Umbrella Theme Lap Quilt

It's finally finished.

 

Colors in the backing are not quite true.

 

Front has diagonal quilting to indicate rain. 

Umbrella has fabric ruching, navy with yellow edge.

Blue pocket has Velcro on flap.

Lime birds echo the fleece print, orange wings.

 Flowers have varying textures. Darker pink and blue are silk, the pink print flowers are stitched for tactile effect. Couched green silk ribbon for stems.

Yellow umbrella is my favorite addition. Handle is green grosgrain ribbon, ruched at the crook of the handle. Ruching is my favorite embellishment. The umbrella is trimmed with fabric ruching. Varying widths and ribbons make all kinds of different trims with little effort except a little hand stitching prior to applying.

Farm Scene Fabric

I found an item at a thrift store that will yield 2 yards of 44" cotton material in this print plus some scraps and some green broadcloth scraps.

It worked out to $3.50 per yard. I am excited about using this fabric both for large farm scenes worked into landscape patchwork with green hills and blue sky, and fussy cut pieces to make a Velcro book with pages attached to a quilt. A little trapunto quilting, some couching and other additions will add texture.

Swatches will also work as center panels for a patch block with either rectangles or triangles.

The picture doesn't show the Sunflowers. Sunflower blocks are great, too, to add to some of this in a quilt. Note the hen and rooster, and the pig at left.

I'm glad to have pictorial fabric for the interest on different quilts. Fun.

Elephant Walk

When I ordered off for fleece and flannel, a piece of elephant print velour was the best bargain I found. It was the only print of its kind and the only juvenile print that I bought.

I cut off a piece to use for backing for a future quilt and cut the rest into squares to alternate with other touch blocks. This quilt is backed with khaki colored flannel.

 

Shallow pocket for exploration.

Prairie Points in blue are among my favorite

trims. They can be explored from the open 

side and have no raw edges.

 

A good view of the little elephants and my 

applique elephant with ribbon ear.

 

Not a real pocket, just a corner to explore.

 

Ribbon loops 

 

A real pocket on yellow fleece.

 

 Another look at the elephant.

 

The darker red square is fine-wale corduroy.

Kind of a Cowboy

It seems as if a story should accompany Touch Quilts. If nothing else, something to spark a little conversation from visitors.

 

This block is an applique cut from a fabric with western designs. The lightest and darkest parts of the lasso are couched yarns. The little square at upper right has some waste threads underneath to give it a raised effect.  

 

Cowboy boot has some texture added underneath

and some couched thread.  

 

Rooster from a tea towel.

He has trapunto effect with poly fiber and stitching.

 Red fleece, faux leopard, and a square 

of blue silk, all for tactile effects.

 

A denim pocket. I try to add a pocket or two

to every quilt.

 

Here's the sun. Yellow ribbon loops. 

Random stitching in the 'sky.'

 

Blue silk channel quiltedd at top.

A cotton piece with a stitched down crochet

piece for texture.

At bottom, upholstery material.

 

 

The upholstery material is lined with blue striped

cotton. It forms an open 'muff' with fleece

on the bottom for a place to put cold hands.

 

A final crazy quilt square with some of the

fabrics in the quilt including red fleece.

My first effort, this quilt is large squares of whatever was at hand, like the never-used tea towel. I did buy the red fleece, a Santa hat that came with faux leopard trim. I'm still thinking how to use the leopard pompom from the hat in another quilt along with the rest of the fur.  

Ruching

Despite all the ribbons I have for trim, there are few that are wide enough for wide ruching. I experimented with fabric strips. I am delighted with the results.

 This first strip of ruffling is a happy accident. I used a strip from a print that looks like pieces of seamed material, some print, some plaid, some plain. I seamed a folded piece that had a green print next to a solid blue. I meant to use the print below. When I turned it over, it is a solid with a print edge.

 The solid dark blue on the reverse was narrower than the print and does not show.

This is a wide piece, too wide for the project with the yellow umbrella applique but a nice ruffle. 

The same fabric as above but a narrower piece, which I liked better.

 This ruching strip is a piece of wired ribbon that I removed the thin wire. Without the wire it's still stiff ribbon and did not turn out as pretty as I'd hoped. Ruching works best with ribbon or fabric that is soft.

There's nothing difficult in making ruching. a gathering thread that goes from one edge to the other like this: ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ is pulled up until scallops form. Tie off the gathering thread. Pretty ribbons ruch well. Fabric strips with the raw edges turned in or seamed into a tube and turned make great ribbon-like pieces.

There are ruching videos and tutorials on the internet made by professional art quilters and fiber artists.

Embellishments

The original notion to start making Touch Quilts was to use up fabric and trims that were stashed away starting years ago. All kinds of projects were begun, like doll dressing and Christmas ornaments, then abandoned or completed and the leftover materials tucked into drawers and cupboards.

