Two Comforters

This week I sewed the bindings on two comforters from church. Comforters are normally donated to comforters for MCC but if they don't meet MCC specifications, they are donated to a local agency for distribution. Just to be clear, I did NOT piece these comforters.

These comforter tops are pieced by various people then given to church who knot them. I'm one of several people who finish the bindings. I use the self binding method listed in the top right corner of my blog.

Sometimes these tops aren't the prettiest but I thought the first comforter looks very nice.

This simple patch work is an easy to make top.

This second comforter is too busy for my taste but because it is flannel, it will be warm and cozy. 

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Wednesday Weight Loss, I Quilted This, Put Your Foot Down, TGIFF, Finished Or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts 

2024, How Did It Sew?

I have spent 2024 trying to stick to the list I posted about last January in my first Planning Party report. At times sewing my list and sticking to the plan became very tedious, however I am very glad I persevered when I see all the quilting that was accomplished. A total of 8 quilts were listed. Of those 8 quilts, 6 are completely finished and 3 of those quilts were started and finished this year. However I did have a squirrel sneak in and run around, I'll show you that quilt at the end of the post.

Hearts & Wreaths was finished in June. From start to finish, it took a little under 3 years for this long term project.

The piecing of Dresden Stars was completed in February, sent to the long arm quilter in May then returned to me in August.

The anniversary quilt (listed as gift quilt) was pieced and long arm quilted entirely this year.

The months of June and July were spent binding comforter tops for MCC and machine quilting small quilt projects which I'm not showing in this post. You can read about them here, here, and here.

However, I am going to show you Dots and Dashes, this was the largest of the compassion quilts I quilted and donated. Quilting compassion quilts was on the list.

Most of the blocks for Dots & Dashes were completed, I just needed to piece a couple more blocks then sew the blocks together. The pattern for Dots & Dashes is found here. I may make another quilt from this pattern someday.

Tula Hexies was one of the quilts I quilted. She's staying at my house for me to enjoy. Tula Hexies was a new project I started in November 2023 and she's finished!

Radiant Blues was started and completed in 2024.

Radiant Blues is my favorite quilt of the year. I have been wanting to make a feathered star quilt for years and now I have. I enjoy looking at it displayed on the wall. 

Pineapple Blues was started at the Jane Stickle retreat in April. I innocently thought I could actually piece all 49 blocks needed for this quilt in one long weekend! I managed to complete almost 20. The rest were completed in September. She came home from the long arm quilter in November, another quilt started and finished in the same year.

The outer blue borders have been sewn onto blueberry pie. She won't be going into the quilting frame though. She measures 108" and I won't be able to have the hand quilting finished by spring. I don't like to hand quilt during summer and I feel guilty if I have a quilt the frame and not be quilting.

One of the projects I listed was Garden Party, designed by Bonnie Hunter. Thirty-six blocks were pieced at the November retreat, that quilt is on the list again for next year.

What quilts didn't happen? Fire Island Hosta was the only project on the list to not make it out of the project bag, it is also on the list for next year.

The squirrel quilt is Blessed by Nature which was a kit I purchased at Lolly's during my July birthday outing. Donna and I both pieced our quilts together in October then I sent my quilt to Calico Point to be quilted. Here she is!

Linking to TGIFF!, Favorite Finish December, Finished or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts

More Comforter Binding

Elaine dropped off seven comforters for me to bind. I used this tutorial for binding.

Sometimes the comforters are rather bland but these comforters are very pretty! 

Fern pieced these tops then passed them along to Elaine who then took them to be knotted at Prairie Street Church. The bindings have been turned, stitched and delivered to the Depot to be sent with the next shipment to wherever they're sent.

Isn't it interesting how we all have our different niche in the process?

Midweek Makers, Wednesday Wait Loss, Needle & Thread Thursday, Put Your Foot Down, TGIFF!, Finished or Not Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts

More Comforter Bindings

The comforters for binding had been piling up while I had been machine quilting binging. Of course I took pictures.

Some of the comforters are more attractive than others but they will all be loved.

These comforters have been take to the MCC rescourse center where they will be distributed for use.

Let me clarify, I did not piece these tops or knot them, I'm one of the binders.

This is the way I bind these comforters. There is a quick link to this tutorial on the top right hand of my blog.

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Comforters & a Quilt

Other projects were pushed back while Radiant Blues was created. Now I need to play catch up.

