Friday Feedsack Quilt Finishes

With just a few hours left to Friday, I am posting my latest finishes of scrappy feedsack quilt projects which I just sewed the last stitches on some of them this morning so I could included Friday in the Post title. I started these in 2021 which seem to me was last year and much to my surprise was something I started two years ago. If you have read any of my previous posts, I do have a special fondness or am I a fanatic for feedsack fabrics. I think I may have made at least ten quilts with feedsack fabrics and can’t bear parting with even the tiniest of scraps, strips or bits so I’m always looking for projects to use them up.

I was happy to finally finish this table topper above which was a project I did whenever we were at the GP House. These were strips leftover from previous quilts and some them are vintage feedsack fabrics given to me by my dear quilt peeps and some are more recent reproductions that I’d purchased.

I started sewing strips diagonally onto 8”squares of newsprint from old prospectus back in 2021. Once thirty-six blocks were sewn, I then put them in groups of four for a barn raising layout to make nine blocks. Once the blocks were sewn together, for some reason, I didn’t like the way it looked and took it apart after seen a similar quilt but with sashing in between the blocks and thought I wanted to do the same. But after the blocks were separated, they languished in the studio for a year until I decided what fabric I wanted to use for the sashing. I added these blocks to my 2022/23 Country Threads Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge and this was one of the projects I could have worked on in November. I already had decided on a different project but decided to work on the feedsack quilt because it was an easier finish and I’m trying to catch up. I decided that I didn’t want sashing after all so I had to sew the blocks back together again and I’m pretty sure I didn’t sew it back in the same layout as the first one.

I mentioned in my previous posts that Juki Junebug is not sewing well and I had a bit of a problem when I machine quilted just simple grid lines with black thread the first time. Part of the problem could have been my fault since I used a #40 heavier weight thread in black on the top and #50 on the bottom which I have done previously. For some reason it caused beaucoup puckering especially since I didn’t have the tension set properly. So like having to sew the blocks together twice, I had remove the quilting to do the machine quilting again which the second time was a success since I used the heavier weight thread for both the top and bottom. You can see the quilt lays flatter in the photo above and does not have the peaks and valleys as the first time which I did not take a photo. I was considering hand quilting it but am glad I did not because it would not have been easy on the fingers with the dense weave of some of the fabrics as as well as the seams and the cotton batting.

This quilt measures 46” square and the binding is a black and white check which I love to use with feedsack fabrics. I also love the backing fabric which is perfect for this quilt and I have to share the story as how it was acquired.

Whenever I am at Walmart, I like to check out their fabric department to see if I can score any fabric deals and like I have done before I hit the jackpot with this print. Previously I found a bolt of a black and white splatter print which resulted in me having to climb up in order to get it down from the top shelf. This time, I found a bolt of this U.S. map print laying on the bottom shelf still wrapped in plastic. As I approached it, I checked to make sure this wasn’t a trap by looking up at the ceiling to make sure there wasn’t going to be a cage going to come down on me. I was so excited since I knew this print would be perfect for my feedsack projects and happily found a sales associate to write up this purchase. She insisted on unwrapping the bolt and measuring the fabric because sometimes the quantity is incorrect and it was. Instead of 8 yards there was only 7.5 yards but still enough and it saved me $4. Besides using this for my latest feedsack quilt, I also used it for my feedsack placemats which you will see below.

These place mats were also started two years ago and worked on when traveling to and from and staying at the GP House. Unlike the blocks made for the feedsack quilt, these placemats were made from scraps hand sewn onto to squares or rectangles of batting. This is a wonderful slow stitching project which I came up with for road projects and wrote about it This Post.

Once the placemats were sewn, I then hand quilted with straight lines 1/2” apart with either black perle cotton or black crochet thread which is detailed in the above mentioned Post. 

Once the placemats were quilted and space left for the tacking row,  the backing of the wonderful U.S. map print was added. Like the feedsack quilt, the binding was the black and white check print. I made seven placemats but only finished five for this post because I was thinking I could take a photo of a table setting with the five finished placemats but it has been so dreary for the past few days to take photos in the screen room.

These placemats measures around 12”x18” and if I had thought of it sooner I would have adjusted the size so it could fit more properly in this lovely black wire tray I just purchased this week from Amazon (not an affiliate link). I was thinking that in the future when I made more of these placemats that this would be a lovely Hostess gift which could be filled with food items or dishes. (Or for my blog buddies, I could see one of their cats sleeping in this.) This could happen if I can find another source for these wire baskets since it seems I purchased the last one available from Amazon.

As mentioned earlier in this post, I just can’t throw away even the tiniest scraps of feedsack fabric—aren’t these little balls or as I call them Quilter Marbles (because you have to be sort of crazy to make them) cute? I need to find a cute wire basket to put them in.

