Giving Back

Often here I have spoken of the wonderful quilting friends I am lucky to have in my life. One of them, Sheryll, has been trying to pare down the fabric stash that she acquired from her elderly mother. One way Sheryll thought of to do this was to make pillowcases for charity. Much of the fabric is dated and out of style for what Sheryll typically likes to work with, so she knew she would not be using the fabric for quilts, yet she had to do something to use this yardage.

Enter the Frankfort Girls! When we last met at Sheryll's house, we saw the giant stack of prepped pillowcases - WHOA! She had been busy! There was easily 50 in the stack. So each of us grabbed a few to help her out. If each of us made some, the job would be finished lickity-split.

Many hands, quick work, as the old adage goes.

I finished mine this week, and I thought you'd like to see. From the stack of fabrics to the finished product, here is a picture-story.

I took the stack of greens. Sheryll had prepared each pillowcase with the cuff fabric folded inside the body fabric. This is the makings of 9 pillowcases.

I watched the Jenny Doan video from Missouri Star Quilt Company on how to make a pillowcase. I've done it before, but I needed to refresh my memory. The video helped and it is a super-simple method. I went to work in assembly line fashion.

Five of the nine ready for stitching.

 All 9 sewn and ready to be turned inside-out.

When I sewed the sides, I pinned to match seams, and worked through them all by chain-piecing.

I could have cut them apart, but I wanted to see what 9 pillowcases would look like smooshed up behind my machine. It was quite a pile!

After I sewed the sides, I trimmed the seams a tad, and then I zigzagged the seams to finish them. After a thorough pressing, they looked pretty darn good, if I do say so myself.

Next time I see Sheryll, I can hand these off to her. She told us the charity she would be donating these to, but I forget what it is. I know some of the other girls already had theirs done, and I don't know how many more are left to do. I would love to know the total when all is said and done. I think Sheryll's mom would be quite proud of how her fabric is being put to good use.

Have you sewn or quilted for charity? As a part of the Frankfort Girls, I have done a few. We each made quilt tops that we donated to the James Cancer Hospital at Ohio State. Then, we made three patriotic quilts for a local family who lost a loved one in Afghanistan. Now we can add these pillowcases to our list of efforts toward giving to others.

Hope you are having a great Saturday! We are leaving in the morning for a week in Florida! I need to finish packing!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Feed Sack Pillow Cases

I have been absent! My good intentions of getting back to posting more regularly have all fallen to pieces with this recent period of inertia. Hmmff.

I last shared my new pieced pillow sham with the promise of sharing the additional pillows - so let's get to it.

  

For the past few years, the Circleville quilt show has had a nifty little feature that has grown and grown. Members of the guild bring unwanted items to a room set aside for a giant 3-day tag sale. It is a shopper's dream - especially if one likes all manner of sewing and quilting ephemera. I am always looking for vintage fabrics and have been lucky enough to find some exquisite pieces. This year, the search brought me these two pretty feed sacks made for eventual use as pillowcases.

Now that they are sewn and in use on our bed, I realize I should have made a bigger hemmed edge with the pink and blue borders. Pillow cases naturally have hems of 3-4-inches. I wasn't thinking. My inclination was to keep as much of the colorful parts showing as possible. I will leave them as they are for now. Maybe I will prefer the wider hem at some point, but they serve their purpose now.

I included that last picture to show the holes left by the original stitching from the feed sack. Whoever saved this fabric had removed the stitches and laundered the cloth. I am happy to see how they were originally stitched and glad for the evidence of its previous life.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

 

Sewing With Kids

Last Thursday, I had the opportunity to take my machine and some supplies to Mom's, where I met my 10-year-old nieces for a bit of sewing. The plan for the day was to make a flannel pillowcase.

First we drove over to WalMart so they could pick their fabrics. This took longer than actually making them. Too many decisions!! Eventually, each girl selected a main fabric, a cuff fabric and an accent fabric. In actuality, the choices were limited; I'd hate to think how long it would have taken if we'd gone to a proper quilt shop for flannel!!

I followed a Missouri Star Quilt Company video for measurements and sewing directions. For each cut of fabric, I got a bit extra so the girls would have some remnants to play with. They were glad about that.

Here's a photo story of our fun few hours of sewing. They watched while I cut all the fabrics to the correct size, and helped with pinning. They liked the metaphor of rolling up the end into a "burrito" and were glad to help with that part, too.

 

Both girls were quite intent as they stitched, working so very hard to follow the line on the machine to end up with a straight seam. We had a bit of curviness, but mostly, they did great.

Anna Rose unrolls her "burrito."

And she seems very pleased with her work!

Mary Jean works at unrolling her "burrito."

Here is MJ turning her finished pillowcase right side out.

Success! Satisfied smiles and warm, flannel pillowcases.

The girls are progressing quite well with their sewing. We have had 3 or 4 sessions together, and they continue to show improvement. Most of all, they want to learn, which makes all the difference.

I am linking today with Monday Making.

Happy Quilting, Friends!