First were 4 comforters that needed bindings attached. I did not piece the tops or knot them, I'm just part of the process by sewing the bindings then delivering them to the MCC Resource center in Goshen.

In April, Carolyn brought a comforter along to the retreat to have me deliver. It also needed binding. Comforters don't have a binding like quilts, we just fold the backside to the front and stitch it down. I use this tutorial I published last year.

Carolyn's comforter is beautiful and she had it quilted! Since this is a donation anyway, I suggested donating it to the Michiana Mennonite Relief sale held every September and she said yes. Since that is what she's going to do, I can't just fold the backing over to the front, it has to have a real binding.

Carolyn said she would purchase fabric and mail it to me for binding but I said I would use the fabric I cut from the excess backing. I decided to add some dark brown to the binding to make sure I had enough fabric. It doesn't really show though, binding is so narrow.

Maybe you can see it better on the backside of the quilt?

The pattern for Carolyn's quilt is Iconic designed by Lela Boutique. Her finished quilt measures 63.5" by 77".

We looked out the north window the other evening and we saw this doe with her fawn. Sorry the picture is blurry, it's taken through a window screen.

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Sewing Comforter Bindings

I don't like knotting comforters, instead I have volunteered to sew the bindings using this tutorial. 

In the first part of February, I sewed bindings on four comforters from church. When I returned those four, I brought two more home. After they were finished, I took pictures of them to show you.

Comforters are different from quilts in that they're usually made with larger blocks and they're knotted, not quilted.

The comforter on the left has been knotted. Here is a close up of the knots.

The comforter on the left has been strung (stringed?) but the strings haven't been cut. That will happen later when there is a 'knotting'. Usually crochet thread is used for strings/knotting, sometimes yarn is also used.

The last time I showed a 'stringed' comforter, people said in the comments they couldn't see the strings, now you can! In April my church will have a snip & knot evening where anyone can come and help knot comforters.

My friend Elaine went to the resource at the MCC Depot and brought home 4 comforter tops and knotted them. I had told her that I would bind them for her. She was happy to hear that, she dislikes the binding process. We work well together, I dislike the knotting process and would rather bind! Here is a picture of the 4 comforters she knotted.

The two outside comforters are both the same design. The blue Dresden is cheater cloth, a pre-printed fabric. I used to see a lot of 'cheater' cloth in stores.

The above comforters were bound in February but more comforters have come to me in March. After I finished piecing the anniversary quilt, I got to work and did more bindings.

Here are three more from church.

The red one in the center was a top that was given to me. I added the red outside border. There are many ladies from church who sew bindings, I don't always get 'my' comforter tops back. These comforters will also be knotted at the 'snip & knot' at my church.

The day I told Elaine that I would sew the binding on the comforters, Marie was there and asked if I would bind some comforters for her, sure! I'm glad to help. The next three are from Marie and are also going to MCC.

Most of the comforters are made from large square blocks, 5" or larger.

But that quilt in the center was made with bricks that finished at 2" by 4". It was so cute! I've never made a brick quilt but if I would, the bricks would probably be 4" by 8" or larger!

So far this year I've sewed bindings on 20 comforters. I'm a small part in the process, last year MCC shipped almost 60,000 comforters to people who needed them. 

Linking to Midweek Makers, Wednesday Wait Loss, Needle & Thread Thursday, Put Your Foot Down, TGIFF!, Finished or Not  Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Patchwork & Quilts

Charity Comforter

The Sunday I picked up the 4 comforters for binding, I noticed the comforter that was in the frame for knotting was one I had pieced.

 Last Sunday I took the 4 comforters back to church and placed them in the cupboard. I noticed there was a knotted comforter ready to be bound in there. I opened it to look at it and saw it was the one that had been in the frame the Sunday before. I brought it home to bind.

Normally we just turn the backing fabric over and use that for binding but I had used some blah striped pink fabric from my mother's stash for the backing. I thought it needed prettier binding than that. 

I have a basket where I put the leftover binding from projects. I pulled them out of there, sewed them together and made a scrappy binding for this comforter. 

This comforter will end up with MCC.

The sixteen pieced blocks in this quilt were made with the RSC color of the month. I have no memory though of piecing the puss in the corner blocks! 

I think I'll sew along in the RSC next year and make 16 pieced blocks again. They're such an easy block to piece for charity quilts.

