UFOs and Scrap Redemption

Hello friends. I've been busy doing some quilting for customers, but also some piecing of my own this week. It's hard to believe it's November, and my poor Scrap Redemption list is not any more complete.  What have I been doing??

For starters, I've been cutting out the squares and rectangles for my scrappy Burgoyne Surrounded quilt.

This past weekend I pieced together some sample  blocks that measure 15" square. I put two up on my design wall to see how they will look. The small squares are all 1" finished. The long, narrow strips I have on the sides and bottom are for the sashings, and the ones in the photo aren't finished yet. I think this will look really great as a quilt but it's really a LOT of sewing. I'm piecing the little four- and nine-patches in between my other projects. As Bonnie Hunter would say, I'm doing them as leaders and enders. :)

 My other project, which is ongoing, is string piecing. This is really fun, and what you see spread out upon my floor are a random sampling of 5-1/2" blocks I've sewn to paper foundations. The narrow rectangular blocks on the right are the leftover paper pieces I had after cutting my 5-1/2" foundation squares - they measure 3" x 5-1/2". Many of these are not yet trimmed, but that's something I'll save for another time.

If you're interested, there are a lot of string-piecing tutorials out there on the internet, but really all you need is a foundation, and a short stitch length on your sewing machine...and STRIPS (otherwise knows as "strings") of varying widths. I save strips from trimming backings, and end of yardage, and from random projects, and put them in a box. They're usually pretty narrow or crooked, but it doesn't matter. You get a folksy look from them.

As you can see, I've been playing around with a layout. I think I'll piece these into 15" blocks with a solid center, and maybe with a strippy sashing. The fun part is, I can just let the design take me where it wants to go! Maybe I'll post something from EQ5 to show what it could turn out as.

Hope you are all having a good week. It's raining here in Washington (good sewing weather), I hope the sun finds you out there!

~Jennifer

Catching Up

Last week's quilting:

The first photo is a volunteer quilt for wounded soldiers. I have 3 more to quilt for my friend Paula, who makes many of these quilts for such a good cause!

I quilted a meander in the sashings, with continuous curves in the block triangles, and a small feathered wreath in each block center.

One of my regular customers made this quilt (second photo) out of bright pastel jelly roll strips for a friend's recently adopted daughter. It's such a great strippy pattern. I'm actually cutting out strips to make one of my own.

The quilt is quilted with an simple flower meander in the center, and a wavy flower border. The blue thread looks fantastic on it!

I've also been sewing like mad on my scrap quilts. I started piecing the many small blocks for my Burgoyne Surrounded quilt (one of my goals for the year).

The little squares are all 1" finished, so there is a lot of piecing.  I've got about half the blocks done.

I also finished another Bricks and Stones quilt (see below).

I pieced the back like a large log cabin block with a 12" star in the center. It turned out great, it was easy to measure and plan, and I was able to use up a lot of random fabrics in it.

I've completed two more feathered star quilt blocks (the Serenity fabrics look wonderful) so now I'm debating whether to make the quilt with 5 blocks set on point, or make 4 more blocks and set the blocks 3 x 3.

I ordered more Serenity fabrics on the bolt, and they'll arrive this week.

I've also found some new (old) quilt patterns in some magazines that my friend Laura passed on to me - I find it interesting that some quilt magazines, depending on the issue, can have a lot of useful patterns, and sometimes they don't have anything inspiring! I wonder why that is...

I hope October finds all my sewing friends well, warm and cozy! Now I'm off to quilt!!

Another Award - Kreativ Blogger - Thanks M!

My blogger friend, Aunt Pitty Pat, nominated me for another blog award. Thanks so much, M - I'm in awe of your generosity! Aunt Pitty Pat deserves this award too, since she does a lot of creative projects, including Aprons, dolls, and bags and such. I'm a bit jealous, I need to take some of my sewing time and do craft projects and not always focus on quilting!

So, with this award, I have to name 7 things about myself that no one would really know. Well, to keep it honest, there are more than 7 things, but I'll be good, I promise. :) So, that said, here are 7 things you don't know about me:

1. I have a twin brother, who lives in North Carolina. He's a freight pilot for UPS and works for the FAA, and I love him very much.

