My 2nd T-shirt Quilt (#4)

When I posted last I had 2 seams I needed to rip out & re-stitch, plus then sew all 5 columns together; which was interrupted by an arthritis flare up & a 5-day vacation with the hubby & adult friends (no kids).  Of course I couldn't pass up that opportunity.  I had a great time away however I was glad to have today free to finish the stitching on my daughter's rag quilt.  I got it all assembled today.

Like I noted in the photo I somehow got the two outermost columns switched & didn't realize it until I looked at the photo.  There are only two squares that conflict...Lizzie will just need to learn to live with it that way. 

My hands are so sore from the 5+ hours of sewing & trimming of the outer edges.    I still need to clip all of the inner seams, I may put Lizzie to work on those since my hands are swollen from doing what I did today.

This is the reverse side of the quilt.  I think it turned out really well.  Lizzie came home & saw this side she was gonna take it to her bed until I told her there were still 16 rows of seams to still clip. I did a specialty stitch around the entire outside edge of the quilt.  I had considered putting on a binding, but my sore hands won out over a binding with interfacing, and more seams...

It's finished and it will be a little longer than a coverlet on her double bed.  It's 74" x 74".  Now to soak the fingers.  George massaged my hands for about 30 minutes tonight which helped, but need to get the swelling down in time for work tomorrow.

On to my next project. :0)

My 2nd T-shirt Quilt (#3)

I finally got a chance to work on my daughter's quilt this week.  All of the squares were cut, stabilizer put on 50 blocks, stitched together with batting, plus I had to stitch together the fronts from my daughter's cheer jacket from where the zipper had been & sealed shut the pockets.  Since it had a fleece lining, I did not add batting to this block (it had enough bulk) and then I stitched around the entire block to stabilize it.  I've posted some photos to show some of the steps in the process of making this rag quilt.  I hope you enjoy & also find these steps helpful.  This is my 1st rag quilt.

This shows a close up of the block from my daughter's cheer jacket.  Don't forget to use those specialty items in your quilts, too.

Possible layout of the blocks, I always take a photo so I can remember it later as I'm working with squaring up the blocks I don't need to remember what order they were.

These are the blocks for the 2nd side of the quilt.  Most of these t-shirts are from Girl Scouts, church camp, and a few vacations.

There are also a few t-shirts from Job's daughters as well.  Lizzie has quite a variety of t-shirts.  A lot of color variation with these.

Here I am using my 15 - 1/2 inch template to square up the blocks after having ironed on the stabilizer.

Cutting off the excess stabilizer and extra edges of knit material from the t-shirt.

removing the excess from the block.  I LOVE my template for doing this...I found it in the LTD Commodities catalog this winter, one of my best purchases.  It was part of a kit for making a wall hanging/quilt.  I found I really like the stabilizer that is included in the kit.  It's very thin and reminds me of linen.

I had two shirts that the design was larger than normal, I cut these blocks long enough to show the entire design.

Front side of the center quilt block

Back side of the center quilt block

This is the final layout of the columns.  All 5 columns sewn together & they are ready to be stitched together tomorrow.  I have 2 seams to rip out so I can adjust the lengths so the quilt is square.  I'm hoping to have this quilt finished on Sunday, but if not I also have time to get it finished in time before the end of the week.


In between all of my sewing today I also found time to run to the hardware store & pick up the paint & supplies for my next make-over project for my living room.  Stay tuned here for the progress on it, now back to the quilting project. 

Happy May Day

I hope you are enjoying the 1st of May wherever you are today.  I worked this morning, however I am spending my afternoon catching up on my UFO's.  I hope to finish cutting out the squares for my daughter's t-shirt quilt, then get all of her patches sewn onto he new BSA shirt, then I want to convert both her GSA vests into pillows, and applique her vest onto her t-shirt quilt.  That's just the top of my list of UFO's.

This weekend also is the celebration for National Scrapbook Day.  I plan to get some scrapping done on Saturday & Sunday once I'm finished at work.  I need to finish my son's Scout albums.  I got a lot accomplished for his Eagle ceremony back in November, but I really want to get his albums finished with his HS graduation coming up.  I need to move onto a few vacation albums and my daughter's Scout albums.  All UFO's that I need to finish.  The guilt is sneaking in on me lately with not making the time to finish these projects.

I've lost many of my scrappin' buddies due to death, other health issues, and my going back to work part-time, but I am determined to keep up with it on my own.  Maybe once I get these UFO's done I can clean out my excess supplies, HA! that just means to make room for more, right?

Don't forget to check out the Pixels 2 Pages website as they will have a Celebration Crop and challenge happening all weekend; lots of goodies for everyone!