The Sewing Bee

[gracendignity]

Apple, your memory quilt is fantastic! I love quilts that have happy memories with them. One piece of advice, though--document the story behind the quilt. At the very least tell your son/parents/whomever will inherit the quilt one day the reasons for the blocks. Right now it is fresh in everyone's mind but someday it might not be. 

My mother just passed away last month and there were 4 quilts in her possession. I knew the story of one of them because I had made it for my dad in 1987. The other 3 were from my grandmothers. My siblings knew they were grandma quilt but nothing else. I'm the quilter and family lore collector in my family and I was able to identify for certain when grandmothers made 2 of the quilts. The 4th quilt is a 90% probability made by my paternal grandmother, but its age and condition says it *may* have been made by her mother. There were other needlework treasures to be had, too, and I'm the one who can give the best guess estimate on makers/age. Some written notes in with these things would have been nice. I've promised to make labels for the 4 quilts, though.

I'm bad about not labeling my own quilts, though. I have just quit my job (not sure if I'm retired or not. I think it's just a work intermission. lol!) and I have promised my own girls that I will go through and label my quilts and quilt tops for their future knowledge. It's a firm goal from now on to label all my quilts, even if it is just with a name/date.

I've hardly threaded a needle in the past 6 months, but now that I am gainfully unemployed, I look forward to some serious time in my quilting room again! 

[Apple]

Jul 16, 2017 10:07:33 GMT -5 sealy said:

Feb 7, 2017 11:33:31 GMT -5 Apple said:

I made my first donation blanket!  It's going to go to the NICU where my son spent his first two weeks.  I bought a ton of flannel while it was on sale (plus coupon), so I have a lot more material to use up.  I should have bought more "plain" flannel for backings, but the prints they had this time were just too darn cute.  I'll have to match up what I have, and then go get more.

From start to finish, it took just over an hour.  You can't tell in the photo, but it has a decorative stitch all the way around the edge.  Size is 1 yard x width of fabric (minus seam allowance).

You could always use the others for the backing then it will be reversible. I can't see a picture though.

Not sure what happened to the photo, but it was yellow fabric with elephants

I plan to make well over 100 blankets, and the solid fabric usually costs a little less.  Some will be reversible though if the prints go together well.

[Apple]

gracendignity Hope your time off ends up being enjoyable and as productive as you want it!

I'm thinking of doing a poem or similar to print on fabric and put on the back of the quilt, but there are over 70 blocks, so too much to really get into it.  However, I might make a little booklet to go with the quilt, explaining some of the memories.

I haven't labeled any small stuff, but my larger quilts will get labels (at the very least, my name and date), and baby quilts I make for "known people".  The two I made for a friend's brothers didn't get labeled.  

I designed a "Made with love" elephant, where i used the letters to form the elephant.  I will probably clean it up and then print some fabric through spoonflower or similar.  

[Apple]

One of the ladies I quilt with dates fabric.  We have a top that my great-great gramma made.  She used a flour sack for part of the foundation fabric.  We looked up the mill, and it burned down in the 40s (IIRC), but had been around a long time before that.  I'll take that in and see what she thinks.

We only know where it came from because we were there when my gramma was going through a trunk.  She hated great-great-gramma and made the comment that "You can throw it away for all I care, I refuse to finish it."  So, mom rescued it and brought it home.  It was funny, because I never heard my gramma talk like that about anyone!

[quince]

...Is that an apple in the quilt?

[Apple]

Jul 17, 2017 0:09:34 GMT -5 quince said:

...Is that an apple in the quilt?

No apples  There is a big tomato though!  (My mom plants literally hundreds of tomato seeds every year.  Grows whatever seeds take, and then gives away most of them once they reach over a foot high, around Memorial Day.)

[gracendignity]

Apple, a poem for your quilt would be great. A booklet is another wonderful idea, unless it gets separated from the quilt.  There are many good poems and quotes to be found on the internet if you don't know what to put on a label.   One day your son will be glad to have documentation. 

This is my first full week of unemployment and I'm letting it be a true vacation week--no setting the alarm, puttering a bit, but no plans to be efficient.  Next week, however, I will get into my new routine.  2017 has pretty much kicked my butt with the illness/deaths of 2 close family members (but I did get a new granddaughter in Feb. so not all bad!) and I'm looking forward to mentally/emotionally/physically decompressing by spending some significant time quilting.  A new baby was born (cousin's grandson) in late May and for the first time ever I didn't have the quilt done before the birth, so I need to get busy with it.  And now a nephew and his wife just made an announcement for baby #2 so I'm there goes another quilt.  And I need to make at least 1 fidget quilt for my guild's community service quilting this year, and, well. on and on and on.  LOL!  Quilting is some of the best therapy in the world!

[ilovedolphins]

I have always wanted to make a quilt but it looks like it would take a long time and I'm afraid I would get started and never finish.

[Apple]

Aug 8, 2017 15:59:25 GMT -5 ilovedolphins said:

I have always wanted to make a quilt but it looks like it would take a long time and I'm afraid I would get started and never finish.

It depends on the size and complexity of the pattern.  I can complete a simple 5' x 7' "couch quilt" in about 25 hours (possibly fewer now that I've made a couple) if I machine sew and quilt it.

It's when there are a lot of pieces, a lot of different types of blocks, a lot of small details, and/or it's hand pieced and quilted that you really get to the more time consuming quilts.

And the fast and easy quilts are just as loved when they go to people who would appreciate them.

