Running T-Shirt Quilt #1 - Finished!

And another bites the dust!

This one went together very easily, despite the involvement of a tech shirt.

I bought a piece of plastic, cut to 15.5", from a local store. For $10! About half the price of a real ruler. I marked the diagonals, and sliced away.

 

About 3/4ths of the blocks are whole, and the rest are pieced to include backs and sleeves.

 

Quilted in invisible thread, through the sashing and on the diagonal.

Measures 63x80"

 

Fabrics from Hobby Lobby

{I feel like I'm missing some zebra trend}
The backing is black minky

Linked:

Whoop Whoop @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict

TGIFF @ Echinops and Aster

Sew and Tell @ Amy Lou Who

Finish It Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts

Weekly Progress - Scattered

I feel like my progress this week was a bit scattered. Or at least, scatter brained. I totally forgot to take a picture of my mother's wall hanging before putting it in the mail. Ah well - she can get an accurate shot of it hanging!

Anyway, things I did do - and sometimes remembered to take pictures of...

Finished:

T-Shirt Quilt #2

Candy Corn Bunting {from Sew Lux's tutorial}

Fifteen Minute Challenge - Organization

The floor is clean, the flat surfaces are clean, and I have a nice pile of fabric that needs to be ironed and folded this week. Never ending process.

Design Wall - LQS Saturday Sampler 2011

I didn't actually sew a bit of this, but I did make some decisions. Mainly, to use the little flowers, plain, in the corners of the center, and to use the longer strips on the sides. Everything else will be filled in with the white-ish from the words.

UFO Busting
I've done a bit of quilting on to Skorca! But I'm not sure I like it. So on my UFO Sunday, I ended up hemming a pair of pants that have sat around for 18 months. For a five-minute hem. 

Then I worked on cutting out my son's Halloween costume, which is not a UFO, but really does have a deadline, so...

Blocks

Saturday Sampler 2012 - Four Corners, Swamp Patch, Ohio Star - love this set!

Oh, and we carved our Halloween pumpkin!

Linked:
Fifteen Minute Challenge @ Life In Pieces

UFO Sunday @ the Free Motion Quilting Project

Design Wall Monday @ Patchwork Times

BOMs Away Mondays @ What A Hoot

Fabric Tuesday @ Quilt Story

WiP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced

Felt Friday & Some Randomness

Any guesses as to what my infuriatingly creative Dude is going to be for Halloween this year?

And the randomness...




Walking foot troubles

This piece keeps popping loose on my walking foot, rendering it completely useless, since it's the piece that makes the grippers on the top move. It will work for a while, then pop off. Anyone know why or how to fix it?

The cat has taken his love of feet and his over-involvement in my sewing to a new level. {What? You're not wearing Christmas socks yet?}

I got him back by shaking minky backing on him.

The minky backing of this t-shirt quilt! Which is half-bound! Woo!

And Karin at Cascade Quilts is hosting a Modern Siggy Swap. Go join.

Oh, and see the little Daily Mile ticker on the right? It's moving. I'm training for Tulsa's Route 66 Half Marathon. Perfect time of year for running - I'm doing the Bridge-to-10K running program and I'm very impressed at my pace improvement. {Yes, I know a 10K is not a half marathon. In a week, I'm going to start doubling up on my Friday runs.}

Linked:

Whoop Whoop @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Really Random Thursday @ Live a Colorful Life

Weekly Progress - Serious Progress!

We are finally getting into a routine and getting life into a rhythm, and I got tons done this week!

Finished: 

Bad Romance - finally!

Fifteen Minute Challenge - Organization

Slow and steady, I am getting my sewing room under control. I did my fifteen minutes every day this week: sorting scraps, folding bigger scraps, filing patterns and keeping the flat surfaces clear.

Design Wall - LQS Saturday Sampler 2011

I want this to be a Christmas gift, so I talked to my quilter and scheduled it to go to her on Nov. 15. Deadline!

UFO Busting
Leah's post last week was about the snowball effect - working on little things to free up more time to work on the bigger things. So I looked at my stack of flimsies and picked Bad Romance because it was already halfway quilted.

Next, quilted a wall hanging for my mother. Binding is on and handstitching has begun.

Now I'm at the point that the next quilt done will probably be my Blogger's Quilt Festival Quilt....so I want it to be a good one. But also one that has a back picked already...which kind of limited it to Skorca! 

Blocks
 
Grandmother's Choice, block five. It's a little chaotic, but I like it!

I found six of these blocks {leftover from Sunkissed Jewel Box} and made four into a pillow-sized block. Once I quilt the quilt version, I'll use leftover backing to finish off the pillow. The other two blocks...I don't know. Probably make a notebook cover or something.

