Why so many tops from Fran?

I felt like I should explain to you why I’ve had so many tops from Fran. It’s kind of a convoluted story and it all ties in together with my decluttering efforts.

Remember how I was going to work on cleaning out a room in the basement?

I had thrown some stuff down there that needed to be taken care of.

In that room were a couple of boxes of sandwiched quilts that Fran had sent me a while ago (as in a few years ago) but had never been finished. She had sent them to me and I told her I would bind them. They were tied and everything, but not finished.

Why not?

Well, to be honest (I hope so - I try to be - such a useless expression!), I didn’t know how - her mom always used the fold over the back to the front method and sew it down. I guess I lacked confidence with this PLUS I always had plenty to do, so I just put the boxes in the basement. I knew they were there - in the back of my mind — and figured someday I would get to them.

When I needed them.

I think there were 2 boxes down in that room. As I cleaned out that room I brought those boxes up and decided I had to deal with them!

Now.

I talked about it with my husband he kind of offhand suggested taking them apart. These were all lap quilt size. I was a bit aghast at the suggestion because of the work that had already been done in getting them to the point where they were (sandwiched and tied).

But then I continued to think about it. I realized that I didn’t need those small ones that didn’t have a baby theme. They were hard to give away. So, I decided to do it in spite of the fact that it meant taking apart work that was already done.

To add to that…

I had a plastic tub (a big one) of lap size quilts at the church building but I hadn’t given them away. I had given away pretty much all of the really cute baby/small children’s ones - ones with really nice fabrics and motifs. However, the ones that were less distinctive weren’t chosen - less because of the fabrics, but more because of the size - they were all about 42”x42” or so. Definitely a lap sized/baby size quilt.

It’s my fault.

Call it my learning curve. I didn’t really know my “clients” as well as I should have.

At first when I tried to give away lap size quilts I had to more or less explain to people how to use them. I suggested using them to cover ugly chairs, use while watching tv, etc. Most people just didn’t “get it”.

Giving away small ones that were baby themed was easy. Giving away lap/baby size but with non baby themes was not easy for me. People simply didn’t know what to do with them.

So, I kind of quit trying.

I had them in a green tub at the church and hoped to just give them away sometime in the future. I was feeling bad that people didn’t choose them. I offered them to people. People gave them a passing glance but wanted big ones!

However, this January when I saw that I had run out of quilts for adults - in any style or design - I realized that I had this whole tub of lap size quilts. As I was considering taking apart the ones that were tied but not yet bound, the thought flashed through my head to just take the finished ones back apart and use them as centers and make them big.

I realized that I could. I groaned inwardly as that meant taking the outer binding seam out. I knew the fabric was there as they were flipped over from the back and sewn.

I immediately thought that I could just cut on the inside of the binding and go from there. I tossed out that idea almost as quickly as it came to me. I wanted the fabric. And I wanted the additional couple of inches in the center of the quilt that doing that would eliminate.

These are some of the last ones I took apart while waiting with my friend at the hospital.

I just decided to “do it”. I know that my friend just wants me to use them for the people here and while it is a shame to take them apart, I know if I were the donor, more than anything, I’d want them used. So, that’s what I did..

I used the backing that she had as one of the outer borders and will use a different fabric for the backing.

Here’s the n avy blue and tan one shown above with the borders added. I didn’t use her muslin backing as one of the borders. I’ll save it and use it for something else.

So, all this time when I was with my friend at the hospital while she was getting radiotherapy (radiation) I took a few with me to sit and take apart while I was waiting in the waiting area. She mostly needed my help only in getting in and out of the car (she has a wheeled walker and needs help getting it out of the trunk of the car as she can’t walk anywhere without it).

Anyway, to make a long story short, my hands are very tired of taking threads out of the binding seams and tired of pulling on threads - I usually used the backing fabric to add to the front to make it larger.There’s part of my pointy finger where the first joint is where the thread has sort of sawed into the skin. I’m glad I’m finished as it needs time to recover and grow back.

I kept a seam ripper in my purse so that I would have it with me at all times. Here’s my bag ready to take to the hospital with me.

So now I have a bunch of small lap size batting which I can zigzag together to form larger ones.

I also have a whole bunch of scraps due to my adding borders to the centers. I have lots and lots of scraps to cut up into squares or strips. I have LOTS of scraps. Let me say it again. I have a LOT of scraps. I must go through them and sort them.

But anyway, how you know why I have so many (it’s crazy how many!) centers of quilts from Fran. Between the quilts that were at church already that I took apart and the ones I hadn’t bound - I made these all into single size quilt tops. I think I counted about 60 small battings which should indicate how many little quilts I took apart. I think it’s no wonder my fingers were tired.

The finished quilt tops are now about 60”x80” or a little more - which is what I call a European single.

Whew!

Here’s another one that I did - on the left it is the small lap sized, and on the right, the larger one with using the hot coral color as one of the borders. It had previously been the backing/binding.

I am feeling really good about getting these made into tops ready to go. People here do really enjoy these quilts - it is cold in Poland about 7 months of the year. We use heat from October - April.

And now you know!

Have a great day wherever you are reading this!

Be sure to check out what my sis has for you in the store!

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