2. I played Mammy Yokum in the "L'il Abner" musical in my high school, oh, 30 years ago. While I can sing, I just wasn't a match for the leading gal. That's the gypsy in me.

3. I'm not so sure I'm afraid of anything, except being called to the principal's office on Judgement Day.

4. My favorite holiday is the 4th of July. I just love to watch fireworks.

5. Someday, I will enter a quilt in a quilt show and win a ribbon.

6. I commute to my corporate job 2 hours each way, Monday thru Friday.

7. I love to read and write, and someday will publish a compilation of short stories for my family. (Maybe including "The Dead Man's Quilt." Stay tuned.)

I'll post the 7 blog sites that I've nominated for this award in tomorrow's post.

Thanks again, Aunt Pitty Pat!

Feathered Star Marathon - Not Done Yet!

I've begun a Feathered Star Marathon...let's see, a real, running marathon is about 26 miles and 385 yards. That's probably a good estimation of how much I have in my fabric stash...or so my husband would think!

If you don't know the history of the marathon, the event was named after a (theoretical) run of a Greek soldier from the Battle of Marathon to Athens.

I'd like to think that the quilter's marathon is an event named after a mad quilter-woman who, after eating a hearty breakfast and on her third cup of coffee, breaks into the piecing rhythm of a long, drawn out cutting and sewing stint. Could last several hours, or most likely span a couple of days! (In my case, it takes 2 hours to complete each feathered star block, so I can do the math that way...if I want to keep track.)

In early September, I made a trip to EE Schenck's in Portland, OR to their bi-annual Trends trade show. My friend Laura came along, and we had a fun time looking at all the new fabrics coming out this fall, new gadgets, and new gift items. And, of course, I didn't leave empty handed.

One of my impulse purchases was a 37 fat quarter pack of the Daiwabo Serenity collection. Like, I needed it! But the fabric colors and patterns are beautiful.


So, I've finished 3 radiant feathered star blocks for a 9-block quilt. They are turning out wonderful! I'm usually more interested in piecing scrappy ones, like that you see in the second photo. I was working from my stash of feathered star components and almost completed the scrappy one - the bottom row isn't done - the two corner units are still being pieced.

You can really make these stars out of any fabric and they will look great!

So, maybe I'll calculate how many 72-piece stars I'll have to make in order to call it a true marathon. Or, like I said, maybe just calculate the hours...those 72 pieces can really add up!

Innovations - Machine Quilters Conference

A few weeks ago, I went with my cousin and aunt (who were visiting me from Portland, Maine) to see the quilt show at the annual Innovations Machine Quilters Conference in downtown Tacoma.

And, all I could say, in awe, was a sheepish, "wow!" when I saw all the machine quilting talent out there. This show includes any type of machine quilting - from your small domestic machine, to short-arm, mid-arm and longarm quilting.

Unfortunately, not all my photos came out well - some were a bit fuzzy. I tried to capture some of the quilting techniques and patterns these women had used on their quilts.

The one photo I wished had been better was the first prize quilt...it had a lot of micro-stippling, it was really heavily quilted, all on a small sewing machine. Kudos to that quilter!



The first photo of the elephants was really fun. You may not be able to see the detail, but the quilter quilted all the skin wrinkles, so it looked like real elephant hide.

This second photo was just a snapshot from a larger mariner's compass quilt, but I loved how she quilted the koi on the batiks. What a cool fish pattern!

The third photo is of a different mariner's compass quilt. I was trying to capture how the quilter quilted inside the compass. I've seen similar techniques before, but she did a wonderful job on her quilt.


The last two photos show beautiful quilting. The star quilt, based on a Jinny Beyer pattern, has wonderful feathering in the white spaces. I'm totally jealous. I like to do feathers, but - wow!

And the last quilt with the coffee cup fabric was just really neat. Again, there's gorgeous feathering, and if you look closely, coffee cups are quilted in the red space too.

My cousin has a Nolting longarm, one size up from my Proto. We were both taking mental notes of how we could incorporate some of these quilting styles into our own quilts.

I hope you enjoy these snippets of the show as much as I did in person!

Will Catch up on Posts this Weekend!

Sorry my blog friends, I was so busy September that I hardly posted at all, but I've got a lot to share - photos from the Innovations Machine Quilting show, of some of the projects I'm working on, some quilting for donation quilts. I've been working!

