Sunday, December 31, 2023

The 1080 Quilt



60" x 72"

Why is this the 1080 quilt? Because there are 1080 - 2.5" pieces of scraps in this quilt! I have been working on this quilt for months, little by little. It takes so much longer when you aren't strip piecing blocks. 


But look at this back! It's my favorite part of this quilt. Love having all these colors on the back.


 As you probably know, this didn't make much room in my scrap bin. So I'll have to start another one!

Friday, December 29, 2023

T-shirt Quilt #2

This is the second t-shirt quilt for my daughter. First one is here. I just wanted to make a few notes. I didn't use an FFG needles like last time (unless I forgot to change it out, which is very likely.)  This time I used a minky dot on the back instead of the fur-like minky. I had to piece the back to make it large enough and I didn't like how the minky looked like there were different dye lots even though there wasn't. Solid black binding. Medium size stipple.




 

Tuesday, September 19, 2023

Puzzle Style T-Shirt Quilt

60 x 72

I have been wanting to try this style of t-shirt quilt for years and I finally gathered all of Rebecca's shirts and gave it a try. There are several different ways to do it, but I chose to use this template and planner pages from Lisa Capen Quilts on Etsy. 

I measured the minimum size of each logo on every shirt including the little logos also. I logged that info on the planning sheet by color. Then I loaded the template on inkscape and drew the boxes following the directions in this video. I ended up with this design, filling in the holes with extra t-shirt pieces. If you look closely, you will see that my blocks are hanging off 4 inches on each side. That is how I designed it bigger. But in hindsight I could have use the twin size template instead.
I purchased this Heat Press Machine because I will be making more t-shirt quilts for my kids. It saved me so much time and was well worth the price. I pressed at 300 degrees for 10 seconds using the Teflon sheet and a cotton pressing sheet. I sprayed with water, but I don't know if it was necessary. I had no trouble with any lifting of edges at all. 


I backed the quilt with black minky and used hobbs batting. Oh my goodness, is it cuddly! I am very tempted to use it until my daughter can come home for Christmas!!! 


 I quilted it with a little larger than normal meander and changed the needle to FFG. If I don't document this I will forget by the time I get to the next one, even though that should be in a couple months.  Last and final note - I like the smaller blocks better, trimming close to the logo. Becca wanted 2 quilts because she has so many shirts so I ended up having to stretch the shirts a bit to fit the quilt size. 

Hope this helps you too if you are thinking about making a t-shirt quilt. Remember to measure, measure, and measure again. Once it's cut that it! I only messed up once and fortunately I cut it too big and not too small. Best of luck to you!

Clustered Gems

56 x 64

I had a layer cake hiding in my closet so I went on a search for a quilt to make with it. I found Clustered Gems and decided it would be a good fit. I pulled a few more fabrics from my stash so that I could add an extra row and an extra column. So my quilt finishes a little bigger than the original pattern.


I had some extra pieces left over from the fabric strips I cut so I added them to the back and used the extra blue for the binding. 


 Feels really good to have a quilt finish! 

Wednesday, April 5, 2023

Melody - A New Quilt Pattern

This is my new scrappy quilt pattern called Melody. It's made from scraps - small scraps. I have a tub of strings that I used to make this quilt. I love the movement in the rows and this is what prompted me to name it melody. It's got a nice flow just like a sweet little song.

I tend to keep my neutrals very tight. In this quilt there isn't too much variation in the background fabric, but you could absolutely add more if you like.


Here it is in a rainbow! There's a note in the pattern for making the rainbow version in both the baby and the throw size. It really depends on how many different colors of scraps you have. 


If you've got scraps coming our your tubs like I do, you can find this fun pattern in my etsy shop here.

Queen Size Postcard Quilt

96 x 96

I recently finished this queen sized postcard. My customer wanted this dusty blue back. I think it looks great as the binding as well. Just wanted to get the pictures documented. You can order one in any size in my etsy shop.


 

Friday, March 10, 2023

Rainbow Bargello with a Twist


So much has slowed my progress of this quilt that I started last year, but that doesn't matter right now. It's done! I had a lot of solid 2.5" strips that were left over from cutting quilts from my solid fabrics. As I said in my last post, the bin was overflowing so it needed to be used. Went through the bin and pulled out every fabric that had at least 2 full strips. I cut some black to put between some of the sections which helped me have enough colors to make this top.




Black binding to go with both the front and the back. I had a little bit of the tube left so I added it to the back for a touch of color.


The bin is still full so I still have work to do. But at my current pace of sewing it's going to be a while. I broke my finger and man it's a pain to try to cut fabric. The sewing part isn't too bad. But I do have a custom quilt I have to make (of course I get one when my finger is broken!) so I will push through. 
 


As I was getting a post ready for what I thought was my first finish of the year, I realized that I never blogged about this beauty. This one was finished in January, but it has been such a crazy hectic year I guess it slipped by me. I had a lot of solid 2.5" strips that were left over from cutting quilts from my solid fabrics. The bin was overflowing so it needed to be used. Went through the bin and pulled out every fabric that had at least 2 full strips. So this quilt is just a bit different than my typical bargello because I sewed it in 2 sections and then put it together. You can see that the pattern on top is repeated on the bottom. This made the big fabric tube so much easier to cut. BUT it takes 4 strips of each color. Yes, I had that many leftover strips!

I used a lime green binding because it just brightened up the quilt and I love that color!


 Isn't she pretty folded on my couch? But no, I am not keeping her. You can find it in  my etsy shop.