Looking for a pre-cut quilt for a beginner

Whoa! You are worrying about things which might not be problems at all!

While you are recovering from your knee surgery, you can do the 'arranging of the blocks' game >g< That can often take days! You don't say how many squares you bought. But, if I may suggest, you could make something from this single batch purchase: make a table-runner, or a set of place-mats, if you don't have enough squares for a bed or lap quilt.

Don't worry about not having the right kind of printer. Shops which will copy your own pictures onto T-shirts will copy onto your own fabric. I took some white poplin-type of fabric into the shop near here and the copies came out just beautifully - and this was a good few years ago (and a very small town).

T-shirt quilts are not nearly as awkward as you might think. Once you have them cut up and pressed, you can iron on some fine interfacing before cutting out and they will be as stable as ordinary woven fabric. Look up this topic on Google group Archives. We have discussed it quite often.

If you are using 4" squares, you won't need to separate them all (sashing is the word we use for those strips). You could group them into little sets of 4 or 9 perhaps - or more, and put sashing round those groups. Usually, though, these 'one-piece quilts', as they are known, are put together without sashing at all.

Yes, use your surgery-recovery time for reading and learning also. There are also video tapes and DVD's available, if you want to vary things for your eyes.

Keep in touch - there's a wealth of information here. We've all had to learn - never forget that; and we have all been grateful for help or new information that we have found here. (I hope no-one minds that I have included everyone in my general statement >gI bought some pre-cut square on ebay today and I won't know if they

Can you prop your knee up while "playing" with the squares to arrange them?

Excuse me, but someone has been feeding you a bunch of baloney! I have a Canon printer and have printed photos onto fabric with that. I know lots of people have Epsons and also do this quite successfully. The only problem I can see is that perhaps your printer is old enough that the print quality of photos might not be quite fine enough (the DPI rating). In that case, you could probably find a service to do the transferring for you -- check the back sections of some of the quilting magazines.

There are lots of web sites with hints on how to prevent the stretching in order to make a t-shirt quilt. Do a Google search to find advice on this. :)

Cotton is always good -- many people use muslin, but others use a busy print in order to camouflage the quilting stitches while they're learning.

That would be the sashing. I don't really think you'd need sashing around each 4" square, since those are rather small pieces to begin with. You might want to consider putting four of them together into a

Binding isn't difficult. :) I prefer a double-fold binding, but there are other options. You have some time before you have to worry about it, though. ;)

Again, you have time before you'll have to decide on the batting. Personally, my favorite is Hobbs 80/20, but there are lots of options.

If you have a 1/4" foot, that would be great, since it allows you to sew a precise 1/4" seam. Otherwise, just use a regular straight-stitch foot and be sure to run a test to see where your *accurate* 1/4" mark would be.

For sewing quilting cottons, a good sharp needle is the best. Try for a "jeans", "microtex", or even "embroidery" needle -- size 80 is usually pretty good.

If you're sewing cottons, cotton thread is probably the thread of choice. Aurifil makes a good, fine thread that just disappears into the seam line without taking up a lot of space or leaving a lot of lint (like the cheaper threads tend to do!) in your machine. It seems a bit expensive when you look at the price per spool, but it has so much thread on each spool that it's actually cheaper than something like Mettler. :)

And all of it is fun! The reading is something you can do, too, while you're recuperating from your surgery. :)

Best of luck!

J: Another idea! You might be able to hire someone who can cut fabric for you. Perhaps you or a family member has a skill to trade for cutting.

Example: I love to cut, but can't knit. If your sister would knit me a sweater, I could cut your quilt pieces.

The place to f> Hi all,

I sent this but it never showed up in my news reader and I went to google and it wasn't there so I guess it may have gotten lost. If you get this twice I am sorry.

Jacquel>J: Another idea! You might be able to

Pat that would be a good idea but my sister's don't knit anything but dishrags. They do both weave, but that is about it, oh one does counted cross stitch, also.

As to hiring someone to do my cutting for me, we do not have any of the things you mentioned in this area. I live in the sticks. The town I live in doesn't even have a clothing store in it and only one grocery store. I honestly do not know anyone that quilts.

Here is a link to a page that is the directory of some of my sister's work. There are duplicates maybe even triples in here I just uploaded it from my computer really quickly. They also have some lighting spots in them, I should have removed but I just don't feel like working on pictures right now.

Jacqueline Jacqueline

WOW!!!

They are just gorgeous.

If I were closer I would cut for a swap on a textile piece like any one of these. Unfortunately I live in almost-the-sticks in Australia. (sigh) But if they decide they have too much in their cupboards please let them know I would be a grateful recipient of any cast-offs (VBG)

But do try the charm squares idea. There are some amazing patterns that can be made with minimal simple cutting from charm squares.

