Denim Finishes

Hey! I realized I had some denim finishes that I haven't showed y'all! First up is the denim quilt I made from my two sons jeans they are no longer wearing. I have been saving the jeans for quite some time! This quilt is made from boys sizes 8's and 10's. When I came across this tutorial I knew this is how I wanted to make the quilt! I originally posted about it here.

 

I love the different shades of blues and the look of the worns knees!

 

 

I found a flannel for the backing that has owls in blues and greens. I think it goes well with the denim. I love snuggling under this quilt! 

 

The next demin quilt I wanted to show you is a denim prayer quilt that I made for our church ministry. I originally posted about it here. This went to a dear friend that was scheduled for open heart surgery for a heart valve. I'm hApPy to say surgery went well and he is now home recovering! Praises!!!!

 

This quilt is quite a bit bigger than my first one and heavy too! I love how it turned out .. I just love all the shades of blue!

 

The way a prayer quilt works is there are threads stitched into the quilt and left untied. If you look closely at the photo you can see the untied threads (#5 Pearl Cotton) stitched throughout the quilt. (You can make the quilt a tied quilt, but I like to machine quilt mine).

 

The quilt is presented to the congregation and information about the recipient is given as to their prayer needs. After service it is placed in an area large enough for people to get around it so they aren't stumbling over each other. Each person says a silent prayer and ties a knot in the threads. Knots can be tied on top of knots (prayers on top of prayers).

 

The recipient will then be covered in prayers and they know each knot represents a prayer for them. Usually what happens is once the prayer quilt is given to the person in need, they have family members that say prayers/tie knots into the quilt. I'm also aware of hospital personnel saying prayers/tying knots. The prayers/knot tying aren't only from the church family.

 

You can go here to learn more about prayer quilts!

 

 

I didn't get a good photo of the back, but here is the flannel I used and you can see the label and more of the untied threads.

 



A photo of prayers tied into the quilt!

 

I really enjoy being able to use my sewing talent to serve. Making the quilts blesses me! My goal for 2013 is to make more prayer quilts!

 

If you have been saving jeans and not sure what to do with them, be sure to check out the link I gave you at the beginning of this post for making these quilts. Also, visit Pam at Threading My Way for Refashioning with Denim. There are fantastic ideas listed for recycling denim! 

 

Thanks for stopping by! Sewing to serve!

Gina

 

A Prayer Quilt for Dad

The last time I posted was in May, because right after that my Dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Right away I spoke to my sister DeAnna at Georgia-Girl Quilter, about making a prayer quilt for Dad. She agreed and was ready to be involved. I ask Dad if he would like to have a prayer quilt, and he said yes. 

DeAnna and I began brainstorming for a design idea. She had the idea of using novelty fabrics of his life interest. We started a list: boats, motorcycle's, newspaper print, dance/square dance, music, western (for his love of western movies), gun motifs, patriotic, LSU, Fluer De Lis (for Louisiana/Saints), clocks, etc. After we came up with fabric motif ideas, the search was on to find the fabric.

I suggested we use the snowball block for a couple of reasons. One; it's a good block to showcase the novelty fabric and the second reason has more meaning that I will explain. Living in south Louisiana we don't get a lot of snow. One time when we were little, it snowed but only as far south as McComb, MS, so Dad took us to the snow. We all piled in our yellow station wagon with the wood grain panels and he drove us about 45 miles north to McComb, MS, for us to play in the snow. DeAnna thought it was a great idea because of the memory we had. She said it would be like us throwing snowballs at him.

After weeks of searching for fabric with the motif's we were looking for, we finally found as many as we could find. All of my siblings were going to be at my parents house the week of July 30th thru August 4th. We planned to make the quilt that week. We would involve everyone in the making. DeAnna brought 3 of her sewing machines and I brought my machine. I brought 2 card tables to use for cutting and ironing stations, and between the 2 of us we had all the necessary supplies.

Here are pictures to help tell the story:

DeAnna (sister) cutting fabric

Simone (sister) ironing fabric

Bryan (brother) sewing

Catrinel (sister-in-law) sewing

DeAnna (sister) sewing on her antique Singer sewing machine made October 26, 1950. She got the machine from Cathy Lynn Forcino, who creates mohair Teddy Bears but also collects and sells Vintage Singer Featherweight sewing machines.

A picture of me sewing

DeAnna and Simone (sisters) checking seams

Mom sewing

I'm watching the master (Mom). I learned to sew from her!

