FUSION QUILTS BLEND NEEDLECRAFT AND QUILTING

For my grandson’s high school graduation this year I wanted something that would commemorate all the things that we have done together while he was growing up. That said, I wanted something a little more than just a photo collage.

I thought of a quilt with pictures printed on fabric where the fabric is then incorporated into the quilt pattern. My bonus daughter Elaina had done one of these years ago for us and it is unique and special.

This was a perfect idea except for one minor detail…I DON’T SEW, I DON’T QUILT…PERIOD!! And, on top of that, I am pretty sure that learning is not in my future since I simply don’t have the patience for that; fabric does not cooperate with me.

A dear friend, Judy, has already pieced a number of memory quilts for me and I would not ask her to do another one, even when she offered. So, surfing on the Internet one evening provided the perfect solution, a fusion quilt.

Essentially, a fusion quilt combines fabric squares and crocheted squares (much like granny squares) and is set together with crochet instead of being sewn together like a regular quilt would be. Cool! I crochet, I could do this!

I wanted the finished piece to be smaller than a quilt that you would use on a bed. Instead, I pictured a throw that would be perfect for him to use on chilly evenings while doing homework. The only thing Judy would have to do is to sew the fleece backing on it.

There would be one other little quirk to mine, it would have picture squares too. This would accomplish the idea of commemorating some of the things that we have done together.

So, last November I set to work. I decided the size would be 48 inches by 60 inches. The fusion quilts that I had seen were not for graduation, but rather for baby showers or wedding gifts. I just had to fine-tune the design. Instead of pinks and pastels, I would search for masculine fabrics.

The first task was to go through all my photos and choose which ones I would use. The very center of the quilt would be a large six inch by six inch square that would feature his baby picture and above and below it I would embroider his name, birth date and how much he weighed and how long he was. That was the easy part.

I knew I wanted 40 smaller picture squares. That sounds like a lot, but when you consider all the photos that I had taken over the past 19 years, well that was no small task. I really think that deciding on the pictures to use was the hardest part of all. I put everything that I found in one folder and then culled them down from there.

When I finally made my selections, there were a lot of firsts in there and some other memorable moments; the first deer he ever killed, the first time on a horse, the first steer he showed at fair, he and I handcuffed and shackled together for the Halloween that he wanted to be a cop and needed a prisoner, our trip to Pennsylvania and so many more memories.

The other reason that I chose 40 photos was because, printing pictures at 3 ¼ by 3 ¼ inches, I could get four pictures on an 8 ½ by 11 inch fabric sheet. These sheets are not cheap, so this cut down on waste. This also left enough material so there was a quarter inch border around each photo which helped to set it off. A key note here, is that the pictures have to be positioned exactly right so you have one inch between them, which when cut will leave a half inch around each pic. This will create the border and a quarter inch to fold under.

The next step was choosing fabric. Not being a seamstress, I had not been to Joann Fabrics in quite a while. Holy moly, making the selections was no easy task. I finally ended up with 13 different patterns which included camouflage, fishing, hunting and other prints that I thought he would like. The smallest amount you can purchase is more than enough since I ended up using only four of each pattern.

The first thing I did was set to work cutting these squares at 4 ¼ by 4 ¼ inches which left one-quarter inch all the way around to fold under to keep it from unraveling. After cutting, I actually folded all the edges under and ironed them. This made it easier to do the blanket stitch around each square. This blanket stitch kept it from unraveling and also provided a “loop” to crochet into.

The finish size of the crochet squares was also 3 ¼ square. I chose various colors of yarn and different patterns for these.

All in all, I ended up with 56 fabric squares, 40 picture squares, 20 crocheted ones and four denim ones which I embroidered sayings on and positioned these around the larger center square. The fabric, denim and pictures squares all needed blanket stitching around them. To finish the crocheted ones, I single-crocheted around each one and then added a row of double crochet just like I did around the other ones.

 

All in all, I had 120 small squares, perfect for ten squares across the width and ten for the length. I chose black yarn and single crocheted them together. The single crochet provided a raised border around each small square. Judy then sewed the fleece backing on and tacked the center down.

Yes, there are plenty of mistakes and things I wish I had done differently. After all, this was my first attempt. My major mistake was with the picture squares. They were so hard to sew the blanket stitch on and after the quilt was together, it was really stiff. If I had read directions on the fabric sheets, it explicitly stated to “PEEL OFF THE PLASTIC BACKING AFTER PRINTING.” Judy pointed this out to me when she first saw it. Duh! Did I mention, I…DON’T…SEW-good reason for it!

The only other major problem was not starting early enough. Starting in November and having six months to complete the project was plenty of time….NOT! My initial plan was to have my part finished and to Judy by the end of March. Well, the first week of May found me working till wee hours of the morning to complete it. When you think you have started early, start earlier!

