T-Shirt Quilt - Work in Progress

I have been quilting for 18 years. I have always said I would never do a t-shirt quilt.

So, here is the t-shirt quilt I said I'd never make.

This is the design wall layout, pretty much worked out. There are 14 10-K race shirts with pretty big logos. In order to round out the 4 x 4 block layout, I printed several photos on fabric to incorporate into the quilt; they will get frames cut from the backs of the t-shirts. Printing the photos on fabric was actually pretty easy. I used EQ Printables pre-treated fabric sheets and ran them through an inkjet printer. They came pre-cut to letter-size with a plastic backing; I put a little masking tape on the leading edge to help the printer grab the fabric and fed the sheets in one at a time. I ran a test sheet through the printer (a blank piece of paper with an X drawn on it in pen) to figure out whether my printer prints on the face up or face down side of the paper so I could tell whether to load it fabric side up or plastic side up. I didn't change any printer settings and I didn't have any problems.



I made a diagram to keep track of how it all goes together as I'm working on it. I still need to add interfacing to the photos and put frames on them, as well as trim some of the t-shirts a bit more. Adding interfacing to EVERYTHING is taking longer than I thought it would (and I'm really glad I bought an entire 10-yard bolt of interfacing for this project, I'm most of the way through it already). I'm not used to being this far into a project without having sewn a stitch. This quilt needs a border or two and I have some good border fabric candidates, but I'll wait to post pictures of them until I get more done.

Springtime

Spring has sprung here and the last of the azaleas are fading away. It has been rainy-ish and semi-cloudy for the past several weeks, and everything has greened up.

Things have been not so fun at work, but I have managed to get some good quilting time in, mostly on weekends. I finished my 'Castillo de San Marcos' wallhanging. I designed the block myself as part of a quilt guild challenge to make your own block to represent Florida. The block is based on an aerial view of the fort at St. Augustine. It is one of my favorite Florida attractions.

I finally finished the second crap quilt. I think I have been working on these blocks since 2009. I finished and posted the first crap quilt last year--my husband has it hanging in his office. I had so many crap blocks left over, I made a second quilt that is reversible--the front is dark text on a light background, and the back is light text on a dark backdrop. I like the back even better than the front. Some quilts I make for others, but this one is all mine.


I found 3 more crap blocks when I was cleaning out my sewing room the other day. No idea what they will become--pillows?

Thanksgiving Weekend

This Thanksgiving weekend was a good time to do some machine quilting and binding.

And to have some turkey, of course!

Vacation Quilting

The beach! (Ignore potato cannon)
We took a mini-vacation to Grayton Beach last weekend, and I brought my quilting with me. I love the beach in winter. In between walking on the beach and socializing with friends, I cut and sewed triangles for a new quilt. It was only a 2 1/2 day trip, but I got a lot done. The secret to vacation quilting is prep. Before I left, I picked a pattern, pulled fabrics from my stash, ironed them, and cut fabric strips. The last thing you want to do is haul a lot of yardage on a road trip. I pared my sewing supplies down to a canvas tote bag of supplies and a portable sewing machine.
Here is my kit (sewing machine not shown):

I have an old rotary cutting mat that warped (they do that when exposed to heat); I glued it down to plastic cutting board so it lies flat and won't bend and it is now my travel cutting mat. I also brought a couple of rulers, rotary cutter (forgot an extra blade, have to remember that next time), scissors, seam ripper, extra thread, fabric strips, calculator, mini-trash receptacle, and the pattern book. I skipped the iron and ironing pad this trip--I knew I wouldn't be gone long enough to need them. Most hotels have irons in the room, but we were staying at a cabin in a state park, and I was pretty sure they wouldn't have one (they didn't).

Here is the pile of half-square triangles I pieced:

I may save the rest of the project for my next trip. I have a couple of other projects in the works that I've been pulling fabric for.

The Crap Quilt

Because no one else has one.

Featherweight!

So, the other day I got an email from a family member offering me this beautiful featherweight! Naturally I told her I would adopt this machine. All featherweights should have good homes.

She doesn't have a name yet, but she has already been to the shop for a tune-up. I haven't had time to stitch on her yet, but that is on the agenda for this weekend. I am getting the itch to start another quilt. Of course, I haven't finished the LAST quilt. But when has that ever stopped me before?

Quilt done, and another in progress

"Two Penny Lane" is done and off to a good home. This one sat under the sewing table for a couple of years waiting for me to figure out how to quilt it. The pattern came from one of the Nickel Quilts books. My husband says the colors don't look like mine. There are more pastels than I usually use. I cut up a lot of my fat quarters for this one to get rid of them. I don't buy fat quarters anymore because I realized that I rarely use them. There are some pretty ugly novelty fabrics in this quilt, but you can't tell from here!

This a background audition for my Road to Florida block, Castillo de San Marcos. It is my own block based on the fort at St. Augustine. I made extras and decided to assemble them into a queen-sized quilt. I thought I was going to use a blue background on it. But sometimes when you play around with different fabrics something unexpected happens, and so...red and purple paisley it is. I got stalled on this project since I was lazy and didn't square up my blocks (without a doubt my LEAST favorite part of the quilting process), so I've had to do some ripping to get everything to line up reasonably well. I will finish the top this weekend (except for the borders; one of them will be pieced, so it will take longer).

I am still deciding if I will put batting in this one or make it into a summer quilt (without batting). I got some wool batting for Christmas last year that I haven't tried out yet, but when you live this far south, for most of the year batting is unnecessary; I switched to a summer quilt last weekend.