For years I have done cross stitch. As framing is expensive, and I had so many small projects completed that were just sitting doing nothing (I'm a bit of a fidgeter and like to have my hands busy so would often just do cross stitch with no particular purpose in mind) but eventually I found a way to include them in some patch work cushions (I will insert a link to see them if I ever figure out how it works!) that were then gifted to family one Christmas. It also helped to have some of my work on display when you live in rental properties that don't allow pictures to be hung.
One of the projects I have planned for Sam was an alphabet sampler... but then there's the problem of not being able to hang it. So the new plan is to do each letter on an individual piece of fabric and then turn it into a quilt. However, my sister is the quilter in the family and thinks that quilting something that big would be beyond her skills (and therefore mine as well as being beyond the capabilities of my little old sewing machine) and suggested I just piece it together, don't worry about the quilting, but turn it into a quilt cover.
First - for those more experienced in quilting and patchwork than myself, do you think a project as big as a quilt for a standard single bed is feasible and would you suggest the quilt or the quilt cover?
Second - can someone measure the dimensions of a standard single bed quilt for me so I can get some idea of sizes and can therefore work on layouts and fabric.
It may seem backwards, but for things like this it is always easier to get the fabric first and then alter the colours of the embroidery threads to suit rather than doing the embroidery and then trying to find fabric to suit that.
Anything is possible!!! I have an annoying habbit (=P) of having big grand creative project plans like that and pull them off, although a quilt is not one ive attempted yet. But my mum makes amazing quilts, (she made us a wedding quilt most recently)
it sounds pretty simple. just do all the bits (all the letters), and then just sew it all together. easy, seen as thats what youve been doing twith the cusions.
I would suggest doing that, sew it all together, so you have i big panal, and then you can back it (so a plain piece covering the whole back) then you can decide if lining it like taht is best, or turning it into a cover would be better. see what works.
I LOVE your earth air fire and water wall ones!!!! =O amazing =) your work is great. mind if i fb friend you?
I might hassle you in regards to my current project being my wedding crossstitch (once again a big grand idea that i'm at the stage of ...oh my god..)
I'm not sure on the size though, I dont have a single size quilt here....only a king and double and lap (ones my mum has made)
No worries. Teirae, I will go deal with your friend request as soon as Sam goes down (he's already asleep) and feel free to pick my brains any time. The first thing I'll suggest - even if it's a large project, try to break it down into smaller elements and complete one at a time. Makes things much easier and progress a little more obvious.
The chinese symbols were done for my mother. She saw them in one of the magazines I buy and wanted them and begged me to do them. I did, she framed them, now they hang in their lounge room. There's more of my work in other people's homes than my own! I have so much more that's not been photographed! The last project I finished was an afghan rug for Sam... Must get a picture of it soon - just need some new batteries in my camera and then the picture will go up. The cushion you like so much, Pandora is one that was done for my ungrateful sister in law. As soon as she got it (the colours were matched to the fabric used to cover her lounge) she handed me another fabric sample and demanded I make something to hang on the wall to suit. Needless to say, that's never been done and likely never will be!
I'm really not sure about the wisdom of hand-quilting something of that size with my arthritis issues - One of the reasons working on smaller things and then piecing them together is so good for me is because it means I'm not trying to hold a large, heavy piece of work.
Am I correct in thinking that machine quilting requires a special foot or something for the sewing machine?
can your sister help you to back the squares with wadding and a contrast material, and then just sew them together later? a friend was making me a quilt two squares at a time when i was a teenager - she put some lining stuff and then backing material on each square/triangle, and then was going to just sew them together
single bed doona is apparently 140 x 210cm (love google!)
Yes you will need a special foot, not sure if it's called a quilting foot or a walking foot. They can be exxy depending on the machine, mine was over $100.
Quilting is not my forte, but they look really good done like that. I have two flower ones - an iris and a cyclamen and they would look good done as a pillow too I reckon.
