A quilt "for all the wrong reasons"

Some people make quilts to celebrate the birth of a new baby. Others make quilts as gifts for newlyweds. Me? It seems I make quilts to thwart cancer.

Exactly one year ago I made my Fuck you, Lymphoma quilt as a gift for my friend, Angela who had cancer. Since then she has beaten cancer. I had hoped I was done with having friends with cancer. I was wrong.

A few months ago, another of our same group of friends found out she had cancer. She's a twenty-something single mom of an adorable four year old. And she's got stage four lung cancer. I've got to big, fat middle fingers for you, cancer. Go the fuck away.


Needless to say, I immediately set to work on making her a quilt. I used these purple and green fabrics I've been hording for a quilt and made some half square triangle blocks. I'm sort of in love with half square triangle quilts and sketch our designs in my classes. I went with a diagonal pennant looking design for this one. Sort of a festive, block party in the street kind of feel.


Just like my last cancer quilt, I had all of our friends email me messages for to put on the quilt. We're all so far away, covering various countries. The messages all went on to the back of the quilt so that Elaine can take her quilt to chemo and hopefully our words and well wishes give her the strength she needs to keep fighting. It's the least we can do. But we can't do any more. We're all tied by location, finances and circumstance. We can't make her dinner. We can't clean her house. We can't take her our to drinks or pedicures. All we have is our words. And this quilt.


Keep fighting the big fight, Elaine. The Gumdrops all love you dearly and wish we could do so much more than this. You are beautiful. You are strong. You are fierce. We all love you, and your quilt is on it's way to you.

And cancer? Pack your bags and get the hell out. I'd rather be making quilts for happy reasons.

Quilted Burp Cloth Cotton Diapers

BEWARE: Something is in the water. I think everyone I know is giving birth, or announcing that they are pregnant this month. My newsfeeds are chock full of babies, babies, babies. Better them than me. ;)


The best part of everyone being pregnant or a new momma is that I get to make them presents! Anything itty bitty and weentsy is just so damn adorable, no? Two of my blogger buddies, Lacy of Living on Love, and Carla of Small + Friendly, are about to give birth any day now and a few of us are hosting an online baby shower for them.


One of my favorite baby shower gifts to give are these Quilted Burp Cloth Cotton Diapers. I quilted a handful of them as I was waiting for my son to be born and fell in love. Not only are the super adorable, but they have a thousand uses. They're like a Swiss Army Knife for mothers. (Do they make those?) These burp cloth cotton diapers can be used for:

burp cloths
breast milk catchers
booger wipers
drool catchers
baby food cleaners
runny nose swipers
teething rags
spit up absorbers
baby lovies

Three years later, we're still using ours. They go through the washer and dryer, the absorb most all bodily fluids and are super soft on baby's skin. The cotton cloth diapers I use are from India and made with unbleached cotton. These twill weave prefolds are tough on wear, but have such a nice texture. You must prewash and dry your cotton cloth diapers. The will shrink up 5-10%, but more importantly it softens them up to perfection.


Trim your scraps up so that they are all 4 inches wide and varying lengths. Stitch them all together in a long piece that is 4 inches wide. Press your seams open. Cut lengths of your scraps so that they are 13 inches long (or about 1 inch longer than the length of your cloth diaper.)



Press both long edges of your strips under by 1/4 inch. Pin to the middle of your cotton cloth diapers. Fold under and pin both short edges so that it fits your cloth diaper length (they aren't usually uniform.) Quilt your pieces scraps with your sewing machine making sure you top stitch along the entire edge. Clip threads. Admire. Wrap those babies up and mail them out!


I sure hope Lacy and Carla love them! I wish you both speedy and painless deliveries. Can't wait to see the pictures of your little ones, ladies.

