through the blood of our Lord,
Green represents the wonderful gift of the Earth which was given to us to take care of,
Beige is the Light that shines in His children,
Gold is the Word of God which guides us on our journey through life.

This is a close up view of one of the blocks. The sashing contains the name of each block along with an appropriate biblical passage for that block.

My Mother's Quilts

My mother, Ruth Brown, was born in April;

so she has been in my thoughts a lot lately.

She was a school teacher and taught in many country schoolhouses over the years finishing her career teaching Grade 3 (her favourite grade) at the Shubenacadie Elementary School.

We always did our lessons together on the kitchen table which we would pull over near the wood stove for comfort and warmth. When our lessons were finished, we often knitted or worked on quilt blocks. My mother's quilts were usually either hand pieced or embroidered. We often used scraps leftover from our clothing or we would order fabric from the Sears catalogue.

The quilt shown here was pieced by me and quilted by my mother. It was made from scraps from my dresses and also scraps from my mother's clothing as well as from her four sisters. It is one of my favourite quilts even today as I can look at it and remember the clothing that each of us wore at that time.

The nine patch block is a one of the easiest blocks to sew and that is why I chose it for my first quilt. The patches are fairly large and showcase the fabrics very well. I stitched the blocks by machine and I remember my mother thinking that was not the proper method but I was anxious to get my quilt finished and it seemed the best way to accomplish that quickly.

The quilt block shown here on the right is from a quilt that was made by my mother for my daughter, Candice.

We often ordered patterns that were advertised in the Free Press Weekly and sometimes we used drawings from colouring books to make children's quilts.

I only remember my mother having one quilt book and it was quite tattered from being used so often. I used to love looking through it and dreaming of all the quilts I would like to make.

It's really hard for me to imagine any quilters today that have only one quilt book!

This is my mother's quilt book; it was called Grandmother's Authentic Early American Patchwork Quilts.

The other packages are similar to the ones that we used to order from the newspaper. The ones shown here are some that I purchased at an antique sale.

Thanks for sharing my trip down memory lane. I would love to hear some of your quilting memories. Every quilt has a story to tell. "Those who sleep under a quilt sleep under a blanket of love."

Hearts and Flowers

Happy Valentine's Day!

The heart shape has always been one of my favourite shapes not only because I like the shape itself but because of the symbolism that it represents love and friendship.

A few years ago I decided to challenge myself to design a quilt with a heart shape in each block.

This is a perfect quilt to celebrate a wedding, an anniversary, or a special friendship. The quilt pattern also includes extra blocks so that the quilt can be made rectangular, or with alternate plain blocks quilted with a feathered heart pattern. It also includes a border for a four block wall quilt for those who want a smaller project.

Machine Blanket Stitch Applique

Some time ago I posted a tutorial on http://sewwequilt.com/2011/06/felted-wool-giveasway.html showing a fused Blanket Stitch hand applique method for working with Felted Wool.

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Since I have heard that many quilters are afraid to try Applique; I thought today it might be of interest to follow up with an easy fusible Blanket Stitch machine applique method.

This method can be quickly done and looks great on almost any type of applique block such as this Sunbonnet Sue block pattern which was first published in the Kansas City Star in 1930.

Any applique pattern can be done in this method. Trace all the pieces in the design onto the paper side of the fusible web. Note: if the pattern is not symmetrical, you must make a mirror image of the pattern before tracing it onto the fusible web. It this is not done the pattern will be facing the opposite way to your origianal drawing.

I prefer a soft fusible web such as SoftFuse or HeatnBond Lite so that the appliques do not feel stiff or hard.

Rough cut out the shapes leaving approximately 1/4 inch around the shapes. If you prefer you can cut the paper out of the interior of larger shapes, as shown in the example of Sunbonnet Sue's sleeve shape which is shown below. This leaves the shapes softer and more flexible.

Iron the fusible web shapes onto the wrong side of your chosen fabrics following the instructions that come with the brand of fusilbe web that you are using.

