Any Quilters On This Site?

[imagardener2]

I just found a wonderful website and thought it would be really neat if there were other quilters here if we worked on a quilt or two together for this organization - [url=https://www.qovf.org]Quilts of Valor Foundation[/url].

Anybody else interested?

[cynthia_h]

Great minds think alike...please see my post under Memorial Day TY, started by wingdesigner.

Cynthia H.
El Cerrito, CA
USDA Zone 9, Sunset Zone 17

[imagardener2]

Are you a quilter also? Would you be interested in working on a group project quilt?

[cynthia_h]

Not sure. Do you have a specific plan? Maybe blocks of a certain size? Color/theme? Is this a quilt for a fund-raiser? To give to an organization?

I'm involved with the Children's Quilts Project (www.ebhq.org) and have six QOVs in various stages of preparation, in addition to my own personal quilting projects.

I also crochet hats for the Chemo Hats project here in the East Bay, take care of my dogs and elderly (20 y.o.) cat, and...am looking for a job. Have been, for months.

But tell me more!

Cynthia

[imagardener2]

I thought if there were several on here interested we could each make several of the needed blocks for a quilt:

a) using the same color scheme and the same pattern for each block
b) making blocks of our choice, but using the same color scheme throughout the quilt
c) using an attic windows pattern using the same window frame material but our choice of 'view' material
d) ????

OR

We could do a round robin kind of quilt (someone does the center panel and passes it to the next person who puts on a round, etc.)


Whaddaya think? Like you have any room left on your plate for anything else...

[JennyC]

I haven't done any quilting in a long time, but I'd like to be involved if you decide to do quilt. My grandmother taught me. She quilted for warmth, so some of my skills are very utilitarian -- I can piece well, but my applique is always messed up somehow. If you decide on a pieced pattern. count me in.

[imagardener2]

My understanding from their web site is that they prefer you send your quilt top, backing and batting in a [url=https://www.qovf.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=79&Itemid=496]presentation case[/url] to a [url=https://www.thecozyquiltpatch.com/images/quilting-machine.gif]longarmer[/url] and have them quilt it. Once the quilting is finished they return it to you for binding and shipping.

Our primary part in this would be in purchasing the materials for and the making of the quilt's top, backing, [url=https://www.qovf.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=262&Itemid=523]label[/url] and presentation case.

[cynthia_h]

Trust me: we do NOT need to buy any material. I have four boxes (banker's boxes size) of fabrics I have received as donations, and several multi-yard lengths suitable for backings.



But I digress.

If we'd like to make blocks for a top, I can mail out coordinating fabric to anyone who's participating.

No $$ needed except maybe for postage/envelopes.

Cynthia H.
El Cerrito, CA
USDA Zone 9, Sunset Zone 17

[imagardener2]

I'm reading your post.... [img]https://geocities.com/d_m_g_s/emoticons/Chair-Fall.gif[/img]


Since fabric isn't an obstacle (Thank you, G_d!) then the only other things are what design and an address to which to send fabric or money.


Thank you!

[opabinia51]

I'm not a quilter (yet) but, I remember the basic stitch from Home Ec in middle school and would like to give it a go.

[imagardener2]

Yea! Another willing participant!!

Thanks, Opa!

[cynthia_h]

The most recent numbers I'm aware of is that QOV has awarded over 14,000 (maybe 15,000 by now) Quilts of Valor to injured military personnel. Our mission is to deliver one to every military member injured in Iraq or Afghanistan, to date approx. 45,000 people.

BTW, no appliqué here, either. I can use my hands for only so many things before they try to re-spasm into CTS, so it's not on my list at all. Unless it's machine appliqué, but there are so many blocks out there, we really don't need to think about it.

I used Sawtooth Star on my "solo" quilts last fall. I used a completely different approach on the ones I put together during Jan/Feb/Mar, when my dog was recuperating from knee surgery and I "lived" with him downstairs in the sewing area.

By the way, it may be VERY difficult to get this thing off the ground during "high gardening season." Perhaps more people will join after harvest time in their respective zones...

Cynthia H.
USDA Zone 9, Sunset Zone 17

[opabinia51]

Personally, I would see quilting as more of a winter pass time than a summer pass time because of the cold weather and being indoors for long periods of time. Of course, summer is the time of garage sales where we can pick up cheapfabrics and what not.

I've go my eye out for some nifty ones.


Question for the "stuffing" do people just use the filler that is available at craft shops for making stuffed animals and what not?

[JennyC]

There are some designs that call for raised areas, which may use regular stuffing, but usually quilt batting is used -- it's in a "sheet" form, so the quilt has uniform thickness. You can get it at fabric stores and maybe department stores (the Wal-Mart nearest me carries it, for example, but the more urban ones I used to frequent did not).

