PAC Contribs

Today they are on the way to the PAC chair for the California Rural Letter Carriers' Association. I have been meaning to do this for awhile. Finally did. Now that I have more time than money -- which is not necessarily saying much -- I am making things to be used as fund-raisers.

Things I learned making the snowman:
1. Invisible thread is hard to work with by hand.
2. Quilt the little pop-out pieces (Hard to see in the photo, but the cardinal, the hatband and the carrot nose are separate pieces that are stitched on to give a "built-up" look.) BEFORE you attach them to the quilt piece.

The other hanging quilt includes the block I needed to do for Sara's Second Saturday class. I got started and decided to finish the project. Since I need to get these items in the mail in time for the snowman to make the Fall Carrier Seminar Day, I decided to finish the other project and send it along with the snowman. So, Sara is going to have to settle for a picture of the completed block when I show up at class this coming Saturday.

This quilt also includes the design from a tee-shirt I don't believe I ever got around to wearing. The color is that florescent "safety green" that I thought was so great when my husband was still working construction and wearing a lot of that color. It was hard finding fabrics to match, or even blend, especially when I found the blue background with green, yellow and orange dots fabric I thought really set off the background color of the shirt and had to try to make it look decent with the strawberries on black fabric. This shirt design was from the state convention site in Oxnard, known for growing strawberries. That was the only strawberry pattern in the entire fabric store. So, there is a reason for the stretch in making these fabrics work together.

Things I learned doing this project:

1. Iron-on pellon stabilizes knits pretty well. I used a light-weight so that I could stitch through it easily.
2. Even with iron-on pellon, knits will still stretch if you are not careful.
3. Screen-print and sewing machines do not mix well. I had to free-hand the stitching on the design. The bottom teeth were not the problem. The pressure feet could not slide on the painted surface. I could not even use the pressure post without a pressure foot.
4. Do not, and I mean DO NOT iron over a screen-print surface with a hot iron. I almost messed up the design by accidentally getting the iron too close. Use a cover cloth or press on the opposite side of the fabric.