Also "finished is better than perfect".  So don't aim for perfect, especially on the first one!

[sealy]

Im thinking about selling quilts to earn a little extra money. Have any of you sold quilts before? If so did you have any suggestions for me?

[gracendignity]

Im thinking about selling quilts to earn a little extra money. Have any of you sold quilts before? If so did you have any suggestions for me?

I've sold quilts in the past, plus I used to hand quilt customers' tops.  I never sold machine quilted quilts (Trust me, no one would want them!) so I can't speak to that issue.

First off, especially if you are hand quilting, you will NEVER earn a fair dollar for your time.  Secondly, when a hobby becomes a job, it stops being as much fun.

Having said that, I was very upfront with my customers that I was raising daughters, had a husband, and a full time job, so it would take between 3 and 4 months per bed-sized quilt.  I just charged a flat rate of about $250-$300 per quilt.  That was a bit low even for way back then (late 80s-late 90s).  Some people charge by square footage of the quilts, or yardage of thread, but I never got that fancy.  I had customers from my town and some from the internet.    Back in those days when selling craft work it was suggested to triple your cost to get your selling price, that covered cost, time, and profit.  Last I heard it had been upped to 4 times.  But again, if you are hand quilting you will not get a fair price for your labor. 

I've thought about selling my work again.  I would definitely not quilt a top for any less than $500 these days.  I might charge by the square inch but not by yardage because I'm kinda wasteful with my thread, cutting off large tails, etc.   When I stopped quilting I had a 2-year wait list and I just cancelled them.  If I did it again I would do ONE quilt and maybe have one more customer waiting in the wings, but I would never again have such a long wait list. 

The plusses for me back then to selling my work were:  I got to quilt many tops from the 30s and 40s (my favorite quilting era).  I got to enjoy my love of quilting without buying fabrics, etc., and when I was done I got paid a little bit.  I can piece way faster than I can quilt, so at times I've had a backlog of quilt tops that I sold.  When I made an entire quilt to sell I worked on commission pieces, but if I do it again, I'll make a quilt to suit myself and then offer it for sale. 

I don't know if this answers any of your questions, and please keep in mind I'm coming at this from a machine pieced/hand quilted perspective.  I can't really speak much for machine quilted work since it is not my forte.  But I hope it gives you some things to think about.

[Sharon]

I finished both of the quilts for my new DGD.  This weeks project will be a German style drindle, size new born.   I found a pattern that I think I can alter and make it work.  The pattern shows a full overskirt but I will adjust it to just be apron size and sew it into the seam between the bodice and skirt.

SIL grew up near a small town that holds a large Oktoberfest celebration every September.  It is a given that they will go and probably multiple times.  This will be the first time that a lot of his friends and family friends will get to see the new baby.  I have until Friday to get this done and we just decided today to do it.

[Apple]

Sharon Sounds like you'll be busy!  The outfit sounds adorable.  Please post a photo if you can (even if you have to cut off the baby's face from the photo...)

I watched some Craftsy classes when they were free on Labor Day, and made a fun little pouch (first time sewing a zipper).  I hope to make some bags from another of her styles next week.

[Apple]

Sept 10, 2017 14:51:41 GMT -5 sealy said:

Im thinking about selling quilts to earn a little extra money. Have any of you sold quilts before? If so did you have any suggestions for me?

I've decided I won't do this, unless it's a very simple baby quilt that I can whip up in a couple hours (think whole-cloth with simple machine stitching).  Even small quilts are just way too time consuming; I'd never get my time paid for.

I can often work on quilts while I'm at work, but I cannot sell those quilts (because that would be doing a side business at work, which is strictly forbidden).  However, I have made some baby quilts for a friend, she just supplied all materials (or paid me back for them, or gave me other material in trade).  

My aunt started a booth in Alaska in the 80s.  Even back then, her rule was to always charge materials + $10/hour.  They had a popular booth where several of my extended family made items to sell, and they did, even with some higher prices.  

I have a friend who wants me to do a booth at a bazaar she is running.  I plan to only make and sell simple projects that I can do quickly, because I know I won't get a lot of money for anything.  I'll make everything look nice and it will be good quality, but it's going to be fast and easy (things like potholders, pouches, simple bags, and stockings).  I need to keep everything under $15 for it to sell in this area, so max time spent should be under an hour.

I've thought of doing a whole cloth quilt to see how fast I can complete one, and then try to sell it for $35 or so.  I know I can do a flannel double sided receiving blanket in less than an hour, so might be able to sell some of those for around $15.

Anything more just takes so long to complete, and there aren't enough people out there willing to pay for my time.  I'd rather make quilts at work and donate them, or gift them to friends, than try to make money off my own time.

[Apple]

I've been busy...!  Here are some of my other latest projects...

Two quilts I made for Meals on Wheels (using fabric that was donated to the Senior Center):







Some blocks I made for a Winter/Christmas themed swap (a set of four of each block, so 20 blocks to swap +5 to keep), I'll trim them all down to 12 1/2":




I designed my own paper piece pattern for this stocking.









And finally, a "mug rug" that I sent for a swap (along with the pouch I posted earlier):






I have an I-spy baby quilt that I need to finish the binding on. I think I have two corners left to do.

[Apple]

Tonight's project, two little matching bags  They took a while because I was watching a video and writing notes, but next time should be faster.

They are just the right size for my cell phone, wallet, and coupons.  Maybe the little coin purse I made too.