Hope everyone is enjoying the weekend!

Bricks and Stepping Stones Quilt

On Saturday, I finished piecing up the Bricks & Stepping Stones quilt I was working on for our guest bedroom. It's a quick-sew pattern from Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville website.

Over the course of the last 2 weeks I've been sewing in 30 minute segments, but this is a quilt that can easily be sewn up in a day if you set aside some dedicated sewing time. :0)

You can see the pattern here.

On Sunday I quilted it with an allover teardrop design. You might be able to see the quilting on the front and back. I was going to piece the backing with a neat design using the same fabrics but my husband thought the quilt was too dark overall, so I used some Thimbleberries backing I have instead.

This was one project I wanted to sew up to reduce all the random fabrics and strips I had that were taking up valuable space. Since I didn't have any other projects in mind for them, they went willingly into this quilt, and I think the result was great!


Bonnie's pattern calls for an 8 x 7 layout (the blocks measure 6" x 9", but I like a stouter look so my quilt is a 9 x 7 layout. It measures around 68" x 78"... a decent sized twin.

The border fabric I purchased many years ago, I think when a JoAnns store was going out of business. I have several yards of it, so this was a good place to use it.

I've already cut out the bricks for another quilt, and have them tucked into a bin for another rainy day. Some of the four-patch blocks are finished, and a couple of strips are sewn to make more.

Bonnie has some other fun quilt patterns on her site for free. I like to go there and be inspired!

Friday Quilting - Melody's Baby Quilts

Ok, I have to admit, I've spent my holiday weekend sewing again!

To start it off, my friend Melody came over on Friday evening to sew and spend some time catching up on our everyday lives. A small group of us has tried to meet on the first Friday of each month this year, but the summer was hit and miss since we were all busy with family and vacations. Mel will return to teaching this week so this was her last good Friday to spend sewing.

She brought 3 wonderful baby quilts to show and tell. They are adorable. She likes to make them and give them away to all the new moms she meets while teaching. What lucky moms!

I love the quick to sew nine-patches and snowball blocks she used in two of her quilts. The first photo I can see star blocks that have emerged as the design was put together.

The second quilt with the dogs is super cute. Melody bought most of this fabric (if not all!) on our return trip from the Sisters Quilt show. It turned out great. You might not be able to see it but she used this neat red plaid as the border fabric. She does all the quilting herself.


The last quilt she used a fun and colorful tropical fish fabric. I previously decided to do a scrap cutting marathon this holiday weekend and have a lot of novelty fabrics - so I decided to cut them into 6-1/2" squares so I can make similar quilts, too.


My problem is that I never seem to have the right coordinating fabrics to go along with all these novelties, so it gives me an excuse to go out fabric shopping.

I do make several I-spy quilts, which also use the 6-1/2" blocks. That's my back up plan I guess.

It has been raining off and on for the past few days so I continued sewing all day Saturday. My hubby was good enough to not complain about the huge mess I was making, in the effort to reduce my stash!



I hope everyone enjoyed a safe and restful weekend. Back to work in the morning for me!

Bella Sinclair Award Recipient

I logged on this evening to find a nice comment and an award given to me from my blogger friend, Aunt Pitty Pat!

Otherwise called "M" in my book, Aunt Pitty Pat is so creative, and makes wonderful dolls and aprons and posts the most yummy recipes, and hosts fun swaps . I'm honored that you thought of me and passed along this award. Thanks very much for the shout out!

The Bella Sinclair Award was created by Ces and you can view the background on her art blog, Ces And Her Dishes.

The award celebrates art in blogs and honors the value of friendship, sisterhood, sharing & caring. Ces named the award after Bella because she epitomizes all these things. You need to read the blog to fully grasp how wonderful this is, and what an honor to receive it from a blogger friend/sister.


Thanks, Ces, for creating such an award, and to all of you out there that will pass this award on to others, to spread friendship, sisterhood and the rest.

Quilt Layout for the Disappearing 9-Patch Swap

I have to post about all the wonderful disappearing 9-patch blocks I received from Aunt Pitty Pat's block swap. They are great. Photos just don't do them justice but you can get an idea of all the different colors I have to work with now that they've arrived.