Check out what the other hosts of the baby shower are making:

Casa Crafty / imagine gnats / Hideous! Dreadful! Stinky!
petit a petit and family / Rajovilla / Kids Stuff World
Elsie Marley / Buzzmills / A Golden Afternoon
My Life at Playtime / Salsa Pie

Abecedarian Quilt-A-Long with Thomas Knauer

This is my secret message quilt.

A few months ago, Thomas Knauer asked me to be part of his Abecedarian Quilt-A-Long. I've been working hard this year at Sewing Selfishly, and saying no to projects, so I thought this would be a great time to make myself a quilt before the fall semester started. I planned out a brilliant, very meta quilt using a quote from this letter Mark Twain sent to Helen Keller. I was going to make it with second hand clothing and Thomas' Thesaurus fabric. It was going to be artsy and sensational. And then something stopped me in my tracks.


I am part of a group of friends that have known each other since we were pregnant with our now almost four year olds. We're a motley crew, spanning all ages, backgrounds, and beliefs. Despite our differences and heated discussions, we've remained friends. Thanks to the internet, we have what feels like a four year long, never ending coffee date. Angela is part of our group. She's just entered her thirties, is married, and has three young kids. Angela is a book nerd, likes to cook, and is a real smart ass . I like her a lot.

In July, Angela found out she has cancer.


Cancer isn't supposed to happen to my people. It's supposed to happen to other people. And people already dying. And really really old people. And bad people. I know this all isn't how life works, but it all struck me too close to home.

I'm an emotional person. I got mad. Angela lives three thousand miles away. I can't hug her. I can't hold her hand. I can't help her run errands, make her dinner or clean her house. So I scrapped my meta quilt and I made this one just for her.


I had each of our friends email me a message to send to Angela. I used the new Stained by Sharpie fabric markers to transcribe those messages on to the back blocks. That way we can send her our love and support while she is undergoing chemo to kill her Hodgkin's Lymphoma. It pales in comparison to what we would all like to do for Angela. But it's all we got.




Each Braille dot started as a square backed with Pellon Wonder Under. If you haven't tried this yet, you're missing out. I keep it in stock at all times. Next, each of those squares I hand cut with an Olfa Circle cutter. It's a tiny rotary cutter built into a compass and it's freaking brilliant. Perfect circles with the most minimal waste. The Voices were so happy. Forty nine appliqued Braille dots.

I used the extra blank 'letters' I had to make Angela a zippy bag and filled it with organic lollypops from Trader Joes so she can have sweets at the ready if her mouth gets dry and gross tasting. Then I packed it all up and sent it three thousand miles away. Unselfish Sewing makes me feel better.


Oh, you want to know what the secret message in the quilt is?

It says Fuck you Lymphoma!   And I mean it from the very bottom of my heart.


Kick cancer's ass, Angela. We love you.





P.S. All posts for the rest of this month are going to be some seriously selfish sewing, I promise. Bring on Selfish Sewing Week!

Cathedral Window QAL: Block Three

Today I am going to be teaching you how to make Block Three of the Cathedral Window QAL. I hope you all are sewing along with us. There have been two amazing blocks revealed already (Block One and Block Two) and don't forget that there are some amazing prizes to be won for sewing along.

Skill level: Intermediate, but Beginners should not be afraid. You can do this and I have written clear instructions and taken loads of photos for you to follow along.

Visit the Pellonprojects.com to download a PDF of these instructions and photos.

Fabric requirements:
Background fabric: (1) Fat Quarter
Frame fabrics: (1) Fat Quarter
Window fabrics: three (3) squares (6", 4" and 2" scraps)

Materials needed:
Pellon WonderUnder 805 Fusible Web (6", 4" and 2" squares)
Thread

Tools needed:
Sewing machine
Pins
Rotary cutter
Quilting ruler
Iron & Ironing Board

Quilt Key

Cutting Instructions:
Use a rotary cutter and quilting ruler to cut the following:

Background fabrics:
• Four (4) 2” squares (A)
• Six (6) 3 1/2” squares (B)
• Four (4) 5” squares (C)

Frame fabrics:
• One (1) 3 1/2” square
• One (1) 6 1/2” square
• One (1) 9 1/2 ” square

Window fabrics:
• One fussy cut* (1) 1 3/4 ” square
• One fussy cut* (1) 3 7/8” square
• One fussy cut* (1) 6” square
*Fussy cut means to cut the piece to specifically put a certain pattern in the middle of your cut piece. These Window fabric Squares will be what you see in the centers of your Cathedral Windows.