I now have a reprieve of two years before I have to have the next one done. If I am smart, I will do a little bit of it this winter and not rush myself. Perhaps the smartest thing I did was to make notes of all the things that I thought I would surely remember, like how many squares and the measurements, etc. Time has a way of eroding my memory and I don’t need to go through the design process again.

If I had to do it over again, I definitely would. All the pictures that were tucked away have brought back a lot of sweet memories. Hopefully, when he snuggles in it this winter, it will do the same for him. If so, every stitch was worth it!

SO YOU WANT TO DO A GARDEN

It seems that this year everyone is trying their hand at gardening, especially in light of this year’s events. Food shortages, bare shelves in the supermarket, stay at home orders and all the recalls for e coli in fresh foods have people scared for their food supply, and rightfully so.

This is good news and bad news. First the good…I have always thought that folks should know where their food supply comes from and the only way to do that is to get down and dirty…literally. It is amazing how many people have no idea where produce and meat comes from other than the grocery store. I am in no way putting city folks down because I would be just as ignorant if I tried to get somewhere on the subway.

The bad part about this scenario is that fear makes folks jump into this new venture without really knowing what they are getting into. In some ways I feel sorry for them because delving into something without knowing the full scope of what it entails is the best recipe for failure. In other ways this just makes me mad.

Let’s start at the beginning. To plant a garden, you need seeds and/or plants. Many of us seasoned gardeners had a horrible time finding these this year because the newbies were gobbling them up. I am not saying that we have more privilege to them, but we do know how precious of a commodity they are. I daresay that many beginning gardeners rushed to the stores, greenhouses and seed companies and ordered everything that looked pretty in the pictures or what they liked to eat.

Without doing the research, they don’t have a clue how the seeds grow or how to take care of them. Many newbies actually believe that all you need to do is get the seed in the ground and in a month or so, those tiny dormant pieces of seemingly lifeless material will flourish and yield masses of whatever they are supposed to be. Well, little do they know!

When I tried to order my seeds this spring, all the big name seed companies were already sold out. I had to scramble to find what I wanted. While I was scrambling, I noticed comments on FB to the tune of, “OK, I have all this time off because of stay at home orders, so can I just put my garden in now?” Really? That day there was three inches of snow on the ground!

I am quite sure that all the newbies don’t realize how much work there is to getting a mature crop from a tiny seed. Young plants like just the right amount of water, not too much and not too little. Then there is fertilizer. All purpose is fine for the garden, but then you need to tweek what nutrients different varieties of plants need. It’s definitely not always “one size fits all.”

Another thing that new gardeners don’t realize is that they are not the only ones counting on tasty fresh veggies from the garden. Just when the plants are looking green and lush, every insect and bug around comes to partake in the feast. Many of them, like Japanese beetles, literally arrive overnight. Plants can be fine one day and then the next day there are gazillions of beetles chomping away.

If you don’t stay on top of pests, they will definitely eat all of your green thumb efforts in no time flat. This really isn’t the time to ask Miss Google how to take care of them because it is amazing how much they can eat while you are researching and tracking down your line of defense.

Once the insects are eradicated, there is “fungus among us” that loves to live on your plants too. So, you will need a fungicide to take care of this unwanted guest. Then there are the tiny mites that also love to attach your best efforts.

So, along with successfully taking care of the critter problem and providing the right amount of light and water, your plants should have a good start. However, so will the weeds; they grow even better than the plants you planted.

These are almost harder to be rid of than the bugs. You can’t use a herbicide because, along with killing the weeds, it will also kill the plants. Yep, when you planted your little darlings, did you actually realize that the only way to keep them weed-free was to get down on your hands and knees and pull them out…by their roots.

This is where I get upset. Many…not all…new gardeners don’t realize how much work goes into raising your own food. So, after buying all the seeds and plants and the weeds and bugs take over, we gardeners see these neglected weed patches that were supposed to be the flourishing gardens.

This maybe isn’t even the worst part. We all have big dreams, including the newbies. They may not have been prepared for all the work that goes into a garden, but they did prepare for when their dreams would come to fruition. They bought up all the pressure canners and canning supplies so now they are in short supply. They have even gone so far as to start buying freezers to preserve their crop.

Imagine how frustrating this is for us who were looking to buy an extra cooker or other supplies and can’t find them.  But then, if we have a little patience, there should be a slew of them for sale this fall when many new gardeners give up! There is always next season for us.

Speaking of which, I hope all those who decided that this was the year to garden but weren’t prepared to tend to one will use the winter months wisely and research exactly what it takes to be successful.