As I was looking through them I found several fabrics that I have in my own stash!

Of course, I've played with EQ5 and have come up with a quilt layout for these blocks. I'm going to combine 4 blocks to make 1 larger block, and have shown 12 large blocks in the quilt layout below to get a decent sized quilt. You can't make 12 large blocks from the 40 9-patch blocks (you can only get 10), so I'm going to sew 8 additional disappearing 9-patches to make 2 additional big blocks you see in the pattern.



Making larger blocks and adding sashing and a border allows for an ample-sized lap size quilt (around 53" x 68"). We like to cuddle under them during the winter months while watching TV and I have several lap quilts on the couch.

Here I've shown 4 of the disappearing 9-patch blocks set together with the small squares touching in the center to make one large block.

I've laid out the large quilt blocks in 4 rows of 3 blocks each. I'll add 2" sashings with some scrappy corner blocks to pull in all the colors. Here's where I can use some of the matching fabrics from my stash.

I'm going to keep the background fabrics for the sashing and outer border as one fabric so that the eye has somewhere to rest. There's a lot of color in this quilt!

The outer border is 5" with scrappy corner blocks. Then, I may use flannel as the backing fabric, or perhaps do something like Bonnie Hunter would do - piece together a scrappy back too!

I like how this looks for now. It does require a little more sewing, but I'm up for that. It will be great to think about all the bloggie friends who joined in on the swap when I'm enjoying the finished quilt!

If you have ideas of how you'll be using these blocks, I'd love to hear how you've sewn them into quilts!

Vacationing and Loving It

Ah, summer vacation. I am enjoying 2 weeks off from my corporate job to spend time with my hubby, daughter and my family in New York!

My dad just turned 80 years young this week, and I flew to NY for a few days to surprise my parents (they didn't know I was coming) and to hand-deliver their birthday cards (my mom's birthday was on July 25). I have 6 siblings, and we were all there to enjoy a BBQ except for my brother Eric.

My family is very artistic - my dad is an award-winning woodcarver and instructor who retired from NY state as an Environmental Conservation Officer. He also participates in the Senior Olympics in Archery - he's won several gold and silver medals. My brother Eric paints with oils; my mom paints and quilts; my sister is an interior decorator and makes draperies and she does upholstery; I could go on and on. When we get together, we laugh and joke and have a wonderful time.

While I was at my parents, I took some time to take a couple photos of my mom's quilts that she took out to keep us warm at night. The temperature dropped to 48 degrees F on Saturday - a record breaker for the lows in their area.

The first photo is that of a kaliedoscope scrap quilt my mom did in blues. I remember seeing these blocks on her design wall a couple of years ago when she was planning how to sew them together. I just love it, and I'm thinking I want to make a similar one when I can get to it.

The second photo of the brown and tan quilt is one I quilted for her. It's a throw size and I'm not sure what the block pattern is. They are freeform, curvy half-square triangles. I had fun "practicing" the feathers on this one. Bless my mom, she lets me play with her quilt tops.

The last photo shows only a block of a twin size quilt - the original photo of the whole quilt was taken in way too much light and doesn't do the quilt justice so I didn't post it here. She made the quilt with all flannel prints and the quilt is so soft and warm! (I used this one! :o))


My mom couldn't remember where she got the pattern from. The block is stitched to a muslin foundation and is similar to a log cabin block. All the middle triangles were black and the "logs" were all different widths. The sashing was only about an inch wide and was black. This could be a good block design for the men's shirts.

I'm home for a short interim, and then off to the Pacific ocean to enjoy another weekend before heading back to work. When we got back this morning I had two nice packages waiting for me when we got home - one is the disappearing 9-patch blocks from Aunt Pitty Pat's block swap (they are totally wonderful!) and the other was a strippy, scrappy pillow cover my mom sent to me that uses the button placket from a men's shirt to make the flap in the back. I'll post a separate entry for those. Sometimes I'm blown away by all the talent out there.

Happy sewing, all!

New Border for Feathered Star Quilt

Here's another design option for the border for the feathered star quilt I'm making out of the men's shirts. I was looking through "Pieced Borders, The Complete Resource" by Judy Martin and Marsha McCloskey for something with a little more "wow" factor than the plain plaid border in my earlier post.