Let the shapes cool and then cut them out directly along the traced
lines--except remember to leave the 1/4 inch if there is a place where one shape tucks under another. Remove the paper and place the shapes onto your background block. Using a Teflon pressing sheet helps you easily position the applique shapes and fuse them together before placing them on your background block. It also helps prevent any fusible from getting on your iron. Press the shapes in place onto your background block following the pressing directions that come with your brand of fusible web.

Traditionally this type of applique was done over the raw edge as curved edges do not fray very much and the blanket stitch encloses the edge providing a seam finish. Often black thread was used to give an outline to the shapes; but a matching thread can also be used as shown on the Heart blocks on the right.

Sometimes it helps to use a stabilizer behind the background fabric as shown on the Heart block on the upper left. If you lightly starch the background fabric this may not be necessary. If your work starts to pucker, place some tissue paper or a light weight stabilizer behind the applique shapes before doing the stitching.




Use a machine open toe embroidery foot so that you can see clearly where you are stitching. Use either cotton machine embroidery thread 60/2 or just regular 50 weight cotton thread in both the top and in the bobbin. A machine quilting needle 75/11 or a machine embroidery needle 75/11 work well for the stitching.



Choose a Blanket Stitch selection--I used # 26 on your machine. Loosen the top tension (use a smaller number--I used 2.6 for my sample)so that no bobbin thread shows on the top.

Adjust the length and width of the stitch to your preference--make a sample and record the settings that you used, so that you can refer to them at a later time.






Stitch any underneath pieces first so that beginnings and endings can be hidden underneath the top pieces.

The needle should just brush the cut edge of the shape being appliqued as you sew. The bite should be wide enough to hold the fabric securely and prevent fraying. Sewing slowly helps you keep your stitches lined up neatly along the cut edge.

Outside corners should be done manually by turning the hand wheel so that there are three stitches at the corner with all stitches meeting in the same inside needle hole. One stitch will be just before the corner, the middle stitch will go diagonally into the corner, and the third stitch will be just after the corner.

An indent should also be done manually in the same manner so that one stitch is right at the indent. Loosening the pressure on your machine foot with help you turn the block more easily; or if you have a pressure foot lifter (see below) this makes the stitching easier as you do not have to lift the pressure foot by hand each time you change direction. You press your knee against this lifter and it will raise the pressue foot so you do not have to take your hands away from your stitching area.

Choosing the "needle down" position makes the needle stay in place when you stop and have to change direction. Pull the threads to the wrong side and tie them.



When all the stitching is completed; if you have used a stabilizer, tear this away from the back of the block. Make sure all thread ends are tied and clipped closely so that they will not shadow through to the front. Press carefully using steam.

Please leave your contact information if you have any questions concerning this tutorial.

Alzheimer Raffle Quilt from Auckland

Dear Rosemary


Here is our finished quilt! It looks absolutely stunning, and a real community effort.

The Auckland Patchworkers and Quilters Guild makes a quilt every year to be raffled with the proceeds to go to a chosen charity; selling of the tickets culminates at our annual "Calico Christmas" quilt show in the first week in November where the quilt is always featured as part of the display.

This year we decided on blue and white, with our chosen charity as Alzheimers Auckland, whose logo of course is "Forget-me-not" with those colours, so our choice of quilt is perfect! .. Like other places around the world, New Zealand has an ageing population and there are over 40,000 people with dementia of some kind in the country, more than 10,000 of them in Auckland, our largest city.

Seventeen different people hand-appliquéd the 20 blocks, two others assembled the quilt; it was professionally machine quilted by another of our members and the binding done by yet another. These lovely people come from "all over" so its not been possible to assemble them all for a photo-shoot I'm afraid. We have just started selling the 2500 tickets, and I'm very hopeful we will sell all of them, particularly as Alzheimers Auckland is holding a big Quiz Night fundraiser in September and will be promoting ticket sales there too.

Thank you again for allowing us to use your designs. They are perfect for our purpose - so stylish and very up to date, but also so traditional - we know from previous raffle-ticket-selling experience that "traditional" is good! And I think all our hand-workers enjoyed their stitching. I know I have enjoyed organising it and am very proud of our result!

Yours sincerely

Elizabeth Sadler

Raffle Organiser,

Auckland Patchworkers and Quilters Guild Inc.