Week's Quilting Summary

My quilting accomplishments this week:

I made four hotpads for The Yellow Window Boutique with the hopes of selling them. I get loads of  free motion quilting practice when making these. My binding work is better, too!

I found these items that I began Y-E-A-R-S ago! I kept them so long, I decided I should finish them. 

The first two are quilt-as-you-go log cabin sofa pillows. I added a pocket back. They are ready for the pillow form and then I will donate them to a local charity for kids. 

I made this block in the early 80s. I heard that Y-seams had to be done by hand, not with a sewing machine. That challenged me way back then to sew the pieces with my sewing machine. The fabrics are not all cottons but that's what we had back then. (What colors!)

 I layered it and am free motion quilting on my machine! I am going to put it in a frame for "old time's sake."

I am making a T-Shirt quilt for a graduate. It took 2 days to wash, cut, attach fusible and sew the top together. It is 72" x 98", he's very tall. I only use woven fusible on t-shirts. I find it backs them very well and doesn't shred or rip. Next week I am going to my friend's to use her longarm  machine. I am only showing a bit of it for privacy. 

Upcoming Blog Hop!

I am participating in the X-Block Blog Hop hosted by Amy at Sew Incredibly Crazy. You can read about it HERE. 

I bought this template about 10 years ago with all the best intentions of using it. I haven't used it yet, but NOW I will! I am looking forward to making a small quilt. I hope you will visit and see what everyone makes. You can see what the template designer has been up to HERE.

I wish you happy quilting. 

10 Days of Quilting

Since I last blogged (10 days ago), I have been able to work on quite a few sewing projects--even some that were not quilting related. It really does energize me when I get some sewing completed. And I cherish each day I can sew, as I have hip replacement scheduled for later this spring and I never know how long I can sit comfortably.

Rachel, who is also a member of the Gridster Bee, began making the monthly block for each Queen Bee, and one for herself, too. This way she'll have 12 Gridster bee blocks for her own quilt. I decided that I would do this as well. I completed the pineapple block for myself as well as Sherri, who requested them. Pat Sloan has a tutorial HERE.

 Sherri's is on the left. Mine is on the right. On mine, I tried the leaf patchwork that Elizabeth used for her pineapple HERE. I am not sure which one I like better. 

I will make my own New York Beauty (Susan requested them in January). But it is a block I have not done until now. I found the curved piecing on the machine to be nerve-wracking. But I was please with the 2 I sent Susan. 

I spent about 3 days finishing my niece's T-Shirt quilt using her sorority shirts. I put it together in January. I quilted it on Feb. 2 using the Sweet 16 at the art studio I go to once every so often. This week I put the binding on it. One shirt had a pocket. I printed a photo on fabric of her and her dad at the Dad's Day event. I fused it to a thicker fabric, stitched around the raw edges and tucked it into the pocket. A nice memory. I forgot to take a photo of the finished quilt before I mailed it out. So you here it is trimmed and ready for binding. 

I finished my sister's birthday present. The center panel was 1/4th of a table cover our mother had in the 1950s or 60s. It was one of the things I saved after she passed away (many years ago). I have now made each of my siblings a table topper with one of the pieces. I have mine yet to make.

I was very pleased with the mitered corners. 

I had happy mail one day. I received the rotating Calibre Arts Cutting mat I won from the Sunbonnet Sue and Sam Travel The World BOM at Seams To Be Sew. I have wanted to get a mat from this company because of what I have read about their products. 

The mat does rotate very smoothly and I am pleased that I don't smell an odor in the room like I have when I have purchased mats from the stores. If I put my nose right up to it I smell a little odor, but my sewing area doesn't smell!

On the same day, my order from Missouri Star Quilt Co. arrived. I am going to make a quilt for the Modern Quilt Guild Challenge with Riley Blake fabrics. I tried to find Riley Blake fabric locally, but to no avail. MSQC had the best selection, so I placed the order. 

I saw these Island Batik Stamp packs and couldn't pass them up. So they went on the order, too. 

One final project that I sewed yesterday was Dilby Duck from Funky Friends Factory. I am sewing it for Island Batik Fabrics with some of their new fabrics. I have not sewn any stuffed animal this involved before. It wasn't too hard. I thought 4 hours total wasn't bad for my first time. I stuffed it while watching TV that evening. I don't know if I can show a photo of it yet, but here is the photo from the Funky Friends Factory site. You'll have to believe me, I made him much more colorful!

So that is a summary of the past 10 days. 

New Year Quilt Projects

I finished 2016 by sewing together the tree blocks I got from my bee-mates in the Mid-Century Modern Bee in November. One set is in the mail and on it's way. I will add another 2 blocks of my own. I am very pleased with how my concept for this wall hanging turned out. Each member did improv cutting and sewing to create a tree with blue background and one with green background. I have a few quilting motif ideas I am tossing about in my head.