This is called the "Big & Little Zigzag" border. The image shows it in all one blue, but in reality the border will be a mix of blues. And maybe not red for the little triangles, but that's the fun with envisioning it ahead of time. I might choose to do those in browns, or maybe greens.

I started on feathered star block #2 today, before it got too hot to iron the small pieces. I'll post a pic of the new block when it's all done.

Staying Cool with Swatches

Whew! Outside temperature here in Spanaway, WA was over 90 degrees today. I hope all of you out there in blogland are staying cool!

I wasn't venturing outside if I could help it, so I decided to spend some time cutting and gluing shirt swatches to some cardstock. This was another great idea from Laura (thanks, Laura!!), who still has more shirts in her stash! These three 8-1/2 x 11" sheets show 58 shirt swatches (if you count the little neutrals on the side).

I didn't really put a lot of planning into how these were put onto the cardstock - I'm sure Jinny Beyer would have been better at making the colors flow wonderfully from one to the next. I just wanted the ability to grab a card if I'm shirt shopping to be sure I'm getting colors that are new.

I was using Elmer's glue to secure these swatches, so you might notice the glue spots that hadn't dried yet on the fabric. I still have the neutrals to lay out, and there are more shirts to come. I'm going to slide these into sheet protectors and keep them handy in the car for those unexpected thrift store retail therapy sessions! :)

Disappearing 9-Patches on Their Way

I had a lot of fun sewing up the disappearing 9-patch blocks for Aunt Pitty Pat's swap. Here is a photo of them before I mailed them off.

I used a Moda charm pack (I think it was called Recess, but could have been something else) for some of the blocks, and some fabrics from the Bees Knees line from Maywood Studio. A few 30-ish repro prints were used to spread out the cheer.

I can't wait to see all the blocks in person that APP has been receiving and posting on her blog.

I may actually use a different layout than the standard given in the tutorial. I quilted a customer quilt who used this technique and then set the blocks with a sashing. It was really wonderful in Mary Englebreit prints. I'm going to play around w/ EQ5 and see what I can come up with. :)

Shirt Quilt Round One

Okay, so here's the plan I have for the shirts Laura and I collected to save into quilts. The first quilt will be made with my favorite block, the feathered Radiant Star!

I have made so many of these blocks in the past I can make them in my sleep. I decided that shirts, while humble, can still be recycled into something great - like be in a quilt like this! What do you think? Will it work?

To try it out, I had to make a sample block. I can make one block from scratch in 2 hours - now granted, I'm pretty quick at these because I like them so much and have made probably 50 in the past 2 years.

So, I took 3 shirts I liked (teal, rusty orange and yellow). I cut and pieced them into a wonderful block. But I wasn't too sure if I liked the end result. My mind was expecting more "scrappy" than "planned" but I was planning the colors.

And, using muslin as the background. I'm not sure I like the muslin by itself. Maybe need to use one of the neutral shirts we picked out. But I need to be careful not to have too much pattern - the eye needs a place to rest!


It took me a long time to get the block created in EQ5 for the quilt layout above. The EQ5 file is so complex that Internet Explorer kept closing the program on me. After several attempts I was able to finish a block drawing to make the quilt layout. My block sample is based on a 15" feathered Radiant Star, while the EQ5 quilt has 18.5" blocks.

I'm still debating on the right sashing for this quilt. I am thinking of using either flying geese blocks, hanging diamonds or squares, or leaving it as shown with Ohio Star blocks set in the sashing.
I told my friend Laura that one block didn't even make a dent in the 3 fabrics from these shirts so there is plenty of fabric left for the second (and third!) projects... Second quilt planned is a Burgoyne Surrounded. Third project is still to be determined!

Since I've recently finished up my other projects, it's off to the cutting board for feathered star #2!

Veggie Quilting

My customer, Jada, made this bright and vibrant garden quilt for one of her co-workers who is retiring.

What a wonderful use of color! There are so many wonderful prints in this lap size quilt.

I was lucky enough to quilt it for her. When I saw it I immediately knew I wanted to do an allover veggie quilting design. Well, not all veggies because there are a few apples, peaches, pears and strawberries thrown in for good measure.

The first photo is the top after quilting.




The second photo is the back of the quilt. (Sorry, the photo came out a little fuzzy.) Jada decided to use a solid green as the backing to better showcase the quilting design.

