You probably know John Adams as a Founding Father of the United States. But did you know he was also a fantastic party planner? It’s true! (Well, kinda…)
When independence was officially declared, John Adams wrote: “[This day] will be the most memorable in the history of America. It ought to be [celebrated] with pomp and parade, games, sports, and [fireworks] forever more.” His 4th of July plans were so much fun, we’ve celebrated John Adams-style for 245 years!
But there’s just one thing Mr. Adams forgot: Quilts! Every good holiday needs quilts!
This week, Jenny is working on a festive quilt-as-you-go table runner in patriotic shades of red, white, and blue. And the best part? One charm pack makes TWO table runners!
We see quilts in old tile floors. We see quilts in stained glass windows. We even see quilts in patchwork fields of wheat and corn.
This week, Jenny is stitching up a new layer cake quilt inspired by childhood memories of the California Coast.
You see, when Jenny was a little girl, her family loved to visit the beach at Santa Cruz. Even now she can picture that beautiful boardwalk stretched across the sand like long, pieced strips.
Click HERE to learn how to whip up this show-stopping strip quilt with quick and easy sashing!
Summer is just around the corner, so don’t leave your creativity behind as you embark on your summer vacations! Just because quilting is often seen as a home-based activity, that doesn’t mean there aren’t projects that you can work on from the road. Even if you don’t enjoy bringing your work with you, take the time to immortalize your summer travels with a brand new Summer Travel Project!
From Destination Panels from Riley Blake to the Road Trip quilt from Missouri Star, we’ve gathered some of our favorite summer travel projects to share with you. Whether your sewing from the comforts of home, or stitching on the go, be sure to always share your creations with us by using #msqcshowandtell on Facebook and Instagram!
The Quilt As You Go Hexagon Quilt from Missouri Star Quilt Co.
Is there a more perfect travel project than a Quilt as You Go Hexagon quilt? This revolutionary project is made easy with the Quilt As You Go 2 1/2″ Hexagon Template designed by Daisy & Grace which allows you to play with your fabric and fussy cut designs you’d like to feature. To finish, you can either hand stitch or machine stitch these beauties. Not only does this create a beautiful and unique finished quilt, but it makes quilting while you travel SEW much easier!
This template fits perfectly on a charm pack (you’re definitely going to want some coordinating yardage for the backing though as it’s slightly larger!). Go big and go bold with this project because it is bold in it’s design. Consider a Kaffe Classics Prism Charm Pack by Kaffe Fassett for FreeSpirit Fabrics for your 5″ squares. Not only will these colors be vibrant, but they’ll blend perfectly together to create an eye-popping, unique quilt!
Quilting on the road isn’t for everyone. Some of us enjoy the organization and peace of our home quilting studios and don’t wish to be bothered while we’re out experiencing everything this world of ours has to offer. Instead of working while you’re going, show us where you’ve been with this jaw-dropping fabric panels from Riley Blake!
The Destinations Collection features postcard style panels in an Art Deco theme highlighting popular travel destinations from around the world. Whether you’re stitching up a quilt highlighting all the national parks you’ve been to, or a beautiful pillow featuring your hometown, The Destinations Collection allows for a quick and easy project that will be a favorite for years to come!
The Sew on the Go Pouch from BLOCK Volume 7 Issue 3.
For those of us who prefer a little organization, the Sew on the Go Pouch is the perfect compliment to any summer vacation. Whether you’re traveling on your own, or attending a sewing retreat (think of how handy this would be!) this cute little custom-made pouch holds your most important notions and tools of the trade.
This BLOCK Magazine exclusive is featured in Volume 7 Issue 3 and comes together with ease using no more than a few yards of scrap fabric. While this perfect stash buster will help eliminate your growing fabric supply, you can also create this project as a gift featuring a favorite fabric of a friend! Pick up some fabric by the yard, such as the beautiful Curiouser and Curiouser – Baby Buds Daydream Yardage by Tula Pink for FreeSpirit Fabrics and create a long lasting and frequently used gift for the quilter in your life!
