Such a Cutup - a quilted up cycle.

A friend of mine the other day got me thinking about living room and bedroom pillows and how sometimes near spring it feels really good to have new pillows on the couches and beds.  I didn't want to go out and get new fabric and such but I really wanted to do some recovering and patching on some of the pillows that have had a lot of use this winter!  A few have holes and just look ratty now.

The quilt on our bed has been on there about 10 years - I made it for Chad (the Hubby) and it is a giant king sized quilt with a wonderful flannel backing on it.  But after all of the years and it has been on the bed nearly the whole time - it would get washed, hung to dry and then right back on the bed - it is worn out and also looking ratty!  I kept finding little pieces of fabric when I would make the bed (not as often as I would like) and I thought at first that maybe the dog was chewing the quilt - I was horrified of course until I realized that it was not chewed on fabric - just worn and frayed.

It is a giant quilt - California King with a decent drape all around - backed with flannel and a great winter weight.   The pattern is my personal favorite, Sawtooth Star.

Above photo shows some of the wear - all of the white is where there is batting showing through!  It was well loved! So - it was time to upcycle the quilt ot turn it into a "cutter".

I decided to make pillow cases for it - cover up those ratty couch pillows and make some cases for our bed and for the 26" T.V. watching pillows as well!  The cutting mat on the quilt is the exact size to do the bed pillow covers.  Hubby did ask me what the heck I thought I was doing when I started cutting but once I told him he relaxed and agreed that it might be a good use for that quilt instead of making it a dog bed or throwing it away,

Above shows the flannel backing on a piece of the cut quilt - this is for the big tv pillows.  I cut the top to the right size and then I cut the pillow backing pieces in two pieces that are about 2/3 the size of the width of the pillow.  Then I sewed a hem on each smaller piece where they would overlap in the pillow.  That way once you sew them together it is easy to change them and wash them but the pillow cant fall out.

Above is the big TV pillow - I was able to do two of these.

Here is the holey couch pillow that I recovered - it is about 18" square.

Here is the bed pillow with a cover on it - I was able to get three of these from the cutter quilt - enough to go across the entire bed.  There were some pieces that I had to cut around as they were too worn as you could see in the top photos, and there ended up being a few pieces that were too small to do anything with - at least for my skill level.  This is not ideal and the pillows will eventually have to be recovered again - it will be the end of a great quilt but we at least gave it a little more life for a little longer.  I will be working next (or soon) on a quilt to replace the one I cut - stay tuned for that but remember - gardening season is coming too!  My green thumb is also calling me!

Quilt for the ages

Quilting seems to be becoming a lost art - not necessarily making the tops of the quilts but hand quilting and finishing them I think is.  When my Great grandmother passed away ( I think her name was Mary Annie but her nickname was Mammie) this quilt came to me from her through my mother.  It has over 3500 pieces and was made in about 1887 - that is NOT a typo - 1887!  It is hand pieced and hand quilted and it has held up so well to the ravages of time and travel!  It is a wonderful testament to quality of materials and workmanship.  No - it doesn't get used on the bed - it hangs and is refolded a different direction every six months or so.

It is a no touch quilt now - off limits for using and just for looking at.  It is called Ocean Waves or Storm at Sea depending on who you ask.

In our family we have a variety of talents among the ladies, you are a quilter, weaver, artist (as in painting etc.,) and so on.  Everybody has something they seem to be genetically predisposed to - some even have two or more talents - I am a quilter.  I love quilting - it soothes me and makes me feel like I have something just for me in the crazy over scheduled life I lead. I am building something - even if a gift for someone - it is also for me.

I began this quilt a number of years ago - embarrassingly its been about 12 years ago that I finished the top!  I have been working on the hand quilting since about a year after the top was done. This quilt is more than 100 years newer than the Ocean Waves!  100 years!!!  It moved in the frame from our old house to Wicked Raven and I do a tiny amount at a time.  I love to sit and do the hand quilting even though it is tedious and sometimes it is more than I can bear to look at it since it has taken me so long.  But I am getting to the end of it now and I am so excited to finish it.  I have another quilt ready to go into the frame - an antique butterfly quilt that I designed the quilt template for.  Stay tuned - eventually Ill have pictures of that one too. 

My quilt doesn't have even 2500 pieces and it is not nearly quilted the way the Ocean Waves is but once it is on our bed it will seem like every stitch was put in with love - because it was!

I have some other projects that I am working on as well - tops - and it is Spring Break with no hockey so Ill be posting more often too - at least for this week!

Find your solace - what makes you happy and feeds your soul?  What do you do just for YOU?

Blessed Be!

Growing (or going?) Bananas!

We are always up for trying new plants here at Wicked Raven.  We have grown grapes, mandarins, lemons and Reed wanted to try the dwarf bananas from Farmers Nursery.  We ordered three plants since they were a bundle item that came in a three pack.  We gave two of them away to friends and planted the other one.

Here it is at about two months old (or two months after we got it).  That is a 10" pot we started it out in in the same window as the mandarin tree that I blogged about a few months ago.

We didn't think too much about how it would do really, the literature that came with it said it was hardy to Zone 4 but we are a solid Zone 2 so we planned on not having it outside.  It said it should get to about 6' tall.

Here it is at 3 years old!  It is 6' tall and it is in a pot that is three feet across at the top!   It makes a great green oasis in the living room with some of the other plants and trees that we have.  It has not produced any bananas yet - we are still wondering how that will work, but it is a beautiful palm tree and it has produced something:

That is what appears to be a tiny new banana tree coming up along side the big one!  I may be reporting at a later date that we have transplanted it to another pot - there is certainly not enough room in this pot for both to get as big as the big tree.  During spring break coming up I will be researching how to go about separating these two and how to get some bananas to grow on the tree.  Stay tuned for the results and don't be afraid to try something new in your space!