We used a wonderful variegated thread from King Tut and the quilting was inspired by Laura Lee Fritz. She has a couple of books on her technique and she does fantastic freehand quilting. I have used her ideas as starting points for a lot of quilting.

I kept thinking as I was quilting along - "Wow, I'm having a quiltin' V-8!" :D

Sisters Quilt Show (and Some Fun Shoes!)

I had a lot of fun visiting the Sisters Quilt Show in Sisters, OR last weekend with my friends Laura and Mel. There were a lot of people there, and it was a lot of walking. My friend Melody saw John Flynn but we didn't see any other "celebrities."

I know some folks took oodles of photos and there were so many quilts to see. Here are some photos of the quilts we saw. I wanted to post pics of the ones that were the most interesting to me personally.

The Snail Trail quilts in the first photo were really neat. I particularly like the scrappy ones, but the planned colorways are nice too. I have the Snail Trail as a To-Do quilt this year. (I'm not sure I'll get there, though, because it's almost August already! I have a great pattern in one of Marsha McCloskey's books for a scrappy one.



This second photo is the side of the Stitchin' Post. I liked how they hung the quilts all the way up to the roofline. My friend Laura brought binoculars in case there were some too far up, but we didn't actually use them at all.

We went into the Stitchin' Post to check it out but didn't score any really great deals. However, I picked up a Dear Jane software pack for my EQ5 and hope it will help me make those tricky little blocks in the quilt. Hm - I need to get the software loaded in order to use it! LOL

The third photo is a very nice quilt made from, you guessed it! Shirts. This quilter was inspired by Bonnie Hunter's approach of using recycled shirts. I liked the scrappy (yet planned) look. I'm not sure if she sewed these blocks on a foundation or not, but it would be a nice quick way to make blocks. Laura and I noted it as a possible pattern for all those shirts we have.

We stayed in a hotel in Bend and when we arrived Friday afternoon, the 4th photo shows what was waiting for us!

We thought, OMGosh - is this from the hotel front desk?

Laura's mom Ellie met us at the hotel because she was taking Laura's daughter for the week. She lives outside of Medford, OR where the Harry & David complex is. So, she surprised us with this huge gift basket - it had chocolates, crackers, Moose Munch, smoked salmon, a basketful of goodies to eat all weekend!





We didn't really make a dent in the basket of goodies though. My favorite was the peppermint malted milk balls. Yummy!

It was really so sweet. There were cold beverages and handmade snacks too. Ellie had thought of everything!


The last photo is kind of fun. I went to Sisters and I only saw "THESE SHOES" - just kidding, but I couldn't resist taking a picture of these funky, sparkly shoes in a consignment shop there.





I don't think a true gypsy would wear these as they're not practical at all, but like a crow thats disposed to bright and shiny objects, I took the photo so I could remember them...I wouldn't have bought them. (1) they were too large for my feet and (2) I have nothing in my wardrobe that would match! :)

During our trip, we made some pit stops at thrift shops and quilt stores. Scored more shirts and fabrics. All in all, it was a fun, memorable time and we're planning to go again in 2010.

We're going to make quilts to enter next year and we've already brainstormed a couple of patterns. But that update will have to be in another post. Can't spoil the surprise!

Hope everyone is staying cool this month! We've been hotter than New York City this July...now that's saying something for the Pacific NW!

Craft Hope Quilts Ready to Mail

Here are the finished quilts I made for Craft Hope's Project #3. I would have made more, but with the upcoming Sisters Quilt Show trip and the deadling for Craft Hope to receive by July 25 I wouldn't have made it!

2 of these quilts were made using the I-Spy pattern that I provide on my blog. The middle quilt was made with brights to use up some of the fabric I scored at our thrift store shopping. They all turned out wonderful and fun!

I ended up using a very thin Warm & Natural batting for these quilts. Flannel was too thin for my taste, and I was able to quilt them with freehand loops on my longarm machine. I know they will be cherished and I was happy to contribute!

Can You Say "Shirtzapalooza?"

There was only two of us last night, but my friend Laura and I had a few hours of fun cutting up some of the shirts we scored last weekend (and on some other thrift store trips). I had to take a photo of Laura's shirts - she had a total of 25!