Rhunell (sister) sewing

Simone (sister) and I pinning the quilt

I'm quilting

Simone (sister) quilting

 The reveal

Each square represents an interest in Dad's life. I know it's hard to see but here are the novelty fabrics and their meanings.
Starting at the top left: Newspaper print with car ads has two meanings. He delivered the Baton Rouge newspaper for 64 years! He owned many vehicles throughout the years due to his newspaper delivery business and he knew a lot about them. Fleur de lis for Louisiana and The Saints. Western fabric with guns for his love of western movies and guns. Boats because he enjoyed boating. Dance and record motif for his love of dancing and music.
Second row from the left: Clocks because they have many. Red, White and Blue for being patriotic. Music notes for his love of music. Sillouette cowboys for his love of western movies. Motorcycle's because he had one and enjoyed riding.
Third row from the left: Coffee because he liked drinking it. The Preamble for his love of history. LSU because he was a fan. Coffe cups to go because he liked drinking coffee. Square dance calls for his love of dancing and square dancing.
The blocks repeat in the quilt but in a different order.

Dad enjoying his prayer quilt, with prayers already tied into it.

On August 23, 2012 Jesus came and reached out his hand for Dad, and Dad took it. We will always miss you Dad, and have comfort in knowing we will be together again. We love you! You were the best Dad!

Well all find peace in being covered with Dad's prayer quilt.

Blessings to you and your family,
Gina

A Tie Blanket Prayer Quilt... {Just Because}

This prayer blanket isn't for someone ill physically or spiritually per se, it was made for the recipient 'just because'. It was made for an elderly member of our congregation just because we love him and wanted to cover him in our prayers. We prayed love, peace and strength into the blanket. Wouldn't you still like a prayer quilt when things are going 'just ok'? Wouldn't you still like a prayer quilt 'just because'?

This is a unique prayer blanket for a unique person. The blanket isn't unique in the way it is made but it's not the traditional way we have been making prayer quilts. It's a fleece tie blanket that has been popular for some time now. You use 2 yards of fleece for each the front and back, cut approximately 1 inch or slightly larger cuts around the edges, making a fringe. Then you tie the fringe front to the back and voilà you have a blanket.

When you tie the front to the back, you tie 2 knots just like we do for the threads stitched into our 100% cotton prayer quilts. It actually makes a terrific prayer blanket! This worked perfectly for our recipient! When we asked if he would like to have one, he requested St. Louis Cardinal fabric and Green Bay Packer fabric. That's why I decided to make it a tie prayer blanket.

There's really not a front or a back to this one! We have it folded over for the picture so you can see both sides! I always pray that God uses the prayer quilts as an instrument ... that the recipient can feel HIS presence ... feel the love and prayers tied into the quilt ... and that the recipient will be at peace. I prayed that in this one too.

Thanks for stopping by! Blessings!

Gina

Never Say Never - Fuglies

I can't ever say I Never Win Anything because I hit the jackpot on fuglies!

Lucy at Charm About You had a Linky Fugly Fabric Party in early February. You can read the original post here. The idea was to destash.. to get rid of fabric you may have once loved but maybe not so much anymore.  It may have not been ugly, but maybe it was fabric that's been hiding in the back of your stash, fabric you knew you wouldn't use anymore.

I came across her linky party and thought I'd play along and register.. maybe I could win fabric for the prayer quilts that I make. The prayer quilt ministry budget is low and I'm always looking for donations and well, this was right up my alley.

I was so surprised and excited when I began receiving emails that I had won! Of course I want to show you!

I received this beauty from Ella at throw a wrench in the works.

This wonderful fabric is from Irene at Hilachas.

This 7 yards (total) of lovey fabric came from Pat at Color Me Quilty.

These 3 pictures are fabrics sent from Karen at Practically Pippy.

Love that seashell and starfish fabric!

I love those 4 1/2 inch charms.

Thank you ladies, I promise I will make good use of your fabric! I hope you have a chance to visit their blogs. They are very talented ladies!

Blessings,

Gina

Drunkard's Path Turtle Block

I'm making a prayer quilt for a 7 year old that really likes turtles. I searched high and low.. long and hard to find a turtle to either applique or piece. Once I decided on the Drunkard's Path Turtle, I searched my local stores for the plastic templates and came up empty handed. Why do some things seem so hard! (I know sometimes I make it hard!) Time is running short and I needed to get started on this project. I browsed sites to purchase the templates and then remembered I have an old book Quilters For Beginners Patchwork & Applique Projects for All Ages, by Agnes Frank, copyright 1985. It has templates for each of the 20 blocks in the book. This was either before rotary cutters/rulers or before they became popular. I was finally glad to get my hands on a Drunkard's Path template! (I found the book here.)

I was skeptical of using that particular design because of sewing curves and using a template. I probably haven't used a template since I bought this book and made many of the blocks! (The receipt was my bookmark, I bought it February 16, 1989!)  Even though I was feeling unsure (because of the curves and templates) I continued moving forward with it and happy how the first block turned out!

I'm planning to pick the stitches out from around the head and tail and zig zag around it instead.

When searching for templates on the internet, I came across these templates by Marti Michell. I like them the best. I was wondering if anyone has used them? After studying the Drunkard's Path design for the turtle block, it's really amazing how many different designs you can make using those templates.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by!

Have a blessed day!

Gina