T-shirt Quilt for DH

I also finished a quilt for my DH out of some of his old T-shirts which he received for Christmas this year. It runs the gamut from his various motorcycles and corvettes, to hobbies that include gaming and racing. It's so HIM. He also made a number of the T-shirts I used in this quilt. He seemed to really love it and that's the best feeling of all. His mom helped me piece the top together when she was out visiting this past summer. It was fun to work on a project with her.
I don't know that I'll ever make a t-shirt quilt again though. The fabric was stretchy and even the flannel wasn't very stable, so making it a challenge to quilt without getting pin tucks in the back. There are two little tucks which annoy me but not enough to have picked them out and requilted those sections. Heh. It'll be fine. It's just a couch blankie for him and I'm sure he'll take it when it goes on his overnight motorcycle racing weekends with the boys.

Flannel Quilt for Dad

Happy Holidays to All! Hope they were joyous and fun filled. (Mine were - whoop!) Looking forward to New Year's too. Sorry, I can't believe that the last time I posted here was October! It's been a very busy couple of months. I'll try to be better in 2012. Promise!

So I did actually manage to *finish* a quilt! This one was for my Dad. He's not in the best of health (bad Rheumatoid arthritis) and because of that often has to just sit and do nothing. The perfect excuse to be a couch potato. Anyway how can you sit around and watch TV all day without something warm to snuggle up into? Simply, you can't. So I made him a quilt. (He did have an old ratty pink one, which I find hilarious since he's got this crazy aversion to pink otherwise.) So the dog inherited the old one and now he's got this! (Which I gave him for Christmas and he loved BTW)




The whole thing is made of flannel, front and back. Nice and warm! but hum... Not sure I'll do that again. It was kinda a PITA to work as everything sticks to everything else. ie. the fabrics don't slide easily to line things up and it tended to fray a lot more then quilting cotton. It wasn't the worst fabric I've ever worked with but it just wasn't as easy a nice unbrushed cotton. ;^)

Finished!

Yes, it's been a while since I actually finished anything crafty. But hey! Lookie here. I finally got something done. No doubt it's a small something, but a something none the less. I started this in the spring but I just couldn’t get myself to sew all those little straight lines once I’d started. Well, today was the day I tackled it without excuse. It’s larger then a mug rug, though I suppose it could be used for that. I originally intended it to be used kind of like a doily to put a vase of flowers on to keep any water off the nicer pieces of furniture in our home.

Done!

Haha! DONE! Woo!

This is the X-Rated Schnibbles pattern. The fabric is a line from Free Spirit called Home. They were giving out free salesman sample strike off packs at the July(?) guild meeting. Anyway, there was enough to make this quilt with the addition of the dark espresso colored solid I used. It's about 72" square I think. I haven't measured it but I think that's what the pattern said it'd turn out to be. Anywhoodle - it's done! (Except for the label but I want to experiment with a new process so if it doesn't make it on there right away I'm not worried)

Since I went back to using Warm and Natural batting and a lot of straight stitching with the walking foot the quilting on this one was much more pleasent then the last quilt I worked on. I also used pink flannel for the backing which makes it extra snuggly.

My stitching is still so far from perfect though I'm always slightly disappointed. I know this is both a point of, I need more practice and that I know I have trouble dragging my quilts though my machine and would have smoother lines if I could use a long arm.

Ah well. None of that however will stop me from making quilts I adore.

Finis!

Color-work charm quilt. I love this one and am actually keeping it for myself - so ha!


Detail of the machine quilting (thank you BSR!)

What have I been up to?

Making a gift for my SIL. Yay! This is using the Monk's Bag pattern that an on-line friend posted a link to recently.





I received Japanese Quilt Blocks to Mix and Match a few years ago for Christmas. I finally got to use it! I wanted something that would really be a focal point on the front of the bag so I decided to pull the Cherry Blossom motif out of the strap fabric and make the Sakura (Cherry Blossom) applique block from this book to put on the bag and tie it all together.



The instructions call for one solid inner pocket. But I can never find a pen at the bottom of my bag so I added in an extra seam to make the pocket more functional to hold a pen and a cell phone or other small item.



I also agree with my on-line friend's recommendation to use a 5/8" seam allowance on the top of the inner (lining) strap. If you follow the instructions and use a 1" seam allowance it makes sewing it all together entirely impossible. Otherwise it's a super easy bag to make and if you don't go crazy with hand sewn applique, it would sew up in a couple of hours from start to stop!

Christmas Quilt for my MIL - Done!

All done! Quilted and bound. =)


I used two color threads, navy for the majority of the quilt and a cream that matches the crosses on the front but contrasts and really pops on the back. I quilted it freehand using the "push through" method on my Bernina. It's sloppy. lol. I forgive myself because it's really the first one I've done that wasn't all straight lines. While I loved the idea of freehand, I don't think I'm a "push through" kinda quilter. I'd love a long arm! Maybe next time I'll rent one till I can afford to buy one. Hum...


I got lucky! It goes beautifully with the decor in her living room. Yay!