Patchwork Times by Judy Laquidara
Sharing the Good Life
There were some questions/comments about the Christmas Town Sampler (CTS) that I’d like to clarify.
Yesterday, like every day for the past month, and probably every day for the next no telling how many months, Vince came home and worked out in the shop trying to organize the boxes. I was in the sewing room unpacking and re-arranging and trying to figure out where things would go. For dinner, we were having gumbo out of the freezer so I worked out in the sewing room til time to go inside and cook the rice. As I was walking the short distance from the shop to the house, I noticed the night sky as darkness was about to totally overcome the daylight. I wished I would have had a better camera in my hand.
Look at that sky! Look at those woods! No roof tops, no other driveways . . just us and nature. I will never ever stop being thankful that we found this place.
Tomorrow, the movers move the rest of our stuff from the rental. This ordeal is slowly . . ever so slowly . . coming to an end. Last night Vince and I were talking and we think it was in mid to late January that he heard about the possibility of moving here. One year . . who would ever have thought this could have dragged out for one year?
Nights here are cold and in the middle of the day, I’m tempted to turn on the air conditioner. It’s so much better than dealing with snow and ice and trying to convince Speck to go out when the snow is over his head. Yes, we’re loving living here!
It has been so hard sewing without my big ironing board and I’m so glad to have it back.
I have a big board that fits over a regular ironing board but I love having the shelves underneath for storage. Want to make one of your own . . very inexpensively? Mine is about 10 years old and still works like a charm. Here’s how we made mine.
One day while we lived in Kentucky, I saw this pine book case . . cheap . . on sale for $10. It isn’t terribly sturdy so we added the bracing across the back and once the big board is on it and the shelves are loaded with books or projects, it’s plenty sturdy.
At the top of each those three boards on the sides, Vince drilled a hole into which a screw would go. Then he made a paper template and marked the top of a piece of plywood and drilled the holes in the plywood. The screws are the kind that are recessed into the plywood so there’s a smooth surface once they’re screwed all the way down.
The top is actually a piece of 1″ plywood that was discarded at a construction site where a friend’s husband was building a garage and I asked if I could have it and he said yes. That was free! 
I’m sure 3/4″ plywood would be sufficient for this project or maybe 1/2″. Depending on the size plywood you use on top, you may have to remove the top if you want to move it from room to room . . or house to house . . or in my case, state to state!
The top of my board is 32″ x 52″ but you can make it any size you like.
Screw the top onto the base, aligning the pre-drilled holes.
I was so proud of myself for saving the screws and being able to find them. I wasn’t so lucky with the staple gun! When I asked Vince about putting the ironing board together, he said “Do we need to buy more screws?” No, thank you, Mr. Laquidara! I know exactly where they are!
For the padding, I use 100% cotton batting. Polyester or a poly blend might melt, depending on the heat generated by your iron and how long you hold the iron in place. It’s better to be safe and use 100% cotton. Depending on the thickness desired for your pad, use multiple layers. I used 4 layers of Warm & Natural batting. If you use cotton batting for your quilting projects, save the scraps. I use big pieces and don’t mind piecing the padding. Spread each layer smoothly to be sure there are no wrinkles. Allow the batting to extend over the edges by an inch or so. Once the covering is stapled onto the board, having the batting curved around the edges will prevent it from slipping around.
For the top cover, use something that is less likely to scorch and something that is thick and sturdy enough so as not to stretch or distort with the heat and steam. I’ve used a cotton duck cloth in the past but the cotton duck at Wal-Mart here looked very rough and loosely woven so I went with a tan striped ticking fabric.
Spread the fabric over the batting, leaving several inches hanging over reach edge. Start with a long row and start in the middle. Staple, using a staple gun, and place the staples every 3 or 4″ but stop about 6″ from the ends. Go to the opposite side, the other long side, and do the same thing, again starting in the middle and stopping about 6″ from the ends. Pull the fabric as tight as you can while stapling.
For the ends, start in the center and put one staple, pulling the top fabric as tight as possible. Work on your corners next, getting them as neat as possible, using as many staples as needed. No one is going to look under there but remember that some day you may have to remove it and the more staples used, the more of a hassle it is to get it off.
Go back and fill in staples as needed. Then . . fill up those shelves with projects or books!
My friend Denise . . you know her and you know the story about the short sheeted bed . . the story I’ll never quit telling . . and this is the same Denise who encourages me to buy yarn and fabric and then when I accidentally do buy something, she makes sure the whole world knows . . yep, that’s the Denise! She is a great designer and she invited our friends Sheryl Till and Susan Neves, and me, to participate in a special project called “Christmas Town Sampler – A Collaboration Among Friends”.
Denise designed the beautiful border and each of us will design three blocks. Denise describes it as part Block of the Month, part Mystery and part Blog Hop.
Here’s how it’s going to work:
June – Denise will give yardage requirements for the background of the pieced border and for the plain borders. We’re hoping that everything else will be kinda scrappy so that everyone’s quilt is kinda the same but kinda different.
July – Beginning in July, you will begin “blog hopping” around to all four of our blogs for the block we’re sharing at our scheduled time.
November – Denise will post the final instructions for setting everything together.
The blocks may be appliqued (the blocks I design will NOT be applique!), they may be paper pieced or they may be just pieced the regular way.
The quilt as shown above with the extra borders finishes at 90″ x 103″. The quilt shown below, without the additional borders after the pieced border, finishes at 78″ x 91″.
This is another image of the quilt, with a light background and the pieced border.
Here’s what Denise has had to say about the yardage, which is based on the quilt shown above.
YARDAGE INFO: We are giving the yardage for the background fabric and the fabric used for the sashing and borders. The yardage for the background fabric is an estimate on the higher side — it’s based on the image at the left with all the center blocks using just border fabric. Nearly all center blocks will have border fabric in them but not as much as is shown here. However, we’re erring on the side of having left over fabric rather than running short. Since you’re making blocks written up by four different people, it may not be the most judicious use of your fabric – hence erring on the high side. But keep those leftovers from month to month because you may be able to use them the following month so they are not wasted. Yardage for the other fabrics used throughout the quilt will not be given as this is a great scrap friendly, stashbusting project and half the fun will be picking the specific fabrics from your stash to make each block unique. The center blocks may be pieced, appliqued, paper pieced — you’ll just have to wait and see – but I think they are all lovely and will be fun to make. This coloring includes some of the actual fabrics I’ll be using – my background and border which have very subtle snowflake tone on tone prints.
Want to join us? Sure you do! The button is over on my sidebar. Feel free to “grab” it if you think you’re going to play along with us!
A few reminders:
Thanks to Denise, who has done the most work on the project, and to Sheryl and Susan . . all of whom are my very good quilting buddies and all of whom are very talented quilters!
Related Posts:
July – First Set of Blocks:
August – Second Set of Blocks: (will be posted August 4, 2012)
September – Third Set of Blocks: (will be posted September 1, 2012)
October – fourth Set of Blocks: (will be posted October 6, 2012)
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