The Big Finish!

This week I finished making this beautiful purple, lavender, and white rag quilt. I had several major setbacks getting this custom order finished, but had the most generous and patient customer to work with so I am thankful for that. The biggest setback was that my old sewing machine locked up and I was not able to sew with it. My 30 year old backup machine needs work too, and it slowed me down trying to use it. So I ended up buying a new Juki sewing machine and so glad that I did. I have some big plans now for my sewing future.....but let me get back to this beauty!

 

 

Here are the stacks of minky fabric ready to sew. I used Warm and White quilt batting for the center.

 

I had ordered a few chenille fabrics to blend in (white chenilles are vintage) and here are all the sandwiches with the "X" quilting.



The big finish.....this is a TWIN size quilt on a QUEEN size bed. 

I love how it turned out.

 

 

This is a corner of what the backing looks like.

 

 

More of the back.

 

One side note that I wanted to mention is that I had no idea how heavy this rag quilt would end up. I think know that in the future I will omit the layer of batting in the middle. After clipping this one I had a hard upper body workout shaking the lint off of it outside. The chenille and minky are both fairly heavy by themselves....lesson learned!

 

Thanks for reading my blog.....I am off to sew a Rag Quilted Bible Cover now.



This Weeks Rag Quilting Project -Day 4 All Done!

I finished this baby rag quilt today! It turned out so cute! Love the colors! And I am sure it will be a soft addition to any nap!

This Weeks Rag Quilting Project -Day 2

 Tonight after work I was able to sew up the pillow and clip the edges....here it is before washing. As you can see -the lint is pretty plentiful on these chenille and minky fabrics.

 

 

The pink and brown look great together!

 

I laid out the design again....I may switch it one more time to even out the light and darker pinks. More to come tomorrow....

 





This Weeks Rag Quilting Project -Day 1

I am currently working on a custom order for a small baby rag quilt and matching pillow.  Today the last of the vintage chenille fabric arrived in the mail, and I have all the fabrics cut tonight. I pre-fringed them using my old Accucut Mark IV die cutter. This was a messy job for sure. I spent about 20 minutes cleaning the loose fuzz off of my work area, but at least I don't have to worry with cutting later.

This is some of the chenille I am using. It is going to be all brown and pink. :)

I am also using minky fabrics that I will blend together with the chenille.

 This is a general layout of the quilt. I plan on changing it some tomorrow before the sewing starts.

September Projects

This little Alligator quilt was made for a co-worker who had a baby boy recently. My husband drew the alligator and I did the rest!

This was a King size Rag Quilt in my favorite fabrics- homespun. This beauty went to a customer in Tennessee.

Happy New Year 2012

Happy New Year from Ashlawnfarms! As the holidays are coming to a close it is time to start new goals for the new year. One of my goals is to destash many of the fabrics taking up room in my fabric closet. Today I listed on Etsy many listings of minky squares that I am parting with from my old cutting services. There are many listings to choose from. 

For Christmas I gave my niece and nephew homespun traditional quilts. 

Monday Mentions.....Christmas Gift Ideas

Today's blogging is all about a gal in my RQQ (Rag Queen Quilters) group on eBay.
RQQ has been together for nearly 4 years this January. We are just a crazy group of ladies passionate about Rag Quilting....

Countrygal676 is one of our members. This seller has been working hard to create some really wonderful rag quilt kits that are ready for gifting or ready to be sewn in order to give for gifts or personal use. I would like to share a few of her listings on eBay with you:

Roses,Roses! Rag Quilt Kit~Cotton & Vint Chenille~ RQQ

Pink Teddies, Stars & Feet~SO CUTE Rag Quilt Kit!~ RQQ Add to Watch list

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John Deere Rag Quilt Kit w/Cotton, Flannel & Minky~ RQQ Add to Watch list

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Please click on the titles to link you to the listings for additional pictures. If you have any questions about her kits send her a message!!

What is Minky Dot Fabric?

Recently I had someone ask me what Minky Dot Fabric is.

I started selling this item not too long ago as I am seeing more and more people using it it rag quilts, bibs, burp cloths, diaper bags, etc. I made a bath robe for my mother for Christmas as well. The squares I cut and sell have been going pretty well. And as more and more customers come along, some have no idea what Minky Fabrics are.

So I did some reading on it and discovered some things as well that I would like to share. I Google just about everything these days, so that is where most of this information is coming from. That and my own experiences!

I did discover that Benartex has the top of the line product called Minkee Blankee. People who use Benartex Minkee claim it is the softest and the best there is. The price of this product is also at the top of the line and can sometimes cost up to $20.00 per yard.

I do not know of any other Brand names claiming rights to this fabric, but there are some companies such as Joann's and Hobby Lobby that sell a similar product at a much lower cost when on sale.

Minky Fabrics are 100% polyester.
They have embossed dots, hearts, stars, etc. on them or they can be striped or plain just to name a few.
These fabrics are very comparable to a velour fabric and to touch it feels like petting a rabbit or mink. That is where it got its name I guess. The nap is longer like hair.
They also come in a ton of colors and more colors are starting to be made from what I am seeing.

Minky fabrics are very messy to work with though. Every time I cut a batch I go through several sheets of my lint roller. I usually lint roll all the squares before I ship too so they look better.

The squares I cut do not stack well. Since they are slick on the backside they tend to slide around some on each other. Minky is also a bit of a trick to sew since it slides. Be sure to use some scraps of it to practice with before you start sewing your project to get the settings on your machine in sinky with Minky!

One thing I read was not to use a hot iron on Minky. Especially on the embossed shapes such as the dots. In making mom's bath robe, I was ironing seams as specified in the pattern directions and learned the hard way not to iron it. Sigh!

Another thing I just read was not to microwave this product. You ask why? -Me too!! But in health care, some workers will do that to heat a blanket for patients. Minky will melt. So please "don't miky the minky!" lol

Visit any of my store links here on my blog to buy pre-cut minky dot squares from me!

Blessings!