Serger Quilt-as-You Go and Other Stay-at-Home Ideas

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I hope I don’t wander around too much in this blog post. I’m thinking about things to do to keep the blues away, to keep our focus on positive things in this crazy time. I have a lot of ideas so stay with me.

I’ve been resurrecting some old ideas while I’m home. Like creating the look of hand quilting with my sewing machine.

And like making a quilt with my serger. It’s a quilt-as-you go technique and a fun way to make a quick utility quilt. I wouldn’t use this method for a ”precious” quilt but it makes a good quilt to keep in the trunk of the car for emergencies or to use as a picnic quit.

I cut rectangles of batik fabrics then serged them together in horizontal rows. I cut strips of batting and backing fabric 1” wider and 4” longer than the rows.

This is the perfect place to use those scraps of batting trimmed away from previous projects. I splice together strips and pieces to use them up. You can see in the photo that I just butt the edges together and zigzag over the edges. But you could also use a fusible tape like this one from Marti Michell to join the strips.

I layered the fabrics and batting this way … two layers of backing fabric, right sides together; a strip of batting; two rows of the front of the quilt, right sides together; and another strip of batting. I seldom pin when I am making quilts but in order for the seams in the rows to match, I nest the seams on the rows and pin. Serge, trimming away just a sliver of the layers so you are certain to catch everything in the stitching, open, press and trim away excess batting and backing fabric. Repeat, adding the next row, (front, back and batting). Add the rows in order. You are assembling the quilt and quilting it all with one serged seam.

When all the rows are stitched together, square up the edges and bind the quilt. It’s done and the front and the back are interesting.

I’ve also been concentrating on cleaning up my sewing studio. Every day, I spend a little while sorting, folding, putting things in more logical places and purging. I have a goal of getting rid of FIVE things every day – either through using them up, throwing them away or putting them in the give-away pile.

And I’ve ordered things that I need to finish projects. Yarn, trim, and webbing to make a stick horse and a stick camel. I’ve had the patterns from Rustic Horseshoe for a couple of months. It’s time to make these cute projects happen.

Stick Horse (photo from www.rustichorseshoe.com)

I’ve also been trying to do a better job cooking. I have to admit that after cooking two or three meals a day since the 1960s, I’m pretty tired of the whole cooking, shopping, and preparing meals thing and I’m pretty much in a rut. So, I’m experimenting. I recently made Baked Potato Soup. I didn’t have green onions, so I caramelized several slices of the yellow onion I had on hand. Yum!!

I’m reading a lot so I’ve subscribed to a cooking magazine that I used to get years ago. I have more time for reading and for cooking.

If you don’t get our quilting magazines, maybe this is a good time to subscribe to one of them. You also might like to subscribe to Quilting Daily TV.

Finally, if you are like me, you are spending more time online than you did before the Stay-at-Home orders were issued. There is some good stuff out there. Things that inspire me and I’m betting they’ll inspire you also.

Here is some of what I’ve found.

We can go to virtual quilt shows. Edyta Sitar will take you on a tour of The Handfuls of Scraps exhibit at European Patchwork in Alsace, France in 2016.

Check out Iowa Quilt Museum on Face b ook. The museum is located in Winterset, Iowa. They can’t be open right now so they are sharing quilts online and, my oh my, what wonderful quilts they have to show us.

Bernina has implemented their Made to Create Studio to give us ideas and instructions for projects.

I’ve also been watching the Baby Lock Longarm Quilting Community on Facebook. Denise Schober (National Training Specialist for Baby Lock) is doing frequent Facebook live presentations that are entertaining and informative. Just log on to Facebook and go to the Baby Lock Longarm Quilting Community page.

Here at Quilting Daily we have Carrie Bloomston doing Stay In, Stay Creative videos.

They are so fun.

And my friend, Sara Gallegos doing Serger Saturday presentations for us. Here are week one and week 2.

Shannon Fabrics is sharing projects. I love this sweet, sweet stuffed elephant.

Ellie the Elephant (photo from www.shannonfabrics.com/blog)

They call her Ellie and she is made with the super soft, super snuggly Cuddle fabric and a downloadable elephant pattern available from Funky Friends Factory.

Then there are Sew-a-Longs. Northcott, Gudrun Erla, Alison Glass and Guicy Guice are just a start of the many sew-a-longs that are out there.

Debby Brown has a whole list of projects and sew-a-longs on her website.

Tracy, Ginger, and I are doing Quilt and Tell podcasts every week to give you some ideas and to keep in touch with each other. We’ve had some awesome guests lately. Catherine Redford, Alex Anderson, Hope Yoder … Give us a listen.

Remember to keep talking to those you love. Call them, FaceTime with them, do group chats through Zoom, etc. Take advantage of the ways we can be in touch without touching.

Now, until next time,

Happy Quilting and Stay Safe!
Lori