Stitched with Love
Whether you are celebrating a wedding, an anniversary or the birth of a child, suggest making a "friendship" quilt so all family members and/or friends wishing to contribute can get involved without committing to doing an entire quilt. Check out the full story of Megan and Matt's quilt on
BERNINA's We All Sew Blog . Megan is the daughter of one of Elegant Stitches Employees.
Tradition
“During friendship quilts' heyday, women gathered together
and each made individual quilt blocks. As a woman made a block, she embroidered
her name on the block. Each woman made a block from the same pattern; when the
group had finished making these blocks, someone would piece them together to
form a quilt. Women would make these friendship quilts and give them to
families in the community. The quilts were also common in previous years, when
families pioneered throughout the country looking for a place to live and work.
Women would make these quilts for other women who would take with them on their
journeys. A friendship quilt served as a reminder to these women of the place
they once lived and the friends they had there.”
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| Memories |
Here's the Plan...
Shhhhh!
It is a
surprise!
We are making a Family/Friends
Wedding Quilt/Anniversary Quilt/Baby Quilt for (enter recipients names).
The
traditional idea is still there with involving many different people. However, the blocks will be unique as to what the participant would like to
make.
This will be a unique, one of a kind creation blending the talents of
both (recipients name) family and friends.
Remember this is just an outline! Material choice is personal, giving all participants the freedom to choose their own fabrics could lead to issues when trying to put the finished project together. Giving out packages of coordinating fabric will make the process easier for everyone.
Materials:
Each participant will receive:
·
6 pieces of coordinating material (include solids) and
·
A piece of double sided sticky iron on stabilizer to use for an applique'
· There are numerous quilt block ideas and
basic hand-stitch tutorials to be found on the internet for non-sewers and those that wish to have their creativity stirred!
Elegant Stitches offers many great pattern books from which to choose a quilt design and a fabulous assortment of material.
Instructions:
First find a quilt block that you think represents (recipients name) their relationship, the two of them, who you are to them or simply one
you find beautiful or you’re capable of doing!
The blocks can be hand sewn or machine sewn. Your choice!
For those non sewers that so graciously said they’d do a square, you can attempt to hand sew, or find an applique, cut and iron
to background material (solid white or black) and send back to one of the "sewers" and
we will machine applique the pieces.
The blocks must all be the same size and incorporate any of the
fabric in the kit. Cut the fabric using the instructions for the quilt block
you have chosen. You may have to enlarge or
shrink the pattern to fit the required block size of 15 ½” by 15 ½”.
If you choose an applique pattern please use a piece of the solid material for the background of the applique. Cut the background piece to a 15 ½” x 15 ½”
and use the remainder of that solid color and any or all of the other fabrics
for the applique design. Applique blocks
should have at least ¼” border of solid background around the design.
If you choose to piece a quilt block, simply follow the
directions for your chosen block pattern making sure the finished block
measures 15 ½ x 15 ½”. In this case,
there will not be a solid background piece. Feel free to create your own masterpiece! There aren't any rights or wrongs for this project! Incorporate material pens, pictures etc. Just remember that anything added needs to be washable.
Please return the finished quilt block no later than (DEADLINE).
Please send back any
leftover material so that it can be used to finish the quilt.
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| Megan and Matt's Wedding Quilt Featured on WeAllSew.com |