I do not think that either of my sister's would give up one of these for me to have a quilt cut or for me period. Actually, besides the Christmas one and fall one I am not sure they have any of them anymore. Several have been given for fund rasiers and several just to friends. It takes them close to six months to do one. Of course if they could work on it 24/7 it wouldn't take that long. My mother usually made 2-3 a year and she no longer did all the detail on her's, well I have one in a drawer that still needs to be sewn together that she did detail work on. In her life time she made over 100 of them and I have one.

My oldest sister also created the design for them. Like the train at the bottom of the one and the lights around it, she did that in a cross stitch software program .

Gotta run,

Jacqueline Jacqueline

Please pass on my hearty admiration. They are beautiful.

Thanks Jacqueline. You are lucky to have such a talented sister. I dic lots of cross stitch at one time, but lately am doing more quilting. My example might work for other talents or skill sets you or family members have. Does anyone chop wood, or hang wall paper, or ... or...? I hope you do get a chance to enjoy quilting one way or the other. PAT in VA/USA

I want to take a moment to thank all of you that gave me ideas encouragement and places to look for the items I need to do a precut quit. This group is wonderful. I don't think that Thanks is quite enough for all the info you all gave me. I am hoping that I will soon be able to contribute to the group more. On things that are on topic. LOL I am good at those off topic things, but that is about it.

Thank you all again,

Jacquel>Hi all,

Jacqueline

You'll soon get into the swing of it. Do keep us posted on what you choose to make and how you get round the cutting problems. There are a number of folk here that sometimes have difficulties (I do occasionally as I have fibromyalgia and RSI in my right wrist: I stop cutting fiddly stuff and go back to squares and clothing with BIG pieces!), and any experiences you have (good and bad) can be helpful.

Does your machine have a built in threader? I can never get them to work for me and find it quicker to do it by hand, but if you have problems, there are some good threaders about. I have a couple of these that I use when teaching kids:

Or you might find these useful:

I find I usually only use threaders when my hands get shaky. They are also good if you have vision problems.

OK I do not like to bum but I will accept anything anyone wants to send. Gosh I feel so stupid saying this. I would rather work with 5" squares I think. Colors, well I saw someone here make a comment about old colors, well I am old and I guess I like old things. LOL I would love to make a quilt for my bedroom, one for me, then I can make those to give away. Am I selfish? I have not done anything for me, I mean just for me in over 9 years now, other than go to the doctor and church. My carpet is a light blue, needs replacing too, wonder if I could quilt me some carpet. LOL My drapes are a Rose color, also need replacing but I want the same colors when I do it, my walls are off white. If I can't do that I would like to make a quilt for our guest bedroom, you know the one that every thing lands on :) or in, when you are in a hurry and then you have to spend a day cleaning it up. It use to have a embroider quilt on it that my mother did the top for and then paid some lady to quilt it for her, it dry rotted after

The one that I layed out the squares for today is going to be for either a baby or a child, it will be a give away if it turns out because it is Mickey Mouse material. Oh and I don't know a soul that is pregnant so it will either go to a sick child at the hospital in the county or I will send it to the Methodist children's home. My dreams are just so big. I have a clown ministry and some day I would like to make every person in the local nursing home a quilt and go clown for them and give them all a quilt. I see that happening maybe when I am 60 or more. LOL it will take me a long time to do that many but I think that would give me so much pleasure. I use to clown there often but after my mother got sick I had to quit because I could not risk carrying anything in to her, she was just too fragile and could not have taken any kind of flu etc. being brought in. As a matter of fact when flu season would start her doctor would tell us, do not bring your mother to my office once you hear of the first case of flu, and don't you all get out in public, so my sisters and friends would bring our groceries to the door, drop by the window and wave and Mother, Dad and I would not leave the house. After they had been home and showered and cleaned up they would come back and visit or if they knew they had been exposed to something they would stay away for a few days. Gosh those were miserable days but I would relive them again in a heart beat if I needed to.

Well I have typed your all's legs off and I need to get to bed, Dad will be getting up before long and when he gets up I am too. Esp. on Sunday because he cooks on Sunday morning and I need to make sure he doesn't leave the burners on the stove or get a dish towel too close to a burner.

So I am going to be bum, you reckon so? I have never ever done that before.

Thanks everyone for reading and have a great day tomorrow.

Jacqueline

On 7 Aug 2006 10:51:04 -0700, "quilter" wrote:

Jacqueline

OK I forgot my real email address. I use the yahoo one for newsgroups so my real one doesn't get packed full of spam.

OK here goes jacqueline (at) mountain-breeze (dot) com or jcoldiron (at) alltel (dot) net. But you know I think I will just go set me up a new one. LOL It will be quilter (at) mountain-breeze (dot) com so that will probably be the one to use but any one of them will work.

Jacqueline

Starting with a quilt for yourself is a GREAT idea. The first one always seems extra special. And it's wonderful to have when the rest seem to start flying out the door...it's a satisfying feeling to give, but oh you can sure miss them!

Regards,