Planning a cross-country drive this summer? Show off your journey with the Road Trip quilt! This gorgeous pattern allows you to document your journey with easy to print state applique shapes. Even if you aren’t traveling this year, stitch up a simple pillow using this pattern to commemorate your favorite destination.
I spy with my little eye, your next quilting project! Do you have memories of playing the “I Spy” game in the car? Road trips in the summer are all about fun, so bring back this great summer travel memory by creating an I Spy Jar quilt featuring found fabrics from your travels!
You’ll need charm packs to create this fun travel friendly project. If you’re at home and ready to get sewing, consider a kid-friendly fabric that’s full of different elements to point out such as Unicorn Kingdom 5″ Stackers by Shawn Wallace for Riley Blake! Make memories with your children or grandchildren by playing a game of I Spy at home with the quilt as your guide. If you are traveling however, pick up fabric on the way! Stop in at local quilt shops or repurpose some old T-Shirts for a truly unique project that captures all the great memories you made.
Join Jenny, Misty and Natalie in an all new Triple Play featuring three unique patterns utilizing 10″ papers.
In 1899, an unknown quilter began stitching fabric scraps on a paper foundation. Alas, the quilt was never finished. (It happens to us all!) The incomplete top is on display at the Virginia Quilt Museum, and the paper is still intact.
For this month’s Triple Play tutorial, Jenny and the gals designed 3 foundation paper pieced quilts using our favorite new jelly rolls and layer cakes.
Each quilt is made with Missouri Star 10” Paper Piecing Squares, which don’t have the mystery and romance of 19th century correspondence, but they’re SO easy to use! See how simple and fun foundation paper piecing can be!
Recently I sat down with Jenny Doan in her studio to ask a few questions about an important tool of the quilting trade, sewing machines, in honor of National Sewing Machine Day on June 13. As a sewist of many years, Jenny shares the machines she prefers to piece on and some tips and tricks she’s picked up along the way, along with a few fun stories behind her sewing machine collection.
What is your favorite sewing machine?
So my favorite machine to piece on is the baby lock jane which now is called the accomplish, and it’s my favorite because it goes fast. It goes 1600 stitches a minute, and it goes very fast, it’s heavy duty. You’re not going to want to take it to a retreat but you are going to miss it if you’re used to sewing on it because it’s fast, I like to have my pedal to the metal and you know I like to sew fast. Every company makes a machine that’s like this, it’s like a kind of commercial-esque machine, like Juki makes one. I love the Juki [“What is the number on that Juki?” She asks me. I am sitting directly in front of a Juki machine, the “TL2010Q”.] Yep, that’s the quilting machine for Juki and I do like that one really well, I do have one of those as well.
Tell me about your first sewing machine.
My first only sewing machine was a Viking and it had cams to to change the stitches. At that time, I was into all the decorative stitches, because I was 14 years old and just starting High School and everybody wore the chambray button up shirts but they liked to decorate them with embroidery. Instead of embroidery, I would use my decorative stitches. And at that time, you would put in a cam and you’d have like, 4-5 stitches to choose from and they were color coded, so you’d turn all the knobs on the machine, if they were all orange, then they would do the orange stitch, you know, and if they were all blue, then they’d do the blue stitch. I had that machine for years and years and years and then finally it just wouldn’t keep its timing. I wish I still had it, but I think I just got rid of it because it didn’t work anymore. That was my first machine, and I loved it.
Do you have a fun story of a machine you have acquired?
I do have a fun story! So I was in a Goodwill, and they have this little machine, sitting up by the counter and it had $9.99 on it, and so I started to unlatch the lid to look at it, and I got the lid up, about 2 inches, and I just slammed the lid down, buckled it up, and said to the lady working that “I am going to take this.” And so I was with Annie, I was with you [Editors note: Hi! Jenny and I go way back.], and when we got back to the car you were like “Grandma, what’s with that machine, I saw you just open up and close it.” And I said, “Well I don’t know what it is, but it is pink and so it has to be amazing.” I am not necessarily a pink lover, you know, but most sewing machines are not colored that way, especially older ones. And when I took the cover off, I discovered that it was a Morse machine and it runs great and it’s a gorgeous pink color. I keep it in my studio to this day because it was such a fun find and such a fun machine. I really love that one.
