A fast finish

I never really set out to do something fast, but when it happens, I get sooo excited. I had a custom order for a T-shirt quilt that was completely finished in less than two weeks. These were extremely well-behaved shirts.

It also helped that my client was crazy-organized. She sent a color picture of the design with her shirts (which were washed and smelling extra fresh) and took about 0.4 seconds to pick her coordinating fabrics for sashing and backing.

Incase you are wanting to make one for yourself, here are some numbers you might find handy:

I used exactly 3 yards of heavyweight iron-on interfacing for the back of the shirts (12 total squares, 13.5" wide).

1 yard of the navy sashing 3" wide

2 yards for the yellow borders 5" wide

4 yards for the pink backing + cornerstones (3" squares).

I used a navy binding from my stash since there wasn't enough of the calico remaining. My rule of thumb in binding colors - frame your art! I originally thought about using the yellow to blend with the borders but my instincts told me otherwise and I'm glad I obeyed. The navy looks much better on the front and the back than the yellow would have. Whew, close one!

Totally random, but have you ever seen someone eat a tomato like an apple? My youngest girl appropriately enjoyed our first tomato of the season.

Let's take a trip

Well, that was a month! I have been abundantly blessed to have had some very special opportunities lately. Sit back, get comfortable, and join me on a trip down Sewing Memory Lane!

My most recent finish:

My one and only nephew turns two this week! I think every two-year-old boy needs a sock monkey quilt, don't you? Another quilt-as-you-go project and it worked beautifully again.

Well, if you don't count ripping out the quilting because the original minky backing was a disaster.

What I learned: don't use it if you can't tape it on the floor for basting. That should have been my first clue that quilting (even straight-line-quilting) was not going to go well.

I bought this great flannel and put a little monkey surprise with it and it went soooo much better.

Remember those totally rad blankets I made to protect my hydrangeas from the late spring frost? I think they worked!!!! Last year (and well, every year) we get a maximum of 4 flowers on the bushes. Not this year! They are bursting with color and they are gorgeous!

My second puppet is complete. She's actually going to go to a Ventriloquist Convention this week. Wow, talk about an amazing opportunity. I got to make a puppet! For a professional puppet person! I get a little emotional to think of how far the Lord has brought me out of the pit I was in. Sorry, no hyperlink for that one. Just giving thanks to our great God!

Another pastel commission! :) But it had actual colors in it, so I was ok.

Watermelon.

More watermelon.

I was asked to make the banner for my neighborhood's July 4th Parade! More to come on this as it was a crash course in applique.

Another charity sewing event. This time we made pillowcase dresses for little girls in Haiti. I was so thrilled to see more ladies come who have never sewn a thing in their life. Hopefully they left feeling motivated and ready to try it again and again. We finished the night with 17 dresses with more to come from a few who could not attend. Awesome.


Whew! Thanks for staying with me during the hiatus and for the trip down Sewing Memory Lane. More good clean sewing fun is to be had this summer for sure. What lovelies are you sewing this summer?

A blogable offense

Actually, the offenses are three-fold: new Belle skirt, picking strawberries, and drippy red chins.


First, the skirt. Browsing through the remnant box at JoAnn's one day, Isabella found this bright yellow sparkle silky piece. "Mom, will you make me a Belle dress? Please, Mommy? Please, please, pleeeeeeeeese?" Yes, a thousand times yes. Even though I knew it would never be a dress, more like a skirt. But still, she is thrilled and it's one of those plant flowers/pick berries/first thing right out of bed in the morning skirts.

Unrelated: the plants are in! Four-year-olds are actually kind of helpful. She never ceases to amaze me.

She wanted this skirt to look like Princess Belle's from Beauty and the Beast (usually the whole Princess thing makes me uneasy but being handmade makes me cringe much less). I sewed up some scrap muslin for lining, put some crinoline (stiff netting/tulle) on top, and then the yellow fabric on top of that. Elastic casing, eyelet hem on the muslin and ta-da... BELLE!

Since the yellow was a remnant at 50% off and I already had the muslin and crinoline on hand, the whole project took about $5 and a good 2 hours. A most excellent way to break up my mega quilt days.



Which brings me to the second offense... strawberry picking! It's one of my favoritest things to do. Ever. I remember being a little punk and my mama taking me strawberry picking on Wednesday afternoons (her office was closed on Wednesday afternoons for some reason). So you better believe I'm taking the kiddies out every chance I get to pick berries whether we use them or not! Who am I kidding, those things are gone within hours these days.

Yep, different day, same skirt! Success!!

