Featured #battgirl Toby Thompson

Toby Thompson

 Toby Thompson

     I began quilting after graduating from college in 1976 inspired by my grandmother's hand quilting. After my first-hand stitched quilt,  (completed with her help), I pivoted to machine quilting.

     In those days, my favorite was making log cabin quilts.  Just a few years after that however, my career path & children took all my time and sewing went on hold.  30+ years passed.  I retired from teaching in 2015 & had inherited my mother's Bernina machine in 2013.  

     The machine intimidated me until this past fall when I desired to make each of my 3 grandchildren (ages 1, 3 & 5) a cozy, flannel quilt for Christmas to wrap them in my love despite our being 525 miles apart.  Yes, 3 quilts to make simultaneously after 30+ nonsewing years!  Because I was so "rusty,” every step in the process required a lot of thought, research, and input  from more experienced folks - selecting patterns, fabrics, batting, techniques, & even basics of how to use my mother's machine, starting with how to load the bobbin!     

 I chose two baby quilt patterns that I found online (Fluffy Pinwheels and Lazy Logs) and enlarged them both.  I selected flannel fabrics online and from an incredible Amish fabric store, Miller's Dry Goods, about 50 miles from me in Charm, OH.  Acquiring all the fabric, cutting, piecing & sewing 3 quilt tops took time!  As much of an accomplishment as it was to finish three quilt tops, I knew I was a long way from being finished and Christmas was quickly approaching.  I wanted to finish each quilt with a warm, lofty batting & either hand-tie or stitch-in-the-ditch to a minky/cuddle fabric backing to keep the quilts flexible and cozy for the children to wrap up with and read their beloved books.

 

     The batting choices in today's marketplace are overwhelming!  I was leaning toward another well-known brand's cotton batting until I read on the internet about Dream Puff batting by Quilter's Dream. I even called them to discuss the appealing description of Dream Puff for my project. I received super-helpful, personal advice & was even provided a list of stores in my area code that carry Quilter's Dream Puff, which included the Amish fabric store where I had bought some of the fabrics. Whew!  

     The quilts exceeded my hopes of being soft, lofty, warm, & cozy. My grandchildren love them, and I've made my presence in their daily lives much more frequent than the miles allow.  I'm getting ready to make another quilt, but only ONE quilt at a time. lol 

Colorado Quilts of Valor- BIG BLOWOUT BLOCK DRIVE

When Alycia Quilts approached us to be a sponsor for the Quilts of Valor (QOV) Big Blowout Block Drive, owner of Quilters Dream Batting, Kathy Thompson couldn't resist. Having a personal story of her own about the special meaning of receiving the gift of a quilt:

At just 32 years old, my beautiful son, Josh was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease)...(a)cruel, fatal untreatable disease...Josh's life completely depends on life-support. To help raise awareness of ALS, we started the annual Hopes & Dreams Quilt Challenge for ALS... the generosity of quilters donating quilts for the benefit of ALS patients has been truly amazing.

...one day, about two years ago, UPS delivered a small package to Josh's home... Inside this package was a small brown and green lap quilt... The quilt is tied, it is not pieced. The quilt front is a single piece of fabric with imprinted verses of religious hymns. Attached to the quilt was this handwritten note: "Dear Josh, I am 88 years old and I wanted so much for you to have this quilt. This quilt comes (with) prayers of love, courage and hope... and I want you to know that you are in my thoughts and prayers. I will think of you every day".
When Josh read the note--he cried.

Head over to Alycia Quilts to participate in the QOV block drive.

There is still time to participate in the Quilts of Valor Big Blowout Block Drive!
Remember for every 5 blocks sent in, you get 1 chance to win a variety of prizes. Quilters Dream is offering 2 different prizes. the first is 3 twin size batts, and the second in 2 twin size batts. You will love them all - I promise!!

Getting Back To Basics

This past weekend my family hatched two tiny fuzzy chicks in an incubator in our spare bedroom. I am a logic-minded person, and hatching eggs and raising chickens is not a logical thing to do. The cost of the incubator, feeder, waterer, & special food, let alone chicken coop, run, etc. is nowhere near worth the return of the few fresh free range eggs I will get! However, as a quilter, I am certain you know and appreciate the true value of this project. It seems that over the years we have become an over processed country. The pre-packackaged, perfectly made, beautiful goods we buy and use are cheaper and more convenient than what we can possibly make ourselves. Happily, there is a movement that is slowly taking hold. This is a shift in values from what is perfectly manufactured toward the handmade, handgrown, handraised & more personal. In appreciation for the time, skill, effort and love that is sewn into every stitch, a handmade quilt is far more valuable than any blanket purchased from a store. This is an age when time is more valuable than money. Anyone can go out and buy a mass produced bauble, but it is extra special for someone to take the time make a unique creation. Each personal gift is truly a treasure! Each minute and hour spent working on a project, or raising homegrown goods, is a gift to the person engaged in the effort. In some ways, the journey is even more valuable than the destination.

This is why I know that the first tiny egg I find from one of these new chickens my family is having so much fun raising will be more precious to me than all the perfectly sized, cleaned, stark white, prepackaged eggs in the supermarket! (Let’s just hope they turn out to be chickens and not roosters!)  

Happy Quilting!

 ~The Dream Team

Ode To a Quilter's Husband

The husband of this quilter is a very special, patient guy—
Who doesn’t complain about how much fabric his wife may buy.

Through the years he’s picked up a lot of quilting lore—
Because on this subject his wife can get to be quite a bore.

He’s learned better than to throw away any old odd shaped scrap—
Because it’s likely that’s the one she’ll need to fill her design gap.

He know if he enters the quilting room his feet will get pins in—
And he’s learned there’s not just red, but brick, rust, scarlet and crimson.

He knows how she snorts when she sees an ordinary bedspread—
Cuz in HER house there’s only personally designed quilts instead.

He knows when she meets another quilter there’ll be fast and furious talkin’—
And at a quilt show there’ll be lots of scribbling and gawkin’.

He thinks of quilt-mania as a kind of creative affliction—
That can only be controlled by regular doses of stitchin’.

He knows she quilts for enjoyment, not for money,
Cuz she does quilts that are traditional, modern and some just plain funny!

And though all my cutting, designing, sewing and quilting through the years—
He’s always been interested, supportive, patient, and very, very dear.

Happy Quilting!

 ~The Dream Team