We started cutting them apart and found that it's not as quick a process as we assumed. There's yokes and bulky seams. There's sleeves with inserts (never seen that before). There's different cuffs and button plackets.

We're saving the shirt tags to add to the back of the quilt (or quilts, since I think we have enough fabric to make at least 3!) and the buttons.

Some of the shirts have great pockets that will also be saved for the back. They'll be great to put notes in about the quilt when it's finished. One of Laura's shirts had the coolest flap pocket (it's a
Levi's shirt) and will be a fun addition to the back of one of her quilts. Two I saved have velcro flaps.

Another shirt gave us over 2 yards of fabric. I took a picture of my daughter in it - XXXXL. She's a size 0.

After taking the shirts apart, next will be to separate the fabrics into light and dark values. Laura has some wonderful red and brown plaids and terrific teal blue shirts. The shirts I found were more muted, so they all complement each other.

We decided on a pattern from a quilt magazine (sorry, I don't remember which magazine) but it's a nice nine-patch and split rail variation. I'll see if I can replicate it in EQ5. It gives us a good start for cutting pieces out of the shirts and for planning on how to sew all these plaids and stripes together.

We didn't get to all the shirts - after a few hours I'm not sure we even got to half of them. Who knew it would take as long? But I'm excited to keep going.

I have other projects in the works this weekend. I'll post another update tomorrow.

Happy and safe holiday to everyone!

Thrift Store Bonanza: Shirts, fabrics & ribbons Oh My!

Yesterday wasn't my official Thrift Store Shop Hop with friends, but Laura and I decided to hit the thrift stores in search of some true fabric bargains, and of course, shirts! We had a lot of fun and found some really great stuff. There's nothing better than a little "retail therapy" with a friend who also likes to quilt!

So here's the real scoop.

Shirts: At the shops we visited I found 5 good men's shirts, ranging from size L to XXL Tall. Most of the shirts are short sleeved so that means the yardage is less, but I estimate a yield of at least 4 yards of usable fabric from them. This time I was smart enough to take a "BC" photo of this pile. That's "Before Cutting." :o)

I'm still debating which pattern to use for my first recycle quilt (maybe I should call them my re-psych-ulled quilts). If not one out of Bonnie Hunter's book, I could also use some of the shirting fabrics for a Snowball Strip quilt from the "101 Fabulous Rotary-Cut Quilts" by Judy Hopkins and Nancy Martin. That's super easy and would look great.

Now for yardage goods: At the pound Goodwill (they charge by the weight and not by the individual item) I found 7+ yards of fabric plus 2 spools of ribbon. I will use the brights in kid's quilts, some of the civil war repro-looking fabrics into my "Dear Jenn" quilt and the other 30's repro into my WIP (work-in-progress) buzz saw. Laura and I will split the Mary Englebreight fabrics since we both have projects to use them in.

All of this (shirts and fabric) for less than $1.70 a yard. Now that is what I call a bargain!

Speaking of splitting fabrics and re-psych-uling, Laura found a huge lot of Debbie Mumm fabrics at Goodwill last year and kindly split them with me. We decided to make a quilt called "Shimmer" which is a pattern in American Patchwork & Quilting magazine, Feb '04 issue, using only the fabrics in that lot. Blues, greens, browns, reds and creamy tans. Oh how I love a challenge. The example of the blue and yellow Shimmer quilt below is from another quilter's website, neither sewn nor quilted by me but it looks really nice. The Debbie Mumm fabrics are darker, so it will be a totally different look for Laura's and my quilt.

This is not a quick quilt as there are a lot of pieces to cut and sew. The small star blocks are 6" but then sewn into a larger block. The overall block size is 19" once the small and large star units are sewn together.

I cut most of the pieces out last fall (644 without the borders!) and had sewn a couple of sample blocks and most of the small star segments. Last night I pieced together more of the units and you can see a few of the block A and block B completed. These are the small star blocks that measure 8-1/2" square.

I store this project in a nice, flat, clear plastic case so I can keep the pattern, acrylic templates and fabrics together. It's easy to grab and sew a few before I have to pack it up and put it away for another time. I don't have a dedicated place for my sewing machine, so all piecework is done at my kitchen table and we DO have to eat. Some quilters would beg to differ though. :o)



It would be great to have more of this completed before heading down to the Sister's Quilt Show in Oregon in 2 weeks, but I doubt I will be much farther than completing all the block A and Bs.