The past year has been wonderful working with the ladies in the Mid-Century Modern Bee. But it is dis-banning. However, one of the members started a new bee called Gridsters. I am looking forward to creating with some of the former members and some new quilters this coming year. In fact, our first block for January's Queen Bee has been requested--a New York Beauty. This is a block I have never made, so I think it will be a bit of a challenge.

I have been busy with projects this new year. 
I began on New Year's Day with the Merry Mayhem Mystery Quilt. This is a free, yearly mystery quilt. It begins at 10 AM EST with the 2nd clue (sewing). The 1st clue is cutting directions given before January 1. Every hour a new clue is posted and we quilters progress with the project. I have participated for 4 years now and have enjoyed each project. Here is the small quilt top I finished this year.

And during the past few days I have been constructing a T-shirt quilt for my niece using her college shirts. She knows it is being made and I have consulted with her on her ideas for finishing and quilting motifs, so I feel fine posting it here. 

What have you been working on this first week of the New Year? 

Last Week's Accomplishments

I was sewing quite a bit last week, but not at home!

My embroidery machine was fixed and ready to pick up. The dealer is 55 minutes away, so it only makes sense to make the most of a long drive. One the 2nd Tuesday of each month, they have a free Open Embroidery Day. I chose to pick up the machine on that day and stay for embroidery time. I thought if the machine gave me any problem, the technician would be there to help. The machine worked well. I am still a beginner with the machine, but the other ladies were helpful when Patty, the store's embroidery teacher was busy with someone else. I felt very accomplished when I left with these items completed. 

Pillowcases for two little girls I know. 

And the beginning of four biscornu pincushions. ( A few times I forgot to change thread color. Ooops.)

On Wednesday I drove again to the city to Inspirations of Art Studio, where I can pay for studio time and use the Sweet 16 Sitdown Longarm machine. I worked on a T-shirt quilt for a 2016 graduate. I returned on Friday to finish it, and work on some other quilts. 

The quilt turned out quite nicely and a I found a great backing in my supply room, just right for a young man. I got the binding attached at home on Saturday. 

I finished this charity baby quilt there, as well. It was made with squares cut to 6".

Thursday was our guild meeting. 

We had a speaker coming, so some of the members met her for dinner before the meeting. Janice Jenkins from Elm Creek Home and Garden Center in Farwell, MI, gave a wonderful, entertaining presentation on Picking Fabrics for Fun and Color. 

I have been to their store more than a few times. They have so many choices in fabrics. 

Plus, they are a nursery and garden store on one side of the building. So it is fun to visit it all. 

This post shows me I really was busy last week!

I will see what this week brings.

What did you do last week? What do you have planned for this week?

T-Shirt Quilt

In early August I spent a weekend at my daughter's apartment. She wanted to work on a t-shirt quilt for her boyfriend. It is so fun to work together with her on sewing projects.

Previously, she had cut the shirts to one standard size (16" square) and put woven interfacing on each of them. (I use woven interfacing because it truly stabilizes the stretchiness of the knit shirts.) 
She wanted to use as many of his shirts as we could, so we decided to make the back and front with the shirts.

We laid out the shirts in a pleasing and organized manner--middle school mostly reds and high school golds and blacks. She took photos of the arrangements in case we got confused when sewing each seam. 

Her boyfriend did not like the look of all the quilting going over the shirt fronts, so we decided to sew the front and the back as their own quilt top and join them by matching the block corners and tie the corners and the middle of each seam line with pearl cotton. She tied after we got the binding on the layers. (A layer of polyester batting was used between the front and back of the quilts for a bit of fluffiness--and I will say it is going to be a warm quilt.)

Her boyfriend was very pleased with the finished quilt. I heard he was using it to keep warm this evening with our below 60 degree temperatures in Michigan.

LOOKING for my FREE Turtle Pincushion Pattern?  CLICK HERE.

3 for the Quilter

Michelle emailed me to say she finished with the longarm quilting of the items I dropped off last week! Yipee! I am going to pick them up tomorrow and I can't wait to see them. 

Here is what I gave her: 

First was a large (94" x 92") T-shirt quilt for a friend. It is a family quilt since t-shirts from the parents and the children were used in it. There were 5 sweatshirts, too thick to include, so I am making throw pillows with them. (This top was so big, I couldn't focus well enough for a good picture.)

Then this lap size Hunter Star quilt that I made quite a few years ago.

I used a technique from the 2007 Quick Quilts #83 magazine pattern called London Garden. It was easy enough to do. I had not added the outer border. I did that and called it done. 

The colors in the photo aren't true because the light from behind making them darker. (And I didn't want to ask my husband to hold the quilt up for one more photo.)

I was looking for some fabric for the backing for the Hunter Star quilt and saw this Halloween panel. I thought of my oldest daughter who really likes Halloween. I added the orange border. The green witch fabric wasn't long enough, so I cut it into fourths and added the swirly fabric strips between the sections. And it was ready to quilt. Having Michelle quilt it would  let me get on with some other projects. 

I look forward to binding, photographing and posting the final projects in the next week. 

I hope you enjoy a creative week.