I could say that I’m happy to be now finally caught up with my projects for Country Threads Dirty Dozen Challenge but I may be able to squeeze in the quilt I originally wanted to finish by the end of February because my new Janome 1600P is in the house. She has been unboxed and set up in my studio but I have not done a test drive yet. I have named her Jinny Janome and will definitely have something to post about her.  I plan on machine quilting with her this weekend. Meanwhile, Juki Junebug may be feeling a little put out but I plan on having her serviced again with a different repair shop before she is moved to the GP House. I am feeling a little guilty about moving her there but I will be able to work on bigger projects once she is there.

Slow Stitching, Scraps and Small Quilts

I had mentioned in my previous posts of being inspired by the many posts from other quilters who shared their Kawandi, Kantha,  Boro, Sashiko, etc. quilts and since then have learned of Chiku Chiku stitching. You can find wonderful examples of these techniques on Pinterest. All of this to me translates to big stitching which I’ve been happily doing for the past months in between visits to the Grandparent house and during downtime (watching TV) when I am home. I thought I would share the projects I have been working on or have completed.

Although I liked the techniques behind the Kawandi, Kantha and Sashiko patchwork quilts, I thought I would work on the patchwork blocks, which were scraps I hand sewn to batting squares while traveling to Yellowstone in September of 2017 which you can read about it in this Post.

My original plan for these blocks were to either make coasters or pincushions and since there were around nineteen squares sewn, I thought I didn’t have a need to make that many of them.

After I trimmed them, there were at least twelve of them which were 6” square and thought I could make two rectangular quilts or placemats.

Before the backing was added, I did big stitch hand quilting with #10 white crochet thread.  I got this idea from BanjoFlannel Method of Patchwork Sashiko.  The rows were spaced 1/2” apart and after I quilted four rows, I skipped a row. After I was done big stitching, I then added the backing and machine quilted the binding. You can see in the photo above, the 1” spacing between the four rows.

The reason for skipping a row was that once the backing was added, I then quilted this row, which there were three, and I consider them to be the “tacking” row” since their purpose to hold the backing. This is something I learned from making several quilts with the  Quilt As You Go method, and that is, since the top and batting are quilted together and once the backing is added you only need to quilt it at certain intervals to keep the layers together.  I liked how these turned out and after all of the big stitching I did I don’t want to use them for placemat since I can’t bear to see them getting stained.

I’m really liking the big stitch hand quilting and used it for this small wall hanging which had been a flimsie for over ten years.  I did do some machine quilting in the ditch before hand quilting the three layers.  I will say big stitch quilting is much easier when only the top and batting is involved. This small quilt is what call my Patchbox Quilts which I someday need to write a Post about my idea behind these small quilts.

It’s funny that I went into 2021 subconsciously wanting to start making small quilts which is what I’ve been doing when I’m at the Grandparent House which is much easier to make than a large quilt. The quilts on the bottom of each row are ones made from patchwork blocks with batting and ready for big stitching and the others are machine piece and waiting to be machine quilted with some big stitching accents

Here’s another one I’ve been working on where I machine pieced scraps onto a piece of batting and did various stitches with #8 Perle Cotton which I love.  I left some areas unquilted and once I add the backing, I’ll add the “tacking” stitches. What I like about these projects is that I have several of them going on at once and I can switch between them when I get tired of working on one of them.

I now have assembled a project box containing patchwork blocks, batting squares and scraps which is ready to take when traveling between the two homes. The tools and notions are kept in a separate pouch. This is really a nice, portable project and a great way to use up the scraps that just keep on multiplying.

And here’s another small quilt just finally finished which is my #2 of Country Threads Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge.  The top was finished in 2017, coincidentally the same time when the beforementioned Patchwork Blocks were first sewn.  This quilt measures 25” x 33” and is a combination of wool circles and squares made from Thimbleberries fabric.  This idea for this quilt was inspired by one I saw on Pinterest from orangesink blogspot and this is the second one I made based on this pattern.  When the Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge started last year in July, this is the one I really wanted to finish sooner than later since I  have a spot for it at the Grandparent House.

We’re leaving for the Grandparent House tomorrow for a four-day visit and upon my return, I’ll be setting aside my Slow Stitching projects for some serious sewing— Sandra of mmm quilts’ Follow Your Own Path QAL which according to me is the sixth QAL of hers which I have participated. More importantly, this is the fifth year I will be celebrating a Famous Canadian’s birthday and I’m thinking a special commemorative T-shirt needs to be designed. My fabrics have been chosen and surprisingly I have not yet started nor plan on doing any deviations.

Today would be a great day for stitching but sadly doing the Taxes are yelling at me.