Coaching, Round 2

I suppose you've heard the adage "give a man bread, you feed him for a day; teach him to plant, and you feed him for a lifetime?" Well, that principle applies to my learning lately, as I had a second opportunity to visit my friend Terry for further long-arm coaching.

Many of you know that I have been in possession of a long-arm machine for nearly 2 years, yet I have not quilted a single quilt on it. This sad fact has many extenuating explanations, yet truthfully, most of them stem from my own poor excuses and, as one shop-owner/quilter told me, being "chicken."

You can click back here to read about my being gifted the machine from another sweet friend, Sharon O.

Is it becoming apparent that I am surrounded by sweet friends?? I am so blessed by them.

In mid-August, I asked Terry if she would quilt two quilts for me, as I had immediate needs for both, and didn't see myself getting to the point that I could successfully do them on my machine. Instead of offering to quilt them, she offered to teach me how to quilt them. Inspired!! I think she sensed that I was, truly, "chicken" or at least intimidated.

The first quilt was done a week ago, and I haven't fully revealed it yet as it's a wedding gift for my nephew. I wrote about it here.

This week, I quilted a t-shirt quilt that is being raffled to help fund a scholarship sponsored by my DH's fraternity alumni. I shared my shirt-gathering adventures here. Obviously, I don't have to keep this one a secret.

In doing two quilts in two weeks, I have gained such confidence. It definitely has motivated me to do what is necessary to get mine up and running. I have big plans for doing just that, which I will share as it all gets going.

So back to the quilting, I did 'freehand loopy meanders' over the entirety of this quilt. It seemed like a good idea at the beginning to make the quilting dense, but as I neared the end, I was wishing I'd been looser with the stitching, as I ached through the neck and shoulders; I just wanted to be done! It is far from perfect, but for a t-shirt quilt, it is certainly acceptable, and I hope whoever wins this raffle will use it at tailgate parties, picnics, and ballgames at the 'Shoe.

A few blocks were noteworthy. This one had a 3-dimensional rosette attached, so I made sure to stitch around it.

Another shirt was done in pink rather than scarlet; I am assuming it was in conjunction with breast cancer awareness.

I have so appreciated the opportunity Terry afforded me to do this practice quilting on her machine. As I said, it has truly given me the kick in the rear (which I needed!) to begin using my own!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Ohio State T-Shirt Quilt

In between all the fun and games of summer, I have been grabbing some odd moments here and there to stitch. My quilting room productivity has dropped off, but the fun hasn't!

Yesterday I (mostly) finished this t-shirt quilt which is being donated to my DH's fraternity alumni association's scholarship fund. I say mostly finished, because today I will add a small border of the same fabric as the sashing strips.

Over the last several months we have been collecting used t-shirts at Ohio Thrift, Goodwill and other used clothing stores. Most of our finds were red shirts, and we really had to be persistent in order to locate gray, white and black shirts for variety. The very last two we found are in the center of the top row.

This particular block is a design I've never seen before. THE Ohio State University. All Buckeye fans know to emphasize the THE. Interestingly, just last night on the late news, I learned that the university has applied for rights to THE in its marketing. Now I've heard it all. *grin*

With just about all the t-shirt quilts I make, I use a cornerstone block to help keep my grid straight. I did not do that on this quilt, so I have a couple rows that are off a bit; I've been telling myself it's just a t-shirt quilt, and therefore it does not require precision. Still, I regret that I didn't go ahead with the cornerstones. Oh well...

I like the variety of designs we amassed for this quilt. At $2-3 dollars per shirt, we bought 20 total shirts, and used 19 of them. We got lucky when we found one shirt that had a useable front and back. That's rare, believe me.

Now to attach the borders, and set about quilting. I do not know when DH's fraternity plans to raffle this quilt, but I suspect it's soon, so I need to stay on it.

Happy Quilting, Friends!