Jenny’s Goodwill find, a pink Morse sewing machine!
I’ve also found a bunch of children’s sewing machines that I love, and the hunt for those is really fun. Because if you go to an antique store, out in the middle of nowhere, you could get one for $8 or you could get one for, you know, $100. You just never know what they’re going to be priced at and what you’re going to get. Those are really fun, they’re collectible and I do have a collection of those.
And we do have a big collection of sewing machines at Missouri Star and there is also a huge collection at the Missouri Quilt Museum.
When and why did you start collecting sewing machines?
Well I actually started collecting irons first. I thought irons were really cool and I could get an iron every place I taught. In my mind, I really could only imagine a few different kinds of irons and then I started collecting them and literally I don’t think I have two that are the same, and I have an easy, I don’t know, hundred of them. They’re just amazing and cool. But the problem with irons is that you can’t carry them on [an airplane] and they’re going to add ten pounds to your luggage and if you mail them home, then it is equally as expensive. So I decided, once I had a fairly extensive iron collection, that I would start collecting children’s sewing machines. And the reason I decided to collect anything is that when you go teach, you fly in, you fly out. But if you have to go to an antique store, then there’s something you can do while you’re there. And you’re either going to go to the best part of town, or the worst part of town, but you’re going to go somewhere. And I have a hard time branching out and being adventurous, I just kind of tend to go and do my event and go home, and so this gave me a little bit of adventure, I was on the hunt for something fun to bring home from that place. And so after I got a few irons, I started collecting sewing machines, which are much easier to travel with, they let you carry them on. That’s when I started collecting those, and they are so fun. They [sewing machines (irons too!)] literally permeate my studio, my house. You’ll see one peeking through in lots of different places, they’re just darling. And there are so many different kinds.
A row of children’s sewing machines in Jenny’s Studio.
What’s a fun sewing machine secret or hack you have?
So one of the things that quilters complain about is that they literally sit at their machine and sew all day long and it makes their back hurt. So one of the hacks for that is that if you tilt your machine just forward, just a little bit, you use different muscles. And so actually I used to use a roll of masking tape, the 1” roll, you could also get those plastic door stoppers, and slide it under the back [of your machine] because if your machine tilts, then you move differently. You can also move your chair up and down, but I think as I get older, it’s generally those neck and back muscles that are what hurt me, and so I actually think that’s a really cool hack. If you just change the height of your machine, the height of your chair, if you lean it forward, lean it back, do something so that it switches it up.
The other hack I have is that I rarely ever re-thread my sewing machine. I cut the thread, tie the two pieces (the new spool of thread piece to the piece that is currently threaded in the machine) together and just pull it through. And so that makes a cool hack, and a lot of times I’ll buy a really big spool of thread and I used to just keep a Mason Jar next to my sewing machine and I would just have that thread in there and run the thread out of it and then you can use as big a spool as you want, if your big spool won’t fit on your sewing machine. Which usually they are made for a pretty small spool, and so I would always get these giant spools because I hated changing my thread. I would have a light spool and a dark spool and then I would just use those. I would just tie the two threads together and pull it through, I would rarely ever change it.
Jenny’s son Josh found this pink and brown sewing machine for $2.50 at a yard sale. $2.50 for the machine and its wooden cabinet! What a find!
A woman I was talking to once, she was telling me she was saving up to get a machine and I said, “Go to a thrift store, go to Goodwill, because the older machines, they are generally running great and people get rid of them because they didn’t know how to use them. You can find a great machine if you’re looking to save your pennies at a thrift store or garage sale or something like that. – Jenny Doan
