Finally! 2019 Charity quilts 11-20
I know, I know. These were supposed to be waay back in February.
However they weren’t.
I’ve got to get the pedal to the metal and get these done. I’ve waited about as long as I can to get really going on these if I have any hope of finishing up 120 of them before the end of 2019!
The good news is that I do have all the tops done and folded -ready for sandwiching! They were done in March or April, though!
The other good news is that with the Big Fabric Haul we brought back 3 rolls of batting which I am now using up. I will be starting to use my second roll of that batting this week as I sandwich the next group of quilts. I’m also using as much thread from that “haul” as I can - every chance I can.
In order to finish up 110 quilts by the end of the year (I had already finished the first 10 and posted about them here - I finished them back in May! - Charity quilts 1-3, 4-6, and 7-10), I knew I had to break them up into bite sized chunks - something do-able.
I knew I couldn’t wait even another week to get going though. At first I thought, “one a day”…then I didn’t get started soon enough for that, even, so I decided that “10 a week” and I can finish by the end of the year.
So, 10 a week it is!
That’s my goal on these.
Hopefully from now til some time in December, you will see 10 charity quilts featured here weekly.
You’ll probably get tired of them.
Here are numbers 11-20.
Yes…this week I sandwiched, quilted, trimmed, bound, washed and photographed (and labelled the ones Fran hadn’t). As of this writing, I have not transported them to the church building - which I hope to do in the next couple of days.
I expect that you all recognize the Around the World centers that my friend, Fran, put together for us to give away.
Maybe you also recognize those shadow quilts - with solids. I made them from start to finish.
I am very happy with how they have turned out! Very happy.
I think they will a have a wide range of appeal - everyone from ‘tweens to adults - guys or gals.
I also made the Batman from start to finish.
The rest were tops that Fran sent me and I just added borders.
Of course, some of them were a lot more work than that, as I actually took them apart as I was sent them years ago now as I had told Fran I would fold over the back to the front and bind them - so they were actually tied already - just not finished on the edge.
I actually cut the ties and took them apart. The reason I did that, was that the themes on most of these were adult or at least older child (not baby), but the small size center resulted in a small lap or baby size quilt.
So, I opted to take them apart, add borders and make them more versatile as I noticed people didn’t know what to do with a lap quilt.
I’ve noticed, that while they do like and use baby quilts - as in about 36” square, they REALLY like and need a single size quilt (or larger).
So that’s what I do now. I aim for 55”-62” wide by 80”-90” long for the single and a double starting at about 80”-95” wide x 95” long.
So now you know! This is one of the things I’ve been focusing on!
Oh…before you fall over in a dead faint - let me run the times by you.
Sandwiching these little quilts takes about 15 minutes each. Maybe a couple minutes less than that. But I’ll round up. I use spray glue and safety pins.
Quilting takes about an hour - more or less, depending on what I do and if everything works smoothly without any problems
Trimming - 5-7 minutes - depending
Binding it takes another 15 minutes (or maybe up to a half hour if I need to stop and create some more binding),
Then washing and taking a photo another 15 minutes each. (That includes putting it into the washer, pulling it out, hanging it out as I don’t use the dryer on these - and then taking it outside for the photo - putting it on the line, waiting for the wind to die down :), etc. - that’s pretty generous - obviously the picture taking takes more time than putting it in and pulling it out of the washing machine!)
Obviously writing the blog post takes even more time as I need to look through my photos, resize, organize, etc.
How much time is that per quilt?
Let’s see - another 1 hour, 50+ minutes per quilt - let’s just round it up to 2 hours per quilt- to completion, approximately.
I also have to deal with the trimmings - as I’m separating them into small pieces of batting and scraps of fabric. Then there is sweeping the floor, preparing the backings, etc. OK. Add another 15-30 minutes per quilt for those things! I’m not really counting anymore by now! Oh well! Maybe it’s better if I don’t know!
I’m only writing this so you don’t think that I spend 10 hours per quilt doing this part of the process!
Whatever it is, it is. It’s my own fault, anyway, for procrastinating so long on these!
Anyway…off to sew! I hope you have a great day wherever you are reading this!
Be sure to check out what my sis has for you in the store!