General question: are the QOV quilts done by hand or machine? I've never pieced or quilted on a machine before, but I don't have a quilting frame, either. If we're doing squares, though, I guess we can quilt each square.

[cynthia_h]

On the QOV site, machine quilting by long-arm is specified as the preferred "finish." It helps us get the quilts to the servicemembers more quickly and, in many cases, more beautifully. Most quilters today use machine piecing as well: gotta get all those quilts made, you know!

Probably our sequence (let me know, Fearless Leader) will be something like this:

--we decide on a design
--we decide on color scheme
--I send out fabric
--we make our blocks, sashing, whatever
--a back is prepared (this is a one-person job)
--we assemble the top
--we prepare a binding
--we prepare a label
--we prepare a presentation case
--we notify the QOVF folks that we have a quilt ready for a long-armer
--the long-armer lets us know whether she will provide the batting or not and whether she will do the binding (standard is to attach by machine to the front of the quilt then turn the binding to the back and hand-stitch)
--quilt top, back, label (and perhaps batting) are sent to long-armer for quilting (and for attaching label on two sides if she is also attaching the binding)
--Quilt is sent to one of us for finish stitching on label and binding
--Quilt is sent away for presentation to service member.

Let me know if I left anything out; I'm a little more clear-headed today than sometimes (chronic pain) and thought I'd write out these steps while I could. My own QOVs have been distributed through a local SF Bay-Area contact, so I haven't dealt with a long-distance long-armer or with a presentation case yet.

Cynthia H.
USDA Zone 9, Sunset Zone 17

Re. Batting vs. Stuffing: Batting is sold by the yard. Warm and Natural (one well-known brand) is 90 inches wide, so it should be possible for us to have the batt in one go and not have to piece it. Stuffing is usually polyester and sold in bags; batting is more often cotton or other natural fiber, which the QOVF specifies on its website.

[imagardener2]

Exactly, Cynthia!

For the pattern I was thinking of something simple in case there are those who would like to be a part of the project, but aren't big sew-ers. Something along the lines of a [url=https://quilting.about.com/od/quiltblockconstruction/ss/patchwork_block_2.htm]basic 9 patch[/url] (or possibly a [url=https://quiltsatcs.blogspot.com/2007/04/disappearing-9-patch-tutorial.html]disappearing 9 patch[/url] which would be self-sashing) with maybe an 'I Spy' kind of thing going on. That way we can use fabric that's been donated, but still have an opportunity to add our own personal touch. Plus it's a pattern with movement, but not difficult to execute.

Thoughts? Ideas?

[imagardener2]

Here is an example of what I'm talking about...

I live in Texas so I would want for one of my blocks to reflect that. (I used a flag material as our common fabric.)

Basic 9 Block________Disappearing 9 Block

[url=https://www.geocities.com/d_m_g_s/Quilt/TexasEx.jpg][img]https://www.geocities.com/d_m_g_s/Quilt/TexasExTN.jpg[/img][/url]_______[url=https://www.geocities.com/d_m_g_s/Quilt/TexasDisEx.JPG][img]https://www.geocities.com/d_m_g_s/Quilt/TexasDisExTN.jpg[/img][/url]

[imagardener2]

With the slight modification of a red center block...


Basic 9 Block______Disappearing 9 Block

[url=https://www.geocities.com/d_m_g_s/Quilt/TexasExRd.jpg][img]https://www.geocities.com/d_m_g_s/Quilt/TexasExRdTN.jpg[/img][/url]________[url=https://www.geocities.com/d_m_g_s/Quilt/TexasDisRdEx.jpg][img]https://www.geocities.com/d_m_g_s/Quilt/TexasDisRdExTN.jpg[/img][/url]

[imagardener2]

Hey, guys! I'm okay with criticism! If what I've put up there doesn't work for y'all please, please, please say so!

All I want is a pattern that allows the most number of folks to work on this project. If somebody has something simple that they like better I am definitely open to it! [img]https://geocities.com/d_m_g_s/emoticons/happy.gif[/img]

[cynthia_h]

I'm just waiting for the more cautious/less experienced volunteers among us to state whether they're comfortable with this block or would prefer something more complex (many possibilities) or less complex (modified Rail Fence?). And for others to join, as well, now that we seem to be gaining some momentum?

IF the group decides on one of these block designs, I would suggest that the center square be different from the four corner squares. Many injured vets have visual difficulties, either from direct ocular injury or trauma to visual centers in the brain, and having four pieces of the same fabric together in the center (after the Presto Change-O cut) will be overwhelming and/or confusing for them.