Pellon WonderUnder:
• One (1) 1 3/4 ” square
• One (1) 3 7/8” square
• One (1) 6” square

Assembly Instructions:
All seam allowances are 1/4”.

Pellon WonderUnder
Follow Pellon WonderUnder application instructions and fuse Pellon WonderUnder to the wrong sides of the three Window fabric squares.

Cathedral Window #1 (Smallest window) Need four (4) Background fabric squares (A) and smallest Frame fabric square (3 1/2 ”.)

Fold Frame fabric square in half, wrong sides together.

Align one Background square (A), right sides together, with a raw edge corner of the folded Frame square.

Place a second Background square (A), right sides together, on top of folded Frame square in the same corner. The Background fabric squares should extend 1/4” further than the folded edge of the Frame fabric.

Pin and stitch a 1/4” seam from the top of the Background squares to the bottom. Repeat with remaining two (2) smallest Background squares (A) on the other raw edge of the folded Frame square.

Press seams back.

Open the fold in the Frame fabric square.

Align the seams together with open seam allowances

and pin stitched background squares together with the folded Frame square sandwiched in between. This may take some shifting of the Frame square fabric and the bulk of the fabric will not lay flat once the seam is pinned. The folded edges of the Frame fabric square should be 1/4” short of the raw corners of the stitched Background squares.

Stitch pinned seam from raw edge to raw edge of stitched background squares. When opened, the Cathedral Window should appear as a sideways square on the background fabric.

Press seams open and Frame fabric flat.

Cathedral Window #1 should be the same size as a Background square B, or 3 1/2”.

Cathedral Window #2 (medium window)
Need three (3) medium Background fabric squares (B), one (1) large Background fabric square (C) and medium Frame fabric square (6 1/2 ”.)

Fold Frame fabric square in half, wrong sides together. Align large Background square (C), right sides together, with a raw edge corner of the folded Frame square.

Place a medium Background square (B), right sides together, on top of folded Frame square in the same corner. The medium Background fabric squares should extend 1/4” further than the folded edge of the Frame fabric.

Pin and stitch a 1/4” seam from the top of the Background square stopping 1/4” from the bottom of the medium Background square edge. Repeat with remaining two (2) medium Background squares (B) on the other raw edge of the folded Frame square but stitch all the way to the bottom edge of the Background fabric.

Press seams back.

Open the fold in the Frame fabric square and align the seams together with open seam allowances and pin stitched Background squares together with the folded Frame square sandwiched in between. This may take some shifting of the Frame square fabric and the bulk of the fabric will not lay flat once the seam is pinned. The folded edges of the Frame fabric square should be 1/4” short of the raw corners of the stitched Background squares. On the edge with the largest Background square (C), place a pin where the folded Frame square edge is. This should be 1/4” from the edge of the medium Background square (B).

Stitch pinned seam from the top raw edge of stitched background squares to the pin that marks the edge of the folded Frame. When opened, the Cathedral Window should appear as a sideways square on the background fabric.

Press seams open and Frame fabric flat. Do not press the edges of Background fabric square (C).

Cathedral Window #3 (largest window)
Need remaining three (3) large Background fabric squares (C), completed medium Cathedral window and large Frame fabric square (9 1/2”.)

Fold Frame fabric square in half, wrong sides together. Align the large Background square of completed medium Cathedral Window, right sides together, with a raw edge corner of the folded Frame square.