What will I back it with? Some of these fabrics are border prints, so if I don't use them for the borders on the front, I can definitely figure out how to show their full potential on the back. Also, Laura had found me a huge piece of red print fabric to use as backing on the red & cream quilt, but since I used the toile on that other quilt, I have another big piece that will go great with this quilt.

Now it's off to do other things for the day! Happy thrifting!

Another Easy Baby Quilt Pattern - For Craft Hope

Ah, my virtual blogger friend Aunt Pitty Pat posted a blog about Crafthope.com.

"Craft Hope is a faith-based, love inspired project designed to share handmade crafts with those less fortunate. " Just reading their updates shows their past project work has been pretty inspiring.

Craft Hope has a new project where they are partnering with the Miracle Foundation to supply blankets, booties and beanie caps for babies, and these items will be going to India.

I work in Seattle with several people from India, and after finding this site, am compelled to use some of my pre-cut I-Spy blocks for another great cause and make some quick baby quilts.

I've posted another free pattern (Small I-Spy Patch Quilt) on my side panel on my blog for those who need a quick and easy pattern to make a small quilt for a loved one or to donate. (The pattern assumes you have general quilting and sewing skills.)

I-Spy blocks are easy to collect...you can easily alter the pattern to accommodate charm squares too. Check out your local quilt or fabric shop (or e-Bay) for I-Spy fabric deals. I have a LOT of novelty fabric I can use up for these. If you use my pattern, please only use it for personal or donation use. And, if you have comments about the instructions, I'm happy to hear how the pattern worked out for you.

Here's a small I-Spy I sewed up just this morning using the pattern instructions. I didn't have enough bright orange like in the image above, so used a lime green and the blue and green polka dot fabric. It turned out so cute. Now because these are going to India, I'm going to use plain white baby flannel as the batting.

Feel free to check out Craft Hopes site and thanks to Aunt Pitty Pat for finding this link and sharing it! I'll post more photos of finished I-Spy quilts for the project.

Happy sewing and crafting!

Disappearing 9-Patch Swap

I joined another block swap recently on Aunt Pitty Pat's blog for the Disappearing 9-patch blocks. I've made these up before, they are quick to sew and turn into a quilt top.

This example, that has been waiting in my UFO bin, used three 9-patch blocks, cut into quarters and then back sewn together. The fabrics were a charm pack of Moda's "Recess" fabric line. It looks rather kitschy and retro. The size is great as a table topper, although I was thinking small baby quilt...this was just not the right look for that. I haven't decided what fabric to use for backing, so I haven't gotten to the point of quilting it. I was thinking plain muslin, which would probably be fine, but I don't use that for backings very often. I think I'll quilt it rather simply - stitch in the ditch and echo quilting in the squares and rectangles. And maybe a heart thrown in during a serendipitous moment. :o)

This is the tutorial that we are following to make the blocks.

Aunt Pitty Pat's swap will be fun and it will be great to see all the blocks that come in!

That's it for now - happy sewing!

Save the Shirts - T-shirt delivery!

Wow! The t-shirt sample I ordered earlier this week from Zazzle.com arrived today! I'm pretty impressed with how the logo came out - nice and clear. It's really fun. I'm not so sure about the placement, but this is a men's medium t-shirt, so I may have to deal with it. I had to try it on right away. Maybe I'll order a woman's tee for a sample, which would better compensate for my front. :o)

The printing on the back is also bigger than I expected, but that's what you get when you're not really sure by looking at the text placement online. It definitely makes a statement (and not the best photo of my back, of course...)

I had my in-laws visiting this week for my daughter's high school graduation, so I showed them the red & cream quilt and explained how the binding gets attached. For most quilts I do a french-fold binding. You can see that they look very serious about what they're hearing!

I'll finish the binding this weekend so the quilt will be off my to-do list. I'd also like to start sewing up a canvas curtain to attach to the edge of my longarm table (this will help keep some of my storage units and bins out of view. I think I may need to make a trip to Joann's to get some denim needles - I'm not sure I have any! But there's always another excuse to go browse the fabric stores if I did!