Making Do: Ideas for using fabrics you have on hand

Easy patchwork units made from fabric swatches.

If February finds you taking up an old UFO with strong intentions of finally "getting 'er dun" using what you have on hand, some "Making Do" tips might be just what you need. If you are one of those rare quilters who doesn't keep scraps or build a stash, the content of the Choo Choo Quilters February guild program, "Making Do," will also be helpful with brand new fabric.

Brought to you by the Orange Team, this month's Choo Choo program will include some hands-on teamwork as we sort fabric sample swatches generously contributed by Veronica Hofman Ortega. Intended to inspire you for our visit in April from author and fabric fragment enthusiast, Mary Kerr, and to jumpstart our efforts for the Cuddle Quilt workshop in August, suggestions and instructions will be given for getting creative with what may look like useless, random scraps.

Quilters, let's make our grandmothers proud as we learn ways to make do, lighten up our stashes and produce beautiful little quilts for the children at Chambliss Center for Children. No need to bring anything except your Show and Tell beauties to the meeting. Brave the cold to enjoy an evening with friends.

Back to the Future in 2017

Vintage Dresden fragments combined
with new fabrics.

Stash busting, repurposing, upcycling and UFO redemption… the Choo Choo Quilters will get creative in 2017 by delving into the theme “Back to the Future.”

Whether they are ours, something we’ve inherited, something that was gifted to us or something that we’ve rescued from a yard sale, most quilters have a medley of patchwork leftovers, UFOs (unfinished objects), orphaned blocks, and vintage quilt pieces that didn’t make it into the “Finished” column. The plan is to take these unfinished pieces—ours and/or someone else's—and mix them with today's fabrics and threads to give them a second life and a new purpose.

With a focus on blending the old with the new, the “Back to the Future” theme invites investigation into topics such as:

• how to redeem and reinvigorate UFOs
• working with vintage textiles and salvaging usable parts from old quilts
• creating new quilts inspired by antique quilts
• creating time-span and memory quilts
• repurposing old linens
• dating fabrics
• documenting and preserving antique patchwork during its metamorphosis into a new quilt
• reconciling variations and limitations that arise with non-uniform patchwork pieces
• working improvisationally to combine new and antique fabrics, and
• how to combine old and new fabrics into a cohesive new quilt design.

Dig through your stash and scraps and let’s renew, repurpose and elevate those once-forgotten patchwork bits into wonderful new quilts.

Coming in April 2017
Corresponding with the "Back to the Future" theme, the Choo Choo Quilters are excited to host author, award-winning quilter, curator, and quilt appraiser, Mary Kerr, for a quilting workshop on Friday, April 7 called A Wonky Star: Improv with a Vintage Twist.

Mary W. Kerr (left) and the cover of her latest book, Twisted: Modern Quilts with a Vintage Twist.

This half-day workshop will be packed with tips for working with vintage fragments and ways to showcase these treasured pieces in new quilts. Following Mary’s unique approach, workshop attendees will use vintage textiles to create a wonky star with plenty of space to incorporate favorite quilting designs. This workshop is about embracing the magic of combining the love of vintage with a 21st century aesthetic. Attendees will also enjoy quilts from Mary’s latest book and exhibit, Twisted: Modern Quilts with a Vintage Twist.

Help for children affected by the wildfires in Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge

We have gotten the following message from Michelle Currey, the owner of Sew Notions in Jasper, TN.  She and Bill Klingensmith at Bernina Quilt and Sew are collecting Christmas stockings and small gifts to distribute to some of the children who have been affected by the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg wildfires.  If you would like to help, here's the details:

Good morning everyone. This is Michelle Currey from Sew Notions in Jasper, TN.  We are working on a project for the kids in Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and other areas. If you could help with this we would be so very thankful. If you want to bring something you can drop it off at Bernina Sew and Quilt Studio on 153 and Shallowford or at my shop in Jasper. All donations will be picked up on December 15th. And shipped out on the 19th. Please find it within your means to help. My goal is 20 stockings and 20 gift cards to either Lowes,  Home Depot or Ace Hardware. Thank you.

Hi ya all. I am sure that you have heard about the Wildfires here in Gatlinburg and surrounding cities, Pigeon Forge being one of them. 

There are loads of kids here who will have no Christmas unless we help.

I would like to ask you to make a Christmas Stocking and if you can afford it, to put a few little goodies in it and send it to me. 

The organizations here have their hands full and I will in conjunction with the coordinators here, distribute these to kids mainly in the motels and temporary housing around here. If the stockings are empty, there is one group who will fill them and distribute them as well. We are not fussy, just need to get these kids something for Christmas. 

Any amount you can afford to make and send would be a blessing to these kids. 

The schools are asking for school supplies, hand sanitizer , crayons, markers, ink pens, pocket tissues, erasers, chap stick, pencil boxes, etc. But any thing that would suit a kindergarten on up to 8th grade. Please keep the gifts in the same age group should you be able to stuff the stocking. 

Thanks and I hope this is OK to post here. 

Be sure to enter a note with your name and address or your fb page so that we can send you a thank you.

My name is

Kitten Rice (The Old Time Quilt Bee)

1013 Mill Creek Road

Pigeon Forge, TN 37863