T-shirt quilt - finished!

At last, another finish in 2013. We are half way through the year, and although there haven't been as many finishes as I had hoped, I'm still happy with my progress.

These T shirts are very precious to my DS, and I was nervous cutting them up for my first ever T shirt quilt.
I asked for advice, watched Youtube, and finally took the plunge and cut. Have I mentioned that my usual mistakes are related to cutting? I had been told to fuse and then cut to size. Instead I cut, fused and then trimmed to size. Luckily there were no disasters.

I was also advised to cut all the blocks the same size.




 You can see how well I take advice!  I pieced the centre and then placed blocks around that.
Here's a look at my calculations, they make me smile! There's probably a computer way to figure this out (EQ7?), but I like a diagram.




Then, not content with this headache, I did the same thing on the back!




All those numbers just to evenly place 5 blocks of 3 different sizes.
Here's how it looks:




I usually try to quilt all my own quilts, but in this case I took it to the longarmer, and I love the result!
I think it really adds to the quilt without overwhelming it. It's also just the pattern I had in mind.

Till next time,

Sue

Retreat Production

I'm just back from a wonderful quilt retreat at a lodge on the Bow River. Four nights and four full days, wonderful food and lots of laughs with  a great group of quilters. It's amazing how much you can accomplish when your only responsibility is to sew an accurate 1/4 inch seam!

I took one new project, a quilt top for my DD. I would have finished the top, except I ran short of one of the fabrics. By only a few inches, grrr! So I'm a row of blocks shorter than I planned until we get a bit more.

This is a poor picture of the block, taken while ordering from the quilt store.  Framed boxes - the focus fabric is above, a very pretty swirl. I ran short of the background of the lower box.

I took several UFOs with me. My Swoon quilt has been sitting around waiting for me to finish it. This is the month to do it! I handed myself a couple of real challenges with this quilt. Not content with the Swoon block, I resized it into small, medium and large blocks, without thinking how hard that would be to put together. I also chose this as my first (and only, so far) attempt at Quilt As You Go.

                                      

These are the blocks I worked on, four medium and three small. All sandwiched and quilted. Next they have to be squared up and joined together. A  task for another day!

I'll save the rest of my sewing for another post.

Till next time,

Sue

Tees and Bees

My T shirt quilt top and back are finished, and it is off being longarmed. Usually I would try to quilt it myself  but time is short till the birthday. The finished size is 73" x 82". Not a bed quilt, but a generous throw.
Excuse the poor picture, my assistant got sore holding it up!

My first idea was to frame the blocks or separate them with different colours of Sketch, but I think it looks better floating on the latte Sketch.

I spent a long time on the calculations for the back. I wanted one block centered, and the other four evenly spaced. Add to that the extra needed for longarming, and my paper was covered with arrows and numbers!

The simplest things are often so difficult to achieve! The backing is a darker red than it appears here, and the pattern is little triangles.

Now I wonder what to do about binding. Do you have suggestions?

Meanwhile I've done some more bee blocks. They are a refreshing break while working on bigger projects.

For the Stars in their Eyes Bee, Lisa's blocks to make a baby quilt:

I've made these blocks before, and I think they look extra pretty in the lighter colours, and with a bit of a plan.

This is the April block from Lucky Stars Block of the Month.

I'm looking forward to putting all my blocks together, it's going to be a very striking quilt!

I'm still thinking what block to do for my 3x6 Bee for this quarter. I love the choosing, and then making it in all different colour combos. Fun!

Linking to 

Till next time,

Sue

Bath Time

It is that time in my daughter's life when she and many of her friends have babies or small children. Such a magical time. And with those babies come baby showers. We thought of the hooded towels that I last made when my granddaughters were babies (they are now 9 and 6 years old).

So I tried to remember how I made them, and the first one was for my new little grandson.

 

Pretty unadorned, right? You are seeing the inside of the towel and the front of the hood.

Next up was the baby shower for this same little guy.




You are seeing the towel back this time. Conclusion: hood too big, letters a bit small.

Then I made one for my DD to take for her high school BFF who is expecting a boy.




I thought this one was successful, a better hood, better letters. It's really more teal than in the picture.

Then we went to a little boy's birthday, so I made one for him.

I'm sorry it's such a poor picture. It's a lovely royal blue with a cute print for the letters.
Conclusion: the hood is much too big. Wonder if I can ask for it back to fix it?

Lastly, another baby shower. This towel is microfibre, not cotton toweling.
Pros: beautiful colour, lovely soft feel, doesn't snag
Cons: I'm not sure how well it will dry the baby, we'll have to try one. My sewing machine didn't like it and the applique was more difficult to handle.





I've improved with the font for the letters, and I really like the look of the lower case letters.

As with all things, I improved with practice. If there are more babies, bring it on! I'm on a roll!

Till next time,

Sue

Perennial Pleasures

Hi everyone!

Today is a gorgeous day and I've been out for a walk in the sunshine. Spring may be here at last!

This brings me to the subject of my Whisper Quilt blocks. This was an activity put on by my quilt guild, and it lasts the whole year. Did you ever play that children's game where a message is whispered person to person round a circle, and the last message is so different from the first? Well, the whisper quilt is like that. You get a look at what the person before you has made, and you interpret it in your own way and then show it to the next person on the list.

March was my month. The image I saw was of a bird, a tree and a bird's nest.

It got me thinking of spring and summer days on the deck, and what I like to see and do there.

After a lot of searching I found the Garden Party Blog Hop  hosted last year by Jennifer Ofenstein of Sewhooked.   Jen is such a talented artist of paper pieced blocks, and my Harry Potter Bookshelf is her design.

I found three great blocks among the garden party images, including Jen's own post, Perennial Pleasures, a pot of tulips with a glass of wine. Since my enjoyment of a summer day includes a book, I combined two of Jen's patterns to make the fourth block.




I plan to border the four blocks to make a cushion cover of about 22-24 inches square.



Linking to



Till next time,

Sue

T-shirt Quilt

I can't believe it's a month since I posted. I've certainly been quilting, but there was less time to share about that with the adjustment of having a new baby in the house. Now we're settling down, so back on track.

I've got two main projects on the go right now.

First up is the Harry Potter Bookshelf. Here are a few favourite blocks:

                 

                                     

Actually, I love ALL the blocks! Paper pieced, and great experience. There are only 5 blocks to go, and then I start putting them together.

My other WIP is my son's concert T shirt quilt.

 I admit, I was nervous to cut into these. Some of them are 20 years old, and worn very thin.
 In preparation I read every tutorial I could find.

The center of the quilt is put together now. This was the hard, worrying part, constructing the different shapes and sizes into a large rectangle. Sigh of relief, it worked!  Now it's easier, all the rest of the logos are in 12 1/2 inch blocks surrounding the center. I'm going to sash them in different colours of Sketch. Hope I like the result!


                             

Linking to

Till next time,

Sue

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