A young lady from my online gardening group proves my point that many wanna-be gardeners leapt before they should have. She posted a beautiful picture of her garlic plant and asked when she should harvest it. Someone answered that she could try any time since it was a lily instead of garlic! Really?

Remember, all of us seasoned gardeners had to learn the ropes to get where we are today. Some of us were lucky and gardening has always been part of our formative years. However, even if a garden was the most foreign you have ever encountered, it is a skill that can be learned.

I hope that, even if this year was not a success, that you won’t give up. There is no better feeling than that of sticking your toes in the warm earth and having plants provide bounty thousand-fold from a tiny seed that you planted. There is just no other feeling like it.

DO YOU KNOW WHERE YOU CAME FROM

Do you ever wonder where you came from and where your roots are? Knowing who my ancestors were and where they came from has always intrigued me but, I’ll admit, the lazy part in me has always steered away from digging into my past. For one thing, it involves a lot of work and it’s one of those things that when you find one piece, that leads to another…there really is no end.

So, imagine how thrilled I was a couple years ago to meet one of Ron’s cousins, a few times removed, who literally lives and breathes genealogy. She has done extensive research on her family and has helped countless others find out their history. She is actually starting a business doing this for others.

How perfect is this for me! I have some history of my mother’s family but not my Dad’s. So, I became her first “client” and sent her what I knew about Dad’s history, which wasn’t a lot. Basically, I knew that he spent the first four years of his life on a riverboat on the St. Joe River in Michigan. His father worked on the boat which dredged the river while his mother was their cook.

He also told us that he spent summers growing up on his grandparents’ farm in Indiana. They were Amish which explains why he only spoke Pennsylvania Dutch until he was four years old.

His parents divorced when he was young and I never met his father so this was about all I had to go on, except for the names in the family back about two generations. What I really want is to find the Amish farm in Indiana where he spent so much time and see if I have any relatives living there yet.

So, I gave this info to Sarah, Ron’s cousin, and she went to work. Within a matter of a couple days, she had information on Dad and had pinpointed the area in LaGrange county in Indiana where his grandparents’ farm was. Wow!

Some of his grandfather’s grandkids could still be living on the farm…or not. So, I am planning a road trip to see what I find. I am so excited, this genealogy thing that I always thought was boring and was just lists of a lot of names just got up close and personal.

Those are the key words, what I find. She also found out some other things about Dad’s life that we never knew about. Nothing bad, nothing good in particular, just things that we never heard about. This brings up an important point, “How much do you really want to know?”

As I trudge along in this venture, Ron keeps asking me if I really want to know any more because, when you step into genealogy, you never know what you will find. I have always believed that knowing is better than the unknown, no matter what that knowing is. Not everyone agrees with me on this point so, before you go delving into your family history, decide if you are really prepared to find out the unknown.

One thing that Sarah found in Dad’s past was another marriage that none of us knew about. This only brings up more questions about my roots but definitely changes nothing about Dad. Sometimes we tend to put our parents and grandparents on pedestals and we feel that we fail to live up to their expectations. Uncovering truths through genealogy brings back the human side to them. I like that.

The more that I find, the more I want to know. The biggest lesson that I have learned from this is to not put “that genealogy thing” off for another day. So many times while growing up, I missed opportunities to ask Mom and Dad questions about their families and what their past was like. Life gets in the way and you always think you have plenty of time for things like this. Not so.

There are many resources out there that takes all the excuses away for putting off finding your family history. Family Tree Maker holds more than one family tree and you can keep adding to it. Ancestry.com and Family Tree Maker coordinate information with each other.

Find A Grave is a great place on the Internet to look for burial and other final disposition information about family. I had a friend who would go to local cemeteries and find tombstone information and take photos for people out of state who were looking for relatives. After finding it, she would upload it to Find A Grave.

There are other cemetery sites that will help in your search if you decide to do your family tree. American Battle Monuments Commission has information on more than 200,000 burials and memorials in overseas military cemeteries.

Billion Graves collects gravestone images, transcriptions and GPS data. You can register to search the site for free and with a membership comes more perks.

Interment.net is a free website that sources cemetery records from government offices, genealogical and historical organizations and individuals. There are special collections of burials and deaths related to flooded cemeteries and mine disasters. It is very forgiving by allowing for misspellings and name variants.

The US Department of Veterans Affairs runs the Nationwide Gravesite Locator site. You can search for burials of veterans and family members in VA national cemeteries, state veterans’ cemeteries and other military and private cemeteries.

There are numerous resources for anyone interested in doing their genealogy. It can be fascinating to find out where you came from and it can also be time consuming. However, with today’s aps and programs, it is easy to work on your tree, then leave it for a while and come back to it anytime.

The saying is so true that says, “Where you came from shapes where you are going.”