Making T-Shirt Quilts

My summer began with 4 commissions to make. The first to be checked off the list was the baby quilt for young mom Molly and her little Ella. Next, was the beast, aka Elisa's king-size original.

Now I am at work trying to finish up the remaining two - both t-shirt quilts. While I normally would work on one to finish, and then begin the other, since they are the same design with the same construction steps, I am working assembly-line style. Below are stacks of cut shirts.

1. Cut out shirt fronts - and sometimes backs, too - at 15" square.
2. Cut 15" squares from lightweight fusible interfacing.
3. Iron interfacing to backs of shirt squares.
4. Layout shirts in pleasingly random fashion, distributing color evenly.
5. Determine the color of the fabric to use for sashing, borders and backing.
6. Shop for sashing, borders and backing fabric.

And that is where today's post comes into play. I contacted the clients for each quilt to see if a particular color was important and/or desired. This varies widely with every single person, so I never presume to press my preferences on them. Generally, people go with a favorite color, or a school color, or a particular "look." This has never resulted in an ugly quilt, in my opinion, so as far as t-shirts go, anything works.

One customer requested green, and sent two color swatches to show me the right shading. The varieties in this picture were all I could find in the correct range, and these had enough yardage for the purpose at hand. We ended up selecting the next-to-last fabric in this grouping.

For this green quilt, I have cut the sashing strips and have sewn the horizontal rows; I have a start on attaching the rows, too. I could have the top center finished in short order. It will be ready for the quilter very, very soon.

The other customer requested orange for the sashing, borders and backing. Even being October, I had a hard time finding a lot of variety in orange. (Maybe because it's October, the selection was limited.) I don't know. Anyway. I bought the two fabrics above. Neither had the yardage needed for the whole job, but I thought I could use the mosaic-looking piece for the sashing and borders, and use the little print for the backing. That is my current plan anyway.

This second quilt will be much larger than the first. One will have 16 blocks (set 4x4); the other will have 25 blocks (set 5x5). This difference doesn't seem like it would be that significant, but it is. My sashing strips are 2" (finish at 1.5") for the green quilt. I have not yet cut the strips for the orange - and I may go narrower simply to keep the size manageable.

The remaining steps for the list I began above are:
7. Cut sashing strips and attach forming rows.
8. Attach long sashing strips between rows and create the quilt center.
9. Measure, cut and attach borders.
10. Prep backing.
11. Take top, batting and backing to quilter.
12. When quilted, cut and attach binding.
13. Deliver finished quilt to client.

In news on other projects, I have quilted on Erin's Diamonds for a total of about 4 hours. It seems to have barely made a dent, so I need to pick up the pace.

I have enjoyed quilting this, and even though I have a whole lotta' quilting ahead of me, it will be fun to see it finishing so prettily.

The sewing room straightening and sorting continues. DH's painting continues. We have our DD1's cat Rocky here for a week's stay. And our DS Adam is home for a few weeks from his job in Oregon! We were expecting his return, but this early arrival surprised us just a bit.

With all of this going on, maintaining my focus on cleaning and quilting is sometimes harder than you think! *wink*

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Erin's Diamonds - Quilting Has Begun

In the midst of great upheaval here at the homestead, I have managed to finally take a few stitches in Erin's Diamonds.

The stitching should go quickly, as Erin wants big stitches in straight outlines around all the diamonds. The thread is pearl cotton in red, and will look spectacular when finished, no doubt.

Yes, I did mention upheaval in my intro. It's not bad or catastrophic; just normal stuff going on. You heard about the big sewing room make-over from a week ago. I am still trying to put things right, and will need several more days to make a significant difference.

On top of that, the entire downstairs is in the process of getting painted. That is formal dining room, front room, hallway, and main living area (kitchen, everyday dining and family room). This has led to almost everything being displaced. We have stuff everywhere. We decided that the antique quilt frame which had been set up in the front room would be in the way, so it has now been moved to the everyday dining area (see picture above). So where do we move the table? Into the family room. So where do we move the chest which serves as a coffee table? Screened porch. Where do we put all these excess chairs and bar stools? Basement. Where do we put all the pictures and knickknacks from shelves and walls? Piled on the front room sofa. Or kitchen counter. Or stacked on other furniture.

It's total chaos, let me tell you.