Place a large Background square (C), right sides together, on top of folded Frame square in the same corner. The large Background fabric squares should extend 1/4” further than the folded edge of the Frame fabric.

Pin and stitch a 1/4” seam from the top of the Background square to the bottom edge. Repeat with remaining two (2) large Background squares (C) on the other raw edge of the folded large Frame square. Press seams back.

Open the fold in the large Frame fabric square and align the seams together with open seam allowances and pin stitched background squares together with the folded Frame square sandwiched in between. This may take some shifting of the Frame square fabric and the bulk of the fabric will not lay flat once the seam is pinned. The folded edges of the Frame fabric square should be 1/4” short of the raw corners of the stitched Background squares.

Stitch pinned seam from edge to edge. When opened, the large Cathedral Window should appear as a sideways square on the background fabric and should be attached with the medium Cathedral Window.

Assembling the Block
Need remaining three (3) medium Background fabric squares (B) and completed small Cathedral Window #1.

Pin completed small Cathedral Window #1, right sides together, to one (1) medium Background fabric square (B) along one edge. Stitch together with a 1/4“ seam. Stitch remaining two (2) medium Background fabric squares (B) together along one edge with a 1/4“ seam. Press both seams open.

Take the stitched together two medium Background fabric squares and align them into the top left corner of the assembled medium and large Cathedral Window squares.

Pin the bottom edge of the stitched Background squares piece to the top exposed edge of the medium Cathedral Window, right side to right side. Place a pin 1/4“ from the inside corner edge. This should also be where the middle seam from the medium Cathedral Window ends.

Stitch seam from outside edge to inside edge, stopping 1/4 “ from end where the pin is. Back tack for stability.

Press that seam open.

Now fold this long Background piece to the right and align with the left raw edge of the large Cathedral Window, right sides facing. Pin seam and place a pin where the 1/4 “ stitched seam from the middle of the medium Cathedral Window begins.

Stitch this seam from the top of the block to the last pin. Press seam open.

Completing the Block
Take the small Cathedral Window and Background square piece and align them into the bottom right corner of the Block.

Pin the left edge of the small Cathedral Window and Background square piece to the right exposed edge of the medium Cathedral Window, right side to right side.

Place a pin 1/4“ from the inside corner edge. This should also be where the middle seam from the medium Cathedral Window ends.

Stitch seam from outside edge to inside edge, stopping 1/4 “ from end where the pin is. Back tack for stability. Press the seam open.

Now fold this long Background piece up onto the large Cathedral Window, right sides facing, and align the raw edges. Pin seam and place a pin where the 1/4 “ stitched seam from the middle of the medium Cathedral Window begins.

Stitch this seam from the right of the block to the last pin. Press seam open.

The Block is now assembled and the hard part is done!

Completing the Cathedral Windows
Remove the paper backing from the Pellon WonderUnder already applied to the Window fabric squares. Place the Window fabric squares in their respective Frames, making sure they are in the very middle and the points are aligned. Fuse Window fabric squares into the Frames following Pellon instructions.

In the large Cathedral Window, roll one edge of the Frame piece over the Window edge towards the center of the window. Make sure the rolled piece covers the raw edge of the Window fabric from point to point. Pin in place.

Topstitch along the very inside edge of the rolled over Frame piece. Back tack to hold stitches.

Roll the next three edges of the large Cathedral Frame edges towards the center, catching the raw edges and points of the Window fabric squares under the rolls. Topstitch each one in place. Roll the edges and stitch the medium and small Cathedral Window Frame edges.

Top stitch along the outside edge of each rolled Cathedral Window Frame edge.

Pat yourself on the back. You’ve made the Modern Cathedral Window Block!

Finish as a modern mini quilt,

or add this block into your own Cathedral Window QAL sampler quilt.


Don't forget to share photos of your blocks in the Flickr Group for your chance to enter the giveaways!If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to shoot me an email at thatmoxiegirl [at} gmail {dot} com.