What! Another t-shirt quilt?

Yes, over the years my daughters collected t-shirts. Ever since they came home from the hospital. Rosemary is due to have her collection turned into a college graduation present, so I have until next May to piece and quilt hers. I know there have been at least two occasions where the girls joined me to iron stabilizer onto the backs of their shirts, and am I glad that was done to so many. I still have to add some to a few high school, cross country and orchestra shirts, but that will be a breeze. For now, I have the prepared shirt pieces up on the design wall and I have about ten fabrics picked out from the stash to use for block borders. I'm going to use the layout and piecing techniques I have used for my Dad's and the two Tom's t's quilts. We've really liked the crazy quilt feel to them. So far this is what it looks like:

Rosemary checked it out this weekend and she had me pull three off the layout that she thinks will be better off in Amanda's set of t's. I still have the high school ones to add. She enjoyed pointing out to Shawn (her boyfriend) her favorites. That's the point of this exercise of love. Bringing back the good memories. I'll add updates as I dig into the block construction and it starts to take shape. I really need to make fast progress on this one, because I think Amanda may want hers next year for her high school graduation commemoration.

Jan Krentz class

I took a workshop from Jan Krentz that my guild was offering. It was her class on Asymmetrical Hunter Star. I didn't get much finished during the day, but made good progress cutting and piecing some blocks. I am pulling fabrics from my cat stash, as she suggested large scale prints and that was where most of mine were. So far I have the layout over there on the left.

This is one of those cases where I'm not real wild about the layout in person, but the design is growing on me as I see it in miniature in the photo. I'm seriously considering replacing the cream solid looking fabric with something a little lighter; maybe making those areas the same tone on tone, but scrappier. But as I see in at the left here, now I'm not so sure. This is growing on me.

In other news, I spent some sewing time last weekend making project bags for myself. I'm already using them to pack up the Krentz fabrics. Here is what they look like:

Yep, those are cute little windows sewn into the front, so you can see at a glance what project is inside. Cool little pattern from the Princeton IL quilt store, Quilter's Garden.

Our guild quilt show will be a fond memory in two weeks. I still have a Programs display to put together, a ballot box to decorate for the viewer's choice voting, and the second place ribbon embellishments. What the heck. I still have a weekend to go!

Fall already!

It's mid-September. In the midwest, we've had definite fall weather. I got to feeling my workspace was dark and dank, so I've spent a few evenings decluttering surfaces and getting the floor cleared. I plan to rearrange some furniture this weekend, which always does me good. I also have some projects cut out to finish, and some fabric to select (buy?) for a Jan Krentz workshop next Friday. Woo hoo! I'll get some photos snapped and posted.

I went on a Labor Day guild retreat. Got a lot done, little projects finished, and two quilts quilted for the guild show in October. I took time to play with some blocks I hadn't set yet. They are Jacob's ladder blocks done using Pat Speth's piecing techniques when she came for a guild workshop. Then I've made patchwork blocks for a border, but I'm second guessing the design. Put the border on point, put it straight set, or just use them for a quilt back and make it reversible? It would be small if I do the last. Here are my options so far:

Love you Grandma

Over 30 years ago, my wonderful Grandma Dotta gifted me 2-3 of her bulbs for the above flowers. She called them daylilies, but they may have another standard name. I planted them at our place in southern Illinois. They did ok. They moved with us to central Illinois, and survived another move across town about 10 years ago. I thought they were planted in a small bed on the side of the house. Two years back, some appeared in the back yard. Don't know how they got there. Last year a few came up in the front yard. Don't know how they got there either. This year, they are taking over the iris bed in the front. What a treat. This photo just doesn't do them justice. When you drive into the garage, they are just masses of pink.

I wish Grandma was around for me to tell her how they lift my spirit. I wish she knew how I feel when I remember her vivid description of how they would grow green foliage at first, and then appear to die back, but to be patient because when you least expect them, they'll send shoots from the ground with these pink lacy blooms. She makes me smile.

So what to do? I think I'll flag them in a few days and do some digging this fall. I'd like to share some with my siblings and mom in St. Louis. Then I'll see if I can corral them into other beds. But maybe leave just a few behind to surprise me. Flowers that surprise you with smiles is a good thing.

Show and Tell

I set those embroidered cat blocks into a top! Yipee! Here is how it looks. It went together really fast, but that is judging time caught between quilting that baby quilt.

The baby quilt went into the wash today, to wash away all the sticky basting spray that was making it feel so stiff. I'm not impressed with the stitch in the ditch part of that quilt, but used the disappearing ink marker for the first time to mark and follow some curved quilting elements.

So productive 10 days or so. Because somewhere in there I also got through 3 big Harry Potter books. I won't get numbers 6 and 7 done before the big Potter finale this weekend. If it was just me, I'd wait till next week to go to it in the theaters so I could read them again. But alas, I have DDs that want to get to it Friday afternoon.  We'll see.

Less means more

It has felt so good getting overdue projects done at work and in the sewing space. I used to think the more projects I juggled, the more productive I was being, but now I'm seeing that it's just the opposite. I'm slowly working to clean out my bin of quilt tops, and I have fewer UFO bins stashed all over the place. Not that I haven't added to my plate of projects this past year. There are the ICS quilt show ribbons in progress, and the occasional top and wall hanging that just had to be done. I think I got better though and the projects I added in I made a point of finishing in a reasonable time.

So I'm hoping the guild will again do a UFO project starting in September, but if we don't do it formally, I'll do it informally. My long term goal is to start 2014 (yep, 2 1/2 years from now) with a relatively clean slate of quilt projects. My 2013 goal is to be working on a quilt with an eye for juried quilt shows. For the rest of this year, keep plugging away at quilting the tops and setting UFO blocks.

Then even shorter goals are to quilt Brady's quilt (done in the next 2 weeks), layer and quilt the guild round robbin quilt (done by end of July), and get my entries ready for the guild's October show (done by mid-August).

Another UFO off the list

I got some sewing time in this long weekend and spent it completing a summer purse using some great fat quarters I received from Becky Goldsmith last summer from one of their Piece O' Cake fabric lines. All I added was some extra yellow for the handles and a pocket that isn't visible. I've done the pattern before, and this photo doesn't show the side with the outside pocket. The pattern is from Pink Sand Beach Designs and is the Brentwood Bag. I like it because of the roomy outside pockets, it is lightweight but durable, and a good size to hold my stuff.

So thanks a bunch Becky.