Not sure where you are BW, but my machine is new (year old) and I got a free quilting foot with it, I havent used it yet, I might in the future but if you wanted to borrow it or anything let me know (depends how far away you are too)
my mum just bought a brand new (and very very expensive) sewing maching, but it does EVERYTHING. Even the dishes apparently. Shes only had it a month or something, so still working it all out, but if worse comes to worse im sure i can con her into quilting it all up for you, or atleast she would be able to give you tips/help on the easiest way to do it. If you look in my fb photos under 'wedding quilt' she made that all by hand (before she got her fancy machine)
That quilt is amazing! I don't think I'd need anything as complicated as that. I'm planning on just joining simple squares together for the patchwork side of things. I don't know a lot about quilting, but I imagine it would all be straight lines? I'm in Windsor, so a bit too far from Wagga to drop over and borrow your machine. My sister thinks that a couple of our aunts may be able to do the quilting for me, so I guess I do have options (I just don't want to pick up the phone and call them!).
I guess it's a matter of playing with measurements and figuring out a layout that would work. I figure I don't need to make a firm decision on whether it becomes a quilt or a quilt cover until much further down the track - I'm looking at around 28 (because 26 doesn't have nice factors!) individual pieces of cross stitch before things get pieced together... it's a project of years, I suspect.
As for the afghan - I started it while pregnant with Sam and had hoped to get it finished before he was born. Work and premature birth ensured that didn't happen... by the time it was finished he was far too big to wrap up in it, so it mostly floats around in his room and would occasionally get used as an extra cover for him on cold nights.
I've found so much energy and the ability to push through pain and fatigue in tossing around ideas for this quilt!
So it may seem crazy that this arthritic old crone is launching into a project of this size, but apparently I need it for my sanity and mental health... to feel productive again now that I'm officially too ill to work is just... a breath of fresh air into my stuffy old life right now!
Anyway, I've been messing about with the dimensions of a single bed and the size of a standard single bed quilt and I've come up with a couple of different layouts that I'm messing about with.
Option 1: 3 squares across and 9 down. This gives me 27 squares of stitching, so the one bang in the middle of the bed (right between M and N) would be something related to the overall theme, but not actually a letter. Going with a 15cm x 15cm square for the stitching and keeping the designs centred on the bed, rather than bits hanging down the sides, I'd end up with 20cm between each design going across and only 5cm between them going down.
Option 2: 4 squares across and 7 down. This gives 28 squares of stitching, so there will be one at the beginning and one at the end that are related, but not a letter. If I stick with the 15cm x 15cm square and centreing the designs on top of the bed, I can actually work with 10cm between each piece of embroidery going down and across. There's a slightly larger border at each side than there is at each end. Or I can go with 25 on each side and the bottom and only 20cm at the top (I figure this might be better so there's a bit of quilt to tuck into the end without obscuring any of the stitching).
So I'm thinking option 2 it is. It works, it's balanced, and looks fairly even.
When it comes to themes... I don't actually have access to all my design books and magazines. But one that I do have access to is ABCs for kids. There's a lovely Noah's Ark alphabet sampler in there - each letter has an animal starting with that letter somehow perched on the letter (X and U have footprints - kind of glad there's no unicorn!) and there's a central picture of Noah on the ark with a few animals. Would it look terribly odd if I repeated that little picture of Noah on his ark for both the spare square at the beginning and the end? Or should I search for a different alphabet design that possibly has two extra pictures I could use so there's a different picture/design at beginning and end?
I have to admit to being quite drawn to Noah's Ark. Sam has a love for animals and it's bright and while I can't imagine him still wanting it on his bed as a teenager, I think it will have a fairly broad age-appeal.
Not really. There's a rough plan, but that's about it. Unsure of what colour to use. I'm leaning towards a dark grey/black kind of subtle textured pattern, but my mother is pushing brights... I just think it will be too hard to get colours to suit everything so am leaning towards dark neutrals. Should really make the pictures pop, too.
I need a day where I can take the cross stitched pieces and a camera to a fabric store and just take pictures of them up against different colours to really get a sense of what works.
cross stitch - quilt or quilt cover?
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Teirae, I will go deal with your friend request as soon as Sam goes down (he's already asleep) and feel free to pick my brains any time. The first thing I'll suggest - even if it's a large project, try to break it down into smaller elements and complete one at a time. Makes things much easier and progress a little more obvious. 
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