In a month's time, I hope I am back with new pictures of a house returned to some semblance of normalcy. In the meantime, while DH paints, I will quilt.

With a quilt as gorgeous as this, I can enjoy some calm in the midst of the chaos. And that is exactly what I plan to do.

I will be linking up with Slow Stitching Sunday today.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Could You Help Me, Please?

I need your help. I know first hand that quilters are some of the most giving of helpers, so I'm counting on you!

A Blog List is a list of blogs I follow regularly and should appear in the right-hand column (web version). Awhile back, and I can't even say when, my Blog List disappeared. I do not remember the last time I saw it, and when I realized it was gone, it surprised me because I didn't remove it intentionally.

I have recreated the list by using some of the most recent commenters and from my browser history. There are many more that I've lost.

And this is where I could use your help. If you have a blog you love to follow, send me a comment or some other form of a message, and I will get to work trying to rebuild my list.

Just to make sure a pretty quilt picture appears in today's more business-like post, how about having a look at an oldie. This is one of the first quilts I made after I retired. It might very well get sent off to be quilted in the very near future. The pattern is, what else, Thimbleberries. I enlarged it by one row in both directions, so this is quite a big quilt. Those plain setting squares seem to invite a pretty hand-quilted wreath or feather, but it is highly unlikely that I will get into that anytime soon. Long-arm is more likely.

Short and sweet for today, folks!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Quilt-marking Issues

Currently, I have three hand-quilting projects started. One is Erin's Diamonds which is in the big antique frame that was my grandmother's. The other two are more portable as they were prepared for demonstrating at History Day last Saturday.

I'd meant to spend most of my day working on Antique Nine Patches, yet I faced an unexpected dilemma that thwarted my intentions. The graphite marking pencil that I'd taken to mark the quilt created such a smeary mess that I didn't dare go on for fear of permanently staining it.

Perhaps these two pictures show well enough the smearing that resulted after quilting just this tiny little bit. I knew that I could wash the quilt, but what if the graphite permanently discolors the quilt? It will be quite awhile before I finish this, and consequently before I launder it, so I just thought it best to quilt on the other project, and re-think the marking technique/medium for this quilt.

I thought this template worked well for the space I want to to fill. Normally, I am not a fussy quilter - I do lots of straight things, in other words. Doing this curvy design will test me.

I shopped at JoAnn Fabrics yesterday, looking for backing and border fabric for the two commissioned t-shirt quilts I'm working on. While I was there, I checked out all the marking tools and found one pen that has two tips - one end is disappearing ink, the other is water-soluble. I bought it, and will try it out soon.

Another thing I found was my favorite type of thimble, which made me supremely happy!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Massive Room Re-Do

I will not even pretend to be embarrassed by the pictures you will see in this post. The mess that is my sewing room has gotten out of control, and when a table that once served as my husband's desk became available, it was time to get to work. Friday was the day of reckoning - we attempted to tame the mess.

This is as close as I can provide of a "before" picture. That square dent in the carpet is where the former cutting table was located. It was two bookcases situated back to back with a cutting board and matt on top. The bookcase was filled with books and patterns and files. Those contents are stacked, along with some other debris, around the room in order to make room for the big table.

 Example of the aforementioned stacked "debris."

Just in case you'd like to see it all from another angle, have a look. One really ought to be embarrassed by such pictures. I make no apologies, however. It's been working for me, and that's all I need to say about that.

Ahh, the large table! It is an Ikea model purchased just after I retired for two desktop computers, mine and my husband's. Soon, though, I had a laptop that I preferred, and just this summer, DH got a laptop. Consequently, the desk was available. The legs of the table adjust to different heights, but even so, I needed to put it on risers.

Getting the table up the steps and into the room was a huge job for the two of us, but we did it. And then began the task of putting the room back together. All the project tubs are under the table. Most are labeled and will be easy to access.

Of course, one thing leads to another, and before I knew it I was moving shelves and dressers and chairs. It is still not done, but I'm getting there.

This is the closest to what I have currently done. You can see that some major moving took place, most specifically, the brown dresser went from the side of the room to the end of the room. This allows more space for moving around the cutting table.

All of what you see in these pictures was done on Friday. I then had to get ready for History Day, which was Saturday. Then Sunday involved a big family get together for my mom's upcoming 80th birthday. Then Monday was a sewing day with Sharon. Perhaps after classes today and all day tomorrow I can get back to the business of straightening and rearranging.