There is also (by the way) no requirement that we use red/white/blue as the color scheme. My local contact, who has personally distributed quilts several times at the VA hospital approx. 60 miles from my house, says that her experience turns out to be the same as the experience of other distributors across the nation: just over half of the vets choose red/white/blue (maybe 55%?), another third or just over (35%?) choose "other" color schemes, and the balance (10 to 15%?) prefer "gentle" color schemes or even floral patterns, given that approx. 10 to 15% are injured women vets.

Not that ONLY women pick florals, but it would take an exceptional man to choose a floral quilt *for himself* while other men are watching...IMHO. And, of course, women are free to pick red/white/blue etc. for themselves; we're not all fond of calico prints.

I have been given reds, whites, blues, and mixes thereof; tans, antique blue (kind of like French or slate blue); blues and reds so dark they're almost black; trout-fishing prints, deer prints, general hunting prints. I've also received a few food prints, abstracts, etc. I may even have the "waving flags" fabric in the four boxes of donated fabric downstairs.

I may have time tomorrow to look through the boxes and see whether I can match any of your samples. Certainly I will by Friday. Perhaps we can develop some timelines so that we're not in conflict with folks' gardening activities? I can make blocks any time of day until I get a job (yeah, next year in Jerusalem...at least, that's what it feels like right about now), so the gardening "high season" doesn't affect my sewing schedule RIGHT NOW. But for those folks who still have jobs, asking them to choose between quilting and gardening in June July August...well, let's just say that I wouldn't give good odds on the quilting winning out!!


Thank you for making these sample blocks and "running 'em up the flagpole." ha ha ha small tiny joke

Cynthia H.
USDA Zone 9, Sunset Zone 17

[imagardener2]

Cynthia, is this what you mean by a [url=https://home-and-garden.webshots.com/photo/2159834030079995222JmmCiV]modified Rail Fence[/url]? If so, I like it!


And I love the idea of using an outdoor kind of print!

Here's something I mocked up using the 9 patch again and some 'fishing material'...



[url=https://geocities.com/d_m_g_s/Quilt/OutDr9.jpg][img]https://geocities.com/d_m_g_s/Quilt/OutDr9TN.jpg[/img][/url]_________[url=https://geocities.com/d_m_g_s/Quilt/OutDrDis9.jpg][img]https://geocities.com/d_m_g_s/Quilt/OutDrDis9TN.jpg[/img][/url]

[JennyC]

Cynthia,

I figured that machines and speed might be the way to go. I'm not old enough for this (hardly anyone alive today could be), but regardless, my quilting memories involve a group of the area women hand-quilting around a frame suspended from the ceiling in someone's house. I don't have the frame -- it was my grandmother's -- but I remember the quilting bees as important social occasions.

Hopefully, I can piece with a machine. I've just never done it before. Can't imagine it's that much different than doing it by hand.

[cynthia_h]

OK, it took me a while since I have neither 1) a digital camera nor 2) a cell phone that takes pictures, so it was pointless for me to make a sample block.

HOWEVER! I found a photograph on the Web of what I had in mind by "modified Rail Fence." The usual Rail Fence quilt can be made by one person in one day; not sufficiently complex (most likely) for an injured vet.

But [url=https://alwayswantstobequilting.blogspot.com/2005/08/spinning-blocks.html]this arrangement[/url] =>



lends itself to having, say, a common fabric (one that all of us will use; in other words, one that I have been given a LOT of), and then two coordinating fabrics (I've been given MANY fat quarters). If this design is more comfortable for novice quilters, we could each put the common fabric where the yellow is in the picture and then use the other two fabrics where the sunflowers and third fabric are.

But I also like the cut-up/Disappearing Nine Patch idea.

Will look through the boxes o' fabric tomorrow. Did something weird to my right knee Monday? Tuesday? and can barely negotiate the stairs tonight.

Cynthia

[imagardener2]

Did something weird to my right knee Monday? Tuesday?

Remembering you, your knee and your efforts in prayer. [img]https://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/images/smiles/angelsmiley.gif[/img]

[JennyC]

I don't know why, but I just now realized there's a second page to this thread, so I just found the pattern discussion! I like the disappearing nine-block, too. I also like the rail fence, but the rotated "whirly" arrangement kind of made me dizzy (a problem for me anyway since my fall the other day). Might it do the same to an injured vet? I'm a big fan of zigzag rail fence quilts, so maybe it'sjust my preconceived notion of what a rail fence should look like. The pattern with the yellow "trails" does lend itself to having a common fabric.

Cynthia, I hope your knee's better!