When I posted about the comforters I bound last week, someone asked how they hang together since they're not quilted? A comforter is NOT quilted, it's knotted. My church uses crochet thread to knot, some places use yarn. If you look at the comforter I wrote about today, you can see the knots. If you look at the 3rd one in the prior post, you can see the strings which have been sewn onto the comforter. Those strings will be snipped then it will be  knotted. Those strings held the layers together while I sewed the binding.

Linking to Needle & Thread Thursday, Put Your Foot Down, TGIFF!, Peacock Party, Whoop Whoop Party, Finished or Not  Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant, Patchwork & Quilts, Scrap Happy Saturday

A Comforter for MCC

One of the recipients of quilts during Sarah's Hands2Help 2023 drive this year was MCC. Debbie contacted me when I showed several MCC comforters that I finished binding. She was planning to make a comforter for MCC but wouldn't have it finished before the Hands2Help deadline. I told her MCC needs comforter tops all the time, she could send the top to me and I would see it would be donated to MCC facility in my town.

I received Debbie's comforter top this week in the mail and I want to show it to you. 

Isn't it pretty! This flimsy will be knotted by volunteers then the edge will be turned then finished sometime this coming winter or maybe at the MCC comforter bash! There are so many places in need of comforters, overseas and right here in the US.

Thank you Debbie for your wonderful donation. 

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Scrappy Log Cabin Charity Quilt

Last fall I posted about some scrappy log cabin blocks I had found while moving. There were 54 completed blocks and I needed 26 more blocks. I finished piecing the blocks last fall then sewed them into a flimsy in late winter.

I had originally planned for this flimsy to be donated as a comforter top but I liked this flimsy and decided I was going to quilt it myself. He's been hanging around my sewing space guilting ever since. 

I finally decided that last week was long enough and got him quilted. I do fine when stitching the little charity quilts I make, as long as I remember to use the walking foot but quilting a larger quilt is a very different story. 

I didn't get it pinned quite tight enough and there are some puckers. However after washing, the whole quilt is puckered so they don't show as much.

I used light gray thread for quilting the serpentine design. After quilting and washing, this quilt measures 62" by 77".

For backing I used this older fabric from the 90's. At that time, I loved this floral and bought enough to make a shower curtain for our tub & shower in the farmhouse. It made it too dark in the shower so it wasn't in use very long. I took the seams out and have saved it all these years to be used as a quilt backing. It worked nicely for this quilt.

I had planned to use the leftovers of bindings from other quilts to bind this quilt but when I went to the basket, I found this floral binding. I had made it years ago for another quilt then put it in a safe place until needed. I put it in a really safe place and couldn't find it when I needed it! Time to get it used!

Larger pieces of leftover batting were used. My supply of batting pieces is depleted for now but I have 3 quilt tops at Lori's in the process being long armed quilted. There will be more charity quilts in the future.

I used every kind of genre and color of cotton fabric in this quilt. I recently read on another blog where the quilter called quilts that use every color 'scrap vomit' quilts. I don't agree with her, scrappy quilts that incorporate every color can be pretty.

This quilt will probably end up at the chemo center of Goshen Hospital. 

Linking to To Do Tuesday, Midweek Makers, Wednesday Wait Loss, Needle & Thread Thursday, Put Your Foot Down

Charity Comforters

It's that time of year and Sarah has her Hands 2 Help Comfort Quilt Challenge in progress. There are several agencies listed that need quilts. One of those groups is MCC (Mennonite Central Committee).

There are many different ways to support MCC including making comforter tops. Here is a link to the comforter page.

Comforter Bashes are held in various areas around the states. My local 'bash' is held in November. Here is a video from facebook for you to watch.

My church also has a church comforter bash coming up this month. Volunteers put the comforters in frame and 'string' them. The string hold the layers together then other volunteers sew the binding and return them to church to be finished

They will be knotted at the church bash then sent to MCC for distribution.

I am one of the volunteers who sews bindings. I recently bound 4 comforters and took pictures to show you.

Simple patterns are really the best designs for comforters.

Sometimes small quilts are donated and fabric borders are added to bring the comforter tops to size. The tops need to be at least 60" by 80".

This is a close up of what the 'stringing' looks like. The strings will be snipped then knotted.

I didn't piece any of these comforter tops. I sewed the bindings using this tutorial.

Linking to Needle & Thread Thursday, Put Your Foot Down, TGIFF!, Peacock Party, Whoop Whoop Party, Finished or Not  Friday, Off the Wall Friday, Beauty Pageant,