On another note, I mentioned my that my mother's birthday was upcoming - well, we celebrated Sunday, but her actual birthday is TODAY!! Happy birthday, Mom! Hope you have an awesome day!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

History Day 2016

For seven years now, on the first Saturday of October, I have volunteered at History Day sponsored by the Greenfield Historical Society.  It's a day to celebrate Greenfield's rich history and the public is invited, free of charge to view key pieces of the collection. Add in a 5K run, a rummage sale, a delicious midday meal of soup beans and corn bread or pork tenderloin sandwiches from a hog roasted on site, demonstrations and re-enactments, you can get a feel for what History Day is like.

Inside the building known as the Grain and Hay building, I set up my quilting frame, displayed a few hand-quilted quilts on the wall, and settled in for a day of quilting. Back in the corner, an artist who specializes in Prisma pencil drawings demonstrated her skill.

This view shows my little space more fully. I have my Antique Nine Patches in the frame; I have that paper-pieced lap quilt in the oval frame. The three quilts on the wall are Long Road Home, which I quilted for at least the two previous History Days, then Tag Sale, which I quilted about 15 years ago, and 6-Point Star, which I just finished a couple of months ago.

Another feature demonstration was the making of apple cider in an old-fashioned apple press. Guests could help themselves to free samples. 

Besides the Grain and Hay Building, the Historical Society has several other buildings, one of which is the oldest in town - The Travellers Rest, shown above. I spent a lot of time in this building when we were writing the books we published. Click the links to learn more about Images of America - Greenfield, an Arcadia series book, and the coffee table book honoring our high school's centennial - McClain High School A Century of Tradition.

The Depot, just up the street from the Grain and Hay, houses four massive tables of scale models of Greenfield over the years. One table was a scale model of the town in 1850; another was of 1920, and so on. One man is responsible for making these models. It is nothing short of spectacular when you think about the hours of research he's done, then the building of the models, much of which is quite intricate. These pictures are just a small representation of the entire display.

The white-haired man in black  made all of these models.

One of Greenfield's favorite sons is Edward Lee McClain, the benefactor who donated our high school. He made his fortune in horse collar pads - an invention which led to the formation of his company, The American Pad and Textile Company. The building no longer stands, but it looked like the model pictured above.

This pretty yellow house was McClain's home, which stood next to the factory. It, too, no longer stands.

A barn behind the Grain and Hay houses some very interesting vehicles, two of which are pictured above.

And then there's this old fire truck, which several gentlemen are working to restore. They'd like to get it to the point where it could be driven in parades.

Not much for quilting, but this post gives you a more complete picture of our History Day.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Welcome October!

A new month. A day when invariably I begin thinking of goals I want to accomplish by month's end. But first, I have to get through History Day, which is where I am today, demonstrating hand quilting. This is my7th year at this annual event, the first Saturday in October. What an enjoyable day, too. I will bring you pictures tomorrow, hopefully.

Let me catch you up on the sewing day Wednesday at Terry's. It has been months since we last had a day of sewing at her house, and we were quite ready to catch up with each other and get some stuff done!

I took a charity project that I needed to finish. This past spring our friend JoAnn brought us these panels and directions for a patriotic lap quilt that her Florida guild gives out to veterans. I agreed to make one for her, and since we are getting close to when JoAnn will make her trek back to Florida, I figured I'd best be getting busy on it.

The directions call for 2.5" strips of red, white and blue to be made into rail fence blocks. The construction was a piece of cake and by day's end, I had this center together. I will need to add a 4" blue border and a red binding.

It now hangs on my design wall waiting for when I can get back to it. In the mean time, I spent yesterday totally tearing up my sewing room and rearranging things. This was not a simple clean and tidy session. This was massive overhaul, to the point where I was feeling quite overwhelmed. It is beginning to look like it should again, and with a few more hours of sorting and filing and folding and such, I should be in good shape for a blog post about the re-do, so stay tuned for that.

The Blogger's Quilt Festival has concluded, and sometime today Amy will announce all the Viewers' Choice winners. Since I will be busy all day at History Day, I will have to wait until this evening to find out the results.

Have a blessed October, and
Happy Quilting, Friends!