Oh my lands, this picture makes me laugh and then cry. It's an instant classic. The Drippy Red Chin/Hand/Shirt. I'm pretty sure she ate a lot of over-ripe, not-quite-ripe, and certainly perfectly ripe berries with greens. Her appetite knows no end.

Here's to handmade princess skirts and fresh-picked fruit this summer!

It's Time

Time to stop hoarding the really adorable hedgies and put them to work

(Same goes to you too, Chum Chum Bear mushrooms.)

Time to spruce up the home with things that match my new aqua/Windswept walls.

It's time to get our hands dirty

Time for a new air freshener

It's time to get a little closer to our food

And now that it's June, it is certainly time to head out!

Happy unofficial start of summer!

This Moment

It's Friday, time for This Moment. Head over to SouleMama, the originator of This Moment posts, for some backyard camping fun!

For us, it's dance recital time. I admit, I've totally underestimated her courage to dance.

On a stage.

In front of people.

She's gonna shine!

Mine all mine

My first sewing project for me. Well, it's for all of us, but it's still a first. I bought these Sandi Henderson fabrics from her Meadowsweet line long ago thinking it would make the perfect picnic blanket. I added a few of my own fat quarters from the stash and it came together nicely.

I forgot to take pictures of the back which is a "vintage linen" (aka old bed sheet) from my mother-in-law. They are perfect for this project. It was unbelievably simple (and free).

To estimate, this project took a little over $20 (I only buy fabric on sale!) and about 6 hours to complete. I started using Sew Mama Sew's tutorial but did not even attempt to cut my batting to size (61" square?! Not even possible for me) . I'm more of a "make it bigger and then trim the excess" gal. Here's how I did it:

*Make blanket top by sewing 16 fat quarters together

*Spread out on top of batting

*Cut batting about 3" larger than the blanket top on all sides

*Now tape batting on ground with blue painter's tape, stretching it taut

*Put blanket top on top of batting (right side up), smoothing out wrinkles and ensure fit

*Baste with safety pins, about 8" apart

*Stitch in the ditch with sewing machine (or lovely hand stitching if you are crazy - I mean, accomplished), sewing top and batting together. Now trim the batting to size, and be sure to save all your batting scraps!

*Spread "vintage linen" (backing) on floor, right side up, pull taut and tape.

*Baste top/batting combo on top of backing, batting side up (so that backing and top are right sides together)

*Sew around perimeter, leaving about a foot unsewn. Clip corners. Turn right side out, and top stitch all the way around, being sure to close the hole in the topstitch.

It's worth every minute of effort when those kids jump and run and play on it. My only regret is not making it big enough to cover the entire lawn.

Blogger's Quilt Festival

Wow, thank you everyone for such a great giveaway week. Amanda wins the bag o' scraps and Shelly brings home the CSN gift certificate. Congrats!!

Once again, Amy is hosting the Blogger's Quilt Festival which could rank right up there with my birthday. It is always so nice to see what other bloggy quilters (or is it quilty bloggers) are doing. I love to see others' works of art! So without further ado, here is my most recent finish and my favorite quilt ever...

... the Love quilt.

Finished size is a standard double (78" x 87"). I used a lovely mint green thread on most of the quilt and it worked great for this collection. Although my OCD kicked in while quilting and I did try to use coordinating thread colors (which greatly increases the time factor) when possible.



Verdict about Quilt as You Go method - it rocks. I love how it comes together so fast. I love how the quilt feels as a finished product. All that thread makes it heavy and more comforting to me. Free motion quilting a double (even on my super swell Janome) would have been a nightmare. QAYG allows anyone with any machine to accomplish great things! Except sewing the back and front together (stitch in the ditch between all 12 1/2" squares) was doable because of the excellent harp area on the Janome.

*Edited to add: I thought I should clarify that I did not use sashing inbetween each of the blocks. Once I "stitched in the ditch" the seam allowances were not the least bit bulky. I had some emails about how it came together, so please feel free to ask about anything I have failed to include here. Really! *

The scrappy binding was a no-brainer on this one... too bad it took my no-brain an entire day to realize that!

It's really forgiving in that stitches needn't be perfect, and if you decide half-way through piecing your quilt front that you want to do it - you can! Just grab some batting and start sewing it down. Straight-line quilting, free-motion quilitng, whatever you fancy.

The very creative client dreamed up the design on the back. I think it rocks my socks.

Love will soon be going overseas to her mama. A wonderful quilt to a wonderfuler friend. :)



Infact, I loved doing it so much that I started another one!

Some sweet little nephew of mine is turning 2!