How to Baste and Tie

Eager learners attended the third Stitchin' Mission lesson at Faith Lutheran Church. The lesson was about how to: make a quilt sandwich; baste a quilt with a needle and thread, or safety pins; tie a quilt; and go about machine quilting.

From those intent gazes, these students look determined to learn how to tie their quilts!

What a pretty quilt was being use for the demonstration!

Pairing up, quilters set to sandwiching their quilts.

Here, one of our mother-daughter teams work together.

 Many hands make light work.

Next Thursday, Nov. 3 our lesson is about how to bind a quilt. Several different methods will be reviewed, followed by a demonstration at the sewing machine. Rebekahs have the night off since the lesson is short. Newbies are encouraged to attend, ask questions, and then return home to sew!

Students: As always, no matter whether or not you're keeping up with your quiltmaking during weekly lessons, you're encouraged to attend classes. If your quilt isn't finished by the last lesson on Thursday, Nov. 10, you have until the morning of Saturday, Nov. 19 to complete your quilt. That's plenty of time to see it finished and displayed alongside other Stitchin' Mission quilts on Nov. 19-20. Everyone is invited to visit Faith Lutheran Church, and attend a worship service to see the display. Services are at 5 p.m. Saturday, and 8:30 and 10:00 a.m. Sunday.

Second SM#25 Lesson

At Thursday evening's second beginner quiltmaking lesson, newbies learned about rotary cutting - using a rotary mat, acrylic rulers and a rotary cutter to straighten and cut fabric. 

After the rotary cutting demonstration, Rebekahs stationed themselves at tables around the room to give guidance if anyone had difficulties. 

Sometimes, to be sure those rotary cuts were perfectly straight, an extra pair of hands became helpful.

Two can always accomplish more, and have more fun, than one working alone!

After rotary cutting, newbies learned how to sew blocks together to create a "web" and make a finished quilt top.

A demonstration of how to measure, cut and sew borders to a quilt center concluded the evening's lesson.

There is no lesson Thursday, October 20, so students have two weeks to make a quilt top... or two or three! The next lesson is October 27. Students will learn how to make a quilt sandwich, tie a quilt, and learn a little bit about machine quilting. 

Stitchin' Mission #25 Underway

Thirty three newbies and 11 Rebekahs (helpers)  - 44 people! - turned out for the first beginner quiltmaking lesson at Faith Lutheran Church.

Several other newbies will join us for second and third lessons, so our whole group totals 50!

God is definitely teaching us about working together in community, and demonstrating how we can serve Him without traveling far from home.

This is such an attentive, cheerful group! They make it exciting to be teaching again.

Here I'm showing what a fat quarter is - an approximately 18" X 22" fabric rectangle with the same number of square inches as a 1/4 yard cut of fabric.

Toward the end of class, everyone received a demonstration of various ways to find a scant quarter-inch seam on the sewing machine.

We're starting new quilters off on the right foot... a quarter inch sewing machine foot. (Pun intended.)

While the seam width demonstrations continued, newbies shopped with the help of our awesome Rebekahs. Norma (pink shirt) has attended nearly every Stitchin' Mission during the past six years. Linda (orange shirt) too has helped with many of them.

If Deb (right) looks like she knows what she's talking about, she does! She's been a Rebekah at least a dozen times. 

A lovely mother (red top) and daughter (black top) team signed up to be first-time Rebekahs since participating in the last Stitchin' Mission at Lutheran Church of Hope. Yay!

Another first-time Rebekah, Sara (pink top) is helping a returning newbie.

Everyone who participates in a Stitchin' Mission for the second, third, or fourth time, learns something new - and even better, enjoys doing it again because we're just so much better when we're together!

It's exciting to see this many people interested in learning how to make a quilt, especially knowing that they've been asked to give that quilt away.

This time, our quilt recipients live locally. They are children between infancy and nine years old who are in difficult circumstances due to separation, abuse, or other desperate family situations. For that reason, we cannot expect to see pictures of these kids with the quilts we make. But we understand and will be prayerful for them as we sew.

Several local fabric stores are having weekend Columbus Day sales. Between the wonderful fabric donations, and sale fabrics available, we can expect to see many beautiful quilts coming from this group. Please tag along!

Another Tidbit
On Tuesday evening, Oct. 11, at 7 p.m. I'll be at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Ankeny, Iowa, giving a program to the Ankeny Quilt Guild. If you're interested in learning more about Stitchin' Mission and picking up a few tips about making charity quilts, do come. Linda