Today I read a challenge: Use what I have or can find at no cost. This vow I am taking after I ordered off to two different vendors for fleece and other fabric, ribbons and Velcro at the end of 2015.

Those orders were not as pricey as they could have been because of coupons and deals like free shipping over a set amount. I made myself a promise to try to use up everything before I order off again.

I guess I'll have to set myself a tiny limit at local vendors. "I can spend $4.00 and tax," usually does it for me at the dollar store. "I can buy 2 yards of  flannel," might work for a store where there is fabric.  A yard of velveteen or fake fur would make my heart glad when I'm putting together a touch quilt that needs more texture.

I have a Hancock's card worth $10.00 that I could use in a store when we go to the city if I reach a point where I just must buy something.

The best embellishments of course use buttons and/or beads. Touch Quilts need to be safe, so those are tucked away for yet another project.

I have a stash of ribbons from projects but they are mostly narrow. Narrow ribbons make nice flower stems couched with machine stitches. I think I can make some other trims by sewing them in groups. Every time I look at them I see a color that I am lacking, like yellow.

 There is no end to the embellishments that can be made with nothing but fabric and thread when making quilt blocks that need something of interest to the fingers as well as to the eyes.Tucks and gathers can be made in all widths and numbers, for a start. One of my favorites is Prairie Points. There are other shapes of folded fabric that work well for making flowers and other decor.

There's a little basket of acrylic paints that I bought at a yard sale on the way home from Blakely once. Researching painted fabric revealed that I could use those paints and further research told me that I have household chemicals that will render them even more useful. There's even mostly the colors I need for a project that I have in mind to try.

Interesting to me is that many of the best art quilters know how to use what they have and share generously their expertise. Separating the true experts from those who have something to sell and push products has been most revealing.

It's like finding the golden egg at an Easter hunt to find a short tutorial on a blog where the author says, "This is from my class on..." coming from someone whose classes are at the other side of the country and I am not likely to go to class. Wouldn't it be wonderful to live close to one of those places?

 

 

A Winter Project

As slowly as I go, the quilts may be too warm for usefulness by the time I'm done with enough to share with patients at the nursing home.

I don't even know that they'll be welcomed. I'm careful not to include dangling objects or buttons or anything that the state inspectors might find potentially harmful at a nursing home.

I haven't made a photo of the first quilt I made and it's tucked away right now.

The colors here are muddy because of the overhead light on a dreary day. I wanted to see how the blocks looked before they're joined.

A flannel print with 'Lady' things like purses and heels and sunglasses and bows and diamonds set the theme. Lime fleece squares will feature appliqued pink high heel shoes, a flower for one and a cameo sort of applique of a woman with a hat. Plaid seersucker for both the texture and the colors. A bright hot pink pocket at center left from a pair of never-worn shorts. A velveteen square on the opposite side in the same shade. Upper right is a lavender satin square. I think channel quilting will be good for the satin.

The umbrellas fleece goes with two other quilts with some of the same colors. Sometimes I forget what goes where and for a brief moment of confusion, thought this was the backing material. Not. It will be fleece in maize or pink.

I figured out a way to keep everything together as I plan in situ once I get an initial plan sketched on paper. I take old sheets folded in fourths and lay out squares on them. When there's enough of  material for 2 quilts of a theme, I fold the sheet in half longways. Uncut material and trims can just pile on. Once there's a visible workable plan, the whole thing is rolled and stored atop a spare bed.

When I've run out of sheets I start sewing. When the plan is fairly firm, everything can go into a dress box, but I must stop reading and dreaming and start actually putting things together. Every quilt will have at least one pieced block or two or more.

Some blocks will need trims applied before sewing together. Minor things like ruched ribbon are not difficult, just time-consuming.

My original plan after I first read about Touch Quilts was to use up years' collection of fabric and trims. When I decided that buttons and beads and metal notions were not appropriate, I had sorted through huge collections that await yet another project.

Another thing I realized was that all my store of fabric was not vast enough to include suitable material for backing. I ordered off for a large collection of fleece and flannel.

There's a long way to go before I use up all that waits for usefulness. I added to my ribbons; most of mine were too narrow, left over from doll clothes and other tiny projects.

Touch Quilts

Touch quilts are also called 'Fidget Quilts' or Tactile Quilts or Alzheimer's Quilts.

Touch Quilt indicates that these are used for tactile stimulation, a calming effect or simply something to hold on to.

I read about the Alzheimer's Initiative after the fact. Quilts were made and auctioned to raise money. A spin-off from the Initiative is the establishment of groups and individuals who make quilts for donation directly to persons who can benefit from a Touch Quilt.

Touch Quilts are used for various purposes: stimulation, comfort, activity and conversation starters for family and visitors.

Careful examination of numbers of quilts displayed online led me to a template of sorts:

My quilts will not have dangling bits that may frustrate recipients who disturbed by those objects, like spools on a cord or buttons.

Embellishments will be soft so as not to harm delicate skin.

Tactile squares or shapes vary for interest.