Monday, May 30, 2016

Memorial Day Fun

What is MORE fun than sewing all day.... sewing with friends all day!



Robin is working on third-world, children's charity dresses; Charlotte-the-Tall is working on needle-turn-applique and I'm working on the Splendid Sampler.




Sitting, sewing, eating chocolate covered cherries and chatting...
a perfect way to spend a Memorial Day.


Well, almost perfect....


This is block 17 of the Splendid Sampler... what's wrong with this picture ???

Too much chatting and eating, not enough paying attention to detail...Robin was gracious and whipped out the Golden Seam Ripper to attack the problem for me

.

And NOW it's been a PERFECT day!

Saturday, May 21, 2016

It's THAT Time of Year

It's Spring....
           ....It's Prom Season
                  ....... and, It's Graduation time

My cutie, patootie nephew has been graduated....OK, so it was a year ago... With all the graduations in the air I'm reminded that I promised to make a quilt from his basketball and football tee shirts.


He has been playing sports since he could walk:  His mom gave me a pile of his shirts.







My first chore was to cut them up, removing the sleeves, neckline and separating the backs from the fronts.  Some of them were pretty worn and I did briefly wonder if I would use the VERY worn shirts.  I decided "yes."  They will add character and they may be some of Joe's favorites.









This gave me nice flat pieces to work with.  At this point they are all different sizes.

The next step is to prepare the blocks
and pick a pattern.











Of course I turned to the internet for more information about preparing the blocks.  I found this one presented by Nancy's Notions on YouTube.  Click Here She makes it look pretty easy.

Doing a Google search for the Tee Shirt Pressing Clothe, it can be purchased at Walmart and Jo-Ann Fabrics.  The Tee Shirt Transformation Ruler can also be purchased at Jo-Ann Fabrics...it's spendy...$35 (plus tax.)  (And, honestly, will I ever make another tee shirt quilt????????? Who knows.)

My Aunt, who has one tee shirt quilt under her belt, gave me the guide pictured below so I opted to not spend the $35 on a special ruler.  If you know someone handy in the garage, perhaps they will make you a similar guide ...




The last step will be assembling the quilt.

A few years ago at the Desert Lily's Quilt Show I bought this product (pictured left.)
The woman doing demonstration make it look like it practically sewed itself...so of course I bought it.

Looking at the instructions, I am not sure if I will use it or not, but I'm going to lay it all out and then decide.

Follow this link to a video demonstrating this product.  Click Here




Now that we have all the steps.... let's see what we can make, shall we?