Other
 
Toyland Row Quilt had a few of the rows sewn together. I'm not in a hurry to finish it...only to add it to the quilting pile.

No picture, but I finished another t-shirt quilt to the quilting stage! I should finish that off this week.

And finally, I started making these as leaders/enders, thanks to a tutorial on the Sew Lux blog.

Linked:
Fifteen Minute Challenge @ Life In Pieces

UFO Sunday @ the Free Motion Quilting Project

Design Wall Monday @ Patchwork Times

BOMs Away Mondays @ What A Hoot

Fabric Tuesday @ Quilt Story

WiP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced

Bad Romance - Finished!

This one was a long time coming. In fact, I had to look back almost two years to see when I finished the top.

{All the while hoping it was 2011 and not 2010!}

But it's done!

58x78"

Pattern: P.S. I Quilt

Quilted diagonally through the solid.

Fabrics, hmmm...

Backing: RJR Momma's Apron Strings

Binding: Chez Moi's Hunky Dory border print {and it looks awesome scrappy even though it's not actually}

Solid: Baby Pink Kona

Prints, including but not limited to: 

Bloom and Grow by Riley Blake

Candy Kisses and L'Amour by Sandy Gervais

Hunky Dory Chez Moi

Thimbleberries

Whimsy by Fig Tree

Oz by Sanae

Love Letters by Clothworks

Simplicity by 3 Sisters

I tried to stage a picture with the cat, but the one who sleeps on them every minute they're in progress, doesn't care when they're done.

You may think this is a nice shot, but that's the face of a cat who just discovered there's a fish on the dresser.

Linked:

Whoop Whoop @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict

TGIFF @ Better Off Thread

Sew and Tell @ Amy Lou Who

Finish It Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts

Finish-Along @ Quilter in the Gap {quilting was finished on Sept. 30 - I just had to hand stitch the binding in the fourth quarter!}
Just Three @ Traceyjay Quilts {again, technically, this was a July Just Three goal...but...July, September, same thing, right?}

Marietta T-Shirt Quilt - Finished!

I have a stack of commissioned t-shirt quilts to work through before Christmas, so this is the first of a few you'll see over the next couple of months!

This one is for my husband's cousin, and there were a lot of things I learned while making it.

1. Use a walking foot.

2. Don't accept more than 25 t-shirts. {This one is 21 in the front; 31 in the back.}
3. If you have more than 25...make two quilts. Backing a t-shirt quilt with a t-shirt quilt is a pain!

4. Cut everything to the same size, instead of piecing them together like a puzzle.

5.  If you do piece it like a puzzle, measure and PLAN before cutting.
6. Use a walking foot. For every step!

75x90"
fabrics from Joann's and Hobby Lobby
{I did not pick the colors}
Quilting is cross-hatch through the sashing and diagonal through the blocks, in invisible thread.

Weekly Progress - New Additions

We've had some new additions to the family!

This little guy joined in the beginning of September. His name is Victor, he's a crowntail betta, and I've yet to find the cats in the Dude's room looking at him. Hunting instinct, thou art dead.

 And I got a new sewing machine! Well, not really. I got a very, very old sewing machine. It's a Wheeler & Wilson No. 8, and this guy wrote a good history on the company. My machine is, based on the serial number, from about 1880.

It needs a new belt, and someday a good cleaning/retouching, and the cabinet could stand to be refinished - but it works. 132 years old, and it works! 
{And yes, I totally sold the idea to my husband by mentioning it doesn't need power in case of the zombie apocalypse.}

Fifteen Minute Challenge - Organization

Thanks to realizing I have 18 flimsies that need to be quilted, I got down to some serious procrastination! Nah, actually, I did my fifteen minutes of organizing by getting things ready for quilting - cleaning off the sewing table and putting things away instead of on the cutting table. Cleaning off my cutting table. Cleaning out my scrap box until I found the binding fabric I knew was in the bottom.

...and moving things around so I could fit another sewing machine in the room! {Clearly, I need to find a place for that pile of batting behind it, though.}

Design Wall

No change - I did no piecing, and therefore no leaders/enders, this week. Toyland waits... 

Finished:

The first of four t-shirt quilts before the holidays.
{Finished post here.}

UFO Busting:

 I made friends with my walking foot and got Bad Romance finished up. It had all the lines in one direction, not the other. So it really didn't take all that long to finish up, and the binding is all ready to go. Finishing a quilt is almost as much fun as piecing.

So there will be TWO finished posts this week!

Linked:
Fifteen Minute Challenge @ Life In Pieces

Design Wall Monday @ Patchwork Times

WiP Wednesday @ Freshly Pieced
UFO Sunday @ the Free Motion Quilting Project