T-Shirt Quilt a Different Way!

So I am getting a little tired of making t-shirt quilts this way.  They are too long and it's hard to pick fabric that isn't matching one of the squares!

So here's the new way!  We cut some of the shirts shorter, went with a thin sashing and added a colorful border.  The size is so much better and the blocks aren't so matchy-matchy.  

Had to show my cute quilt holder: 

And his lovely wanna be assistant! 

My Lucky Square Quilt

This is my version of the Lucky Square Quilt.  You can find the pattern here.   I went digging through my scraps and found some colors that I thought went together. I picked blues, greens, reds, and yellows that were no so bright and added in some turquoise that was a little brighter.  Then I came back and added some brighter reds to perk it up a bit.  

After picking my fabrics, I cut them into 2.5 inch squares, sorted them into blocks so that the colors would be spread out somewhat randomly amoungst the blocks.  I sewed the blocks together and laid them out on the design wall.  Then I could decide which color square should go in the sashing.  

Measure out all the remaining white pieces, sew your rows together, and your top is done!  Mine is smaller that the original pattern, 5x6 blocks.

A Quilt and Some Pillows

This is the second t-shirt quilt for the Children's Church.  I'm not sure about the green that I chose, but the kids like it.  I tried several colors in my stash, but I don't have a lot of kid friendly prints.  The back is a zig zag flannel with red, orange, green and teal on a white background.  I difinitely like the back! Sorry there's no picture.

There are so many shirts that the church has left over from camp and things that I couldn't possibly use them all.  So we took these white ones (which were ugly shirts in my oppinion) and turned them into cute pillows!

These white ones are going to be given away at camp with a colored sharpie as a "signing" pillow.  The campers can have their cabinmates sign the pillow as a keepsake from camp.

The process is quite simple.  After I cut off the top and sides of the shirt,  I used the 14.5 inch template that I have been using for the quilt blocks and drew a square around the design with disappearing ink.  Then I pinned and sewed about 1/2 inch inside the line leaving a hole at the bottom of the shirt for stuffing.  

We trimmed the top and sides with pinking shears on the ink line.  My daughter stuffed the pillows and I sewed them closed.  Finally, we cut the bottom with the pinking shears and it was done!

Here are a couple pillows we made for the Children Church store.  The kids earn tickets by learning verses and get to spend them at the store.  The "R" pillow stands for Revolution Youth. and the purple pillow below came from a young ladies retreat called "Her Virtue".   

So if you have old, or new, t-shirts laying around but you don't have enough for a quilt, you can always turn them into a pillow for a wonderful keepsake!

A Cozy Zig Zag Quilt

This quilt came about from the Color Intensive Workshop taught by Rachel at Stitched In Color.   We had an assignment to pick colors from our color card that represented a feeling or an emotion.  I chose cozy and here's my color palette:

Then we were supposed to pull fabrics to go with our color cards:

If I'm going to take the time to pull fabrics then I should use those to make a quilt!  I was missing a dark brown, so after a fabric shopping trip last month I chose the zig zag pattern that's made from rectangles (as opposed to HSTs).  I also removed the lightest yellow print, because it was too light.  It's not a huge quilt as I have been making them with nursing home recipients in mind.

My cute helpers were being playful as we took some photos!

As I was trimming the sides of the quilt top, I was thinking there should be some way to use those odd shapes.  I sewed 2 pieces together to make a square, sashed them with 1 inch black strips and sewed them in a line.  It looks more impressive in person!  Anyway, I was pleased with myself for using the scraps on the back of my quilt.

  Thanks for stopping by!

Star Light Star Bright Quilt-A-Long Finished!

Here's my quilt for the Star Light Star Bright Quilt-A-Long hosted by Melissa of Happy Quilting.  She has excellent step by step instructions for you on here blog!  Thanks so much for all your hard work Melissa!

I started with my fabric pull:

Then we cut the pieces: 

Next came the flying geese: 

 Then we had to decide on a layout:

Sewing a million HST...no not that many, only 384! 

Then we sewed the center star: 

The sides:

And finally the corners: 

The finished top: 

What did I learn in my first quilt-a-long?
1. I learned how to make flying geese.
2. 384 HST is way too many for one quilt!!!
3. I don't like to make quilts...I like to FINISH quilts!

I used the leftovers on the back:

While I did enjoy the quilt-a-long, I think I get a little ambitious and then impatient when making a quilt.  It was hard to wait for the next week to sew the next section of the blocks.  And I'll admit that I finished this last week because I just couldn't wait any longer! 

Head on over to Happy Quilting to see the quilt parade on April 2!