Quilting Ladies at the Baptist Church

A friend told me about some ladies getting together at the First Baptist Church for some sewing, quilting and fellowship. We both started going and have really been enjoying it. Sometimes there are only a few - less than ten and other times approaching twenty.

We all do our own thing -  some bring their machines and piece quilts, some bring embroidery work and some hand quilt, either on their own or on one on a frame for the church project.

We all bring a dish for lunch. We have a prayer and lunch, then get back to our sewing. It is nice to see what other projects everyone has.

 It is a nice group of ladies and the Baptist church is very nice to let us meet there. There are Baptists, Methodist, Catholic, Christian and Church of Christ members in the group.

Here is a top that I quilted for, Anneliese, one of the members:

Four Quilt Tops for Janis.

The daughter of a church member, who recently lost his wife, asked if I would quilt four tops she found as she was helping to straighten up the home.

They appeared to be done in the 1970"s as they were wrapped in newspaper from that time. They were very well done and included three queen and one twin size. Here are pictures of them:

Brook's Graduation Quilt

We were asked by a church member if we would make a graduation quilt for her daughter using her sports t-shirts. I had never done a t-shirt quilt before but checked online for instructions. I bought the backing fabric from JoAnns and it worked really well. The daughter picked out the fabric colors she wanted - pink and blue. The pink fabric was a bit different. has gold glitters in it and feels like a bit of rubberize. It worked out to iron on the backside of it and may have been OK to iron with low setting.

There were not enough t-shirts to fill the size so I put two pictures in the quilt. One of her baby picture and one of her graduation picture. I have used the fabric sheets before to print pictures and labels on without any problems but this time, I did have an issue. I think it was due to my printer being a photo printer and putting more ink even when I set it on plain paper. I rinsed the pictures well but after all was done, when I washed the quilt, the darkest picture bled a bit on the surrounding fabric. It is barely noticable but I did recommend that the quilt be used as only a keepsake in case it bleeds again. I put two printed labels on the quilt and they did fine.

My DH did the quilting and did a great job with it, using a meandering stitch. She was very happy with the results and her daughter was as well.

Pink Color did not show up correct in this photo.

We Made The News. . .

Family makes quilt honoring son’s military service

July 30, 2014

Chris and Jerry Biggerstaff, with some design help from their daughter, Sheri Duderstadt, designed, pieced and assembled a quilt using uniforms, patches and other memorabilia belonging to their son, Chief Warrant Officer Jerry P. “Jay” Biggerstaff.

The younger Biggerstaff served with the 176th Engineer Brigade, Texas Army National Guard. He has served in Texas, Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Our son, Jay, asked us last year if we would make him a quilt using his army uniforms to tell his “Soldier Story,” Chris said. “He had a design in mind with specific items he wanted in it, and he was happy with our final layout. With helpful suggestions from his Pop and sister, I think we created a really nice design.”

Chris admitted she had no idea what using the uniforms entailed when she first started on the project.
“I got up close and very friendly with Jack, the seam ripper,” Chris laughed. “Those uniforms are made from the toughest fabric I have ever encountered. So I ripped up seams, patches and Velcro from three different styles of jackets (two of each) and two pairs of pants. The thread was so strong it broke my favorite seam ripper as I was trying to take buttons off.”

Chris took the Velcro off the patches and stitched them onto the quilt, making the already tough uniform fabric even thicker in those places.

Jerry – “Pop” – then took on the challenging task of quilting the piece, stitching around all the patches (36 of them) and the pockets.

“I recommended leaving the pockets open for two reasons,” Chris said. “First, because they were several layers thick and secondly, because it would be a nice place for notes from Jay’s sons and grandchildren.”
Calling the project a labor of love, Chris said Jay mentioned that others might like to have a quilt made when they see his.  “I told him if I were to make any more, they would be very expensive,” she said.

This quilt was made with love for Chief Warrant Officer Jerry P. Biggerstaff by his mom, Chris Biggerstaff – with some layout suggestions from sister Sheri Duderstadt – and quilted by his dad, Jerry Biggerstaff, Sr. It was created from his uniforms, honoring his service in Texas, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
A local couple recently finished an unusual but loving tribute to their son’s military service.