This past Wednesday I experienced a flashback to my “teaching” days. As we prepare for the Quilt Sale in October, our Church staff has been thinking of new ways to advertise the event. Kane, the Church Administrator for Membership and Pastoral Care, and local funny guy came up with the idea of a video replacing a quilter speaking during the offering time slot. Silly me, I was imagining an informational video stating the obvious–what, who, when and where. But Kane thought it would be better to show himself and Rev. Jeff learning to quilt and then say, “quilting is more difficult than we thought, come to the Quilt Sale and purchase something the pros made”–or something like that!
So, Wednesday at eleven I unlocked the quilting room to see lights and camera all set up ready to film. Hats off to Nathan and Elizabeth from our media team; not once did they show the frustration they must have felt as we quilters chatted, walked in front of cameras and moved lights.
Kane and Rev. Jeff were advised to select something simple as they perused block pattern books, but who wants simple? They chose this one. Going to tackle “half square triangles” along with everything else? Why not? But this pattern did illustrate one “rule of quilting”–use a dark, a medium and a light fabric for contrast. Next step was to select their fabric from our mini store. I did refrain from saying “Really?”
As I showed them how to use a rotary cutter, thread a machine and what a 1/4 inch seam allowance was, I mentally reminisced about all those years teaching Sewing I at Maize High School. When I had a classroom full of teens and a ninety minute class period, I would spend weeks on material that I crammed into a couple of hours Wednesday afternoon. Of course, with two adult men who are doing this for a lark and didn’t really care about the end product, I wasn’t as concerned about skills learned or about slicing a finger with the rotary cutter (yes, Kane, I am talking about the pizza cutter) or burning themselves with the iron. I did recognize the smiles and body language that said it was satisfying to learn something new or the pride in completing a task correctly.
How did the blocks turn out? Let’s just say they won’t be for sale this October.
It is difficult to remember “right sides together” every time. And most of the points match.
To be fair, I think I messed up Rev. Jeff pinning the rows of three together. But after two plus hours, he had to return to being the Associate Pastor of a Downtown Church and decided not to seam rip and resew.
I am looking forward to seeing how Nathan works his magic editing all the footage into a three minute clip. Watch our October 5 services on KAKE or on YouTube–it will be a inspiring service with great music and three minutes of comedy.
We are in the “ber” months–September, October, November, December—so anything holiday related is fine!!
Shirley appliquéd black cats to a rail fence quilt made up of Halloween prints. If you look really close you can see ghosts in the machine quilting. Even the backing is Halloween theme fabric. The 47″ x 57″ quilt would be perfect to throw over the back of your sofa or your recliner. A child could look for all the symbols of the season in a “I Spy” game–Halloween version. $125
Christmas is never far behind Halloween. A holiday table runner quickly changes the mood of a room. Traditional red and green prints were used in this 22″ x 46″ runner. It is machine quilted and hand bound. There is a touch of shiny gold adding to the festive look. $50
This block was donated to us and Vicki finished it as a table topper or small wall hanging. The gingham prairie points that form the basket’s handle are 3-D. The fabric prints are from the same line, coordinating beautifully. It is machine quilted and hand bound. 19.5″ x 19.5″ $40
Our October Sale has ETC in the title because we have so many smaller and less expensive items. All are handcrafted. We made many of some items, some we made just a few.
These fabric holders keep your tissues from becoming nasty and unusable in your bag. $5 each–a couple of dozen different fabric choices.
One of many pot holders or hot pads. This one has Insul-Bright as one of the layers of batting. Insul-Bright is a polyester batting with mylar woven into the batting, which reflects heat. $10. A good hostess gift or an addition to a gift basket.
You will never mix up your bag with someone else’s when you have a “customized” bag by Diane. Eliminate plastic bags by always having a cute tote in your car for spur of the minute shopping trips. $10 each
“They” are predicting a cold, snowy winter. So be prepared with a new hand crafted cap. These are all adult sizes. $20 each
And of course, we have more hand embroidered tea towels. The towels are 100% cotton and measure 27″ x 27″. Most are bleached white but a few are unbleached-natural colored. $9 each.
We do have a little bit of almost everything, so I hope you have marked your calendar for the Quilt ETC Sale, October 16-18, and see for yourself.
Quilts, Etc. 