Reverse Sewing

I have spent my afternoons this week reverse sewing..... By reverse I mean ripping out what I have sewn...... Ann,one of my co-workers called it reverse sewing when she taught quilting classes and I remember her each time I have to take out what I have sewn......

I am making a quilt out of my Mom's sheets.... She always had pretty sheets, when I was small she would iron her sheets after bringing them in from the cloths line.......

I saw 8 1/2 sheet squares for sell on Etsy to use to make a quilt.....I thought I have Mom's sheets, why not use them and make a quilt....I fussy cut all the pretty flowers from the sheets......I thought I would just sew together randomly which I did....
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OH--NO.... I did not like it.... I love scrappy quilts, but controlled scrappy......What to do???
 By the time I got it together I wanted this quilt so bad.....So I have been taking it apart this week and putting back together.

 I added a border from my stash and I will use another one of her sheets for the lining.........I will use on my bed, perfect, because the dogs sleep on the bed on top of the quilt and I can wash as often as it needs without worrying that I would ruin the quilt.......

All I have left to do is quilt it.......Glad I have a long arm machine.......When I had a quilt shop, I always advised people to never use a sheet for quilting......Never say Never......

T-Shirt Quilt

This is the second t-shirt quilt I have made from my son's t-shirts........I wrote about the first quilt in an earlier post......This quilt is made from some of the t-shirts that he had when he played softball........ He was good at softball and a powerful hitter.......I loved going to watch his games........many happy memories there.

I put some images of him on the quilt........ This one was of him when he was about seven years old....... He played all the sports as he was growing up, with us tagging along to watch.......





I'm sure he was caught as he slammed the ball for a home run in the next two pictures......
These pictures say a lot about who he was...... Everything he did he gave his all.......

It was a hard process making the two quilts......I wanted to make
the shirts into quilts so that they would be preserved for future family members to remember Tony.......I have enough of random shirts to make another quilt.....We will have to wait and see if I can summon the courage to do that.

Catch Up Day

 Worked in the gardens this morning while it was cool...... The hot (103) degrees afternoon has been a great time to finish a few things that had been setting around, patiently waiting for me.

One of the charity projects that our quilt guild supports is making small quilts for the preemie babies that are born at local hospitals.

A 12 x 12 quilt is tiny..... Little kits were put together at the guild one month..... I've finished six little quilts this afternoon...... All are a pre-printed Christmas fabric with  small borders...... So simple, yet enjoyed by the parents and nurses.


This is the start of a small wall hanging, Primitive Pinwheels,
by www.primitvegatherings.us  I bought this pattern at the
Cincinnati quilt show..... I will use the lil' twister tool to cut this
little quilt apart, block by block and row by row.... I will then sew the rows back together to finish the wall hanging......

oops!!!!!!!Look at all that white around this picture.....oh well,
I didn't realize that the design wall would show up so much....

I will finish the binding on the t-shirt quilt tonight.......having it ready to show you next post......Stay Cool....
                                                                  

Hardest quilt that I've made

This quilt was so hard to make...... I lost my precious son several years ago......I gathered all his t-shirt with the intention of making a quilt....... I stored them in a huge tote....... Over the years I would open the tote intending to get started on a quilt, but seeing and feeling them as I cut a few would be so overwhelming that I would sat and grieve a while and put the box back into it's storage space.......

I finally realized that when I joined him one of these days if I hadn't made quilts from his shirts they wouldn't be preserved....He had so many shirts, body building, softball and random shirts......I decided to make three quilts..... I divided the shirts into themes....
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He was a serious  body builder, had a fantastic body......worked out at the gym most days after work.....I would start with those shirts.... I used his Zubaz pants that he worked out in for the setting strips....When I got started, it was a wonderful labor of love and remembrance of his life.......

The top was finished....What was I going to do for the lining?    I wanted something special...... I thought about it for a few days.......Some time my best decisions are made when I'm sleeping.....woke up about three one morning with this in my mind.

Two of his work out outfits sewn on to the lining fabric.....Look at the pants, they show the wear over the years.....I cherish them....

I quilted it and put the rest of the shirts away for a while, about six months.....I had to finish the other shirts......I'm sewing the binding on the second quilt now......Stay tuned for that quilt next.

Thinking of Dad

As a child growing up I followed my Dad around a lot....... He had a small country store and I was there every day. The store was the hang out for our neighborhood......... Farmers would gather to play checkers and shoot the breeze as they use to say........In the summer all the young people gathered on the front porch with our cokes and peanuts or a candy bar....... As we got older he would leave my sister and I in charge if he had to go to the house or work on our small farm which was behind the store....... I guess that is the reason I've always loved retail.

Later Dad had a family clothing store...... He and Mom both work at the store....... When they retired I had my quilt shop so they would come and help me do inventory or take care of everything when I went to market or set-up my booth at the many quilt shows........


  Can you guess what these are?   He liked to whittle and made the little pressing tools for me to sell in the shop........

     He would make these walking sticks and I sold a few of those especially when he was at the shop telling people about how he got the marbles in the holes..........


He was a great Dad and I miss our times together.

New Embroidery Project

         I have started an embroidery project.......Birdie Stitches......After browsing blogs I happened upon www.littlemissshabby.com blog. She has so many wonderful projects. She did an embroidery block of the month last year.......It just tuck me a year to find this blog........I guess there are so many quilting blogs that you could find a new one each day.

 She still has this project on her blog and it's free. I downloaded each month plus the instructions, ordered some new fabric......Sunkissed by Moda.....A girls gotta have new fabric to start a new project.........I have made all twelve blocks.....The little birdie is different in each block.... I realized that the Sunkissed charm packs had no blue fabric so I added a blue and a small blue and yellow plaid fabric to the blocks.......I'm making this as a baby quilt and with the blue added it can be for a boy or girl.......Hint.....Hint......Hint....I'm ready for another grand baby...........I'm working on the second block, using three strands of thread. It works up fast.

I'm also working on this........I use to own a quilt shop and in the early 90's before all the quilt kits became the rage. You could get these kits, pre-stamped on fabric........A lady bought this kit and cut all the leaves and flowers out then brought it back to the shop, she said she could not get them to line up with the design stamped on the background fabric.......Being the wonderful shop owner that I was, I refunded the price of kit back to her.......This became my travel work......I appliqued all twelve blocks then put it away, came across it about a year ago.......It became my project to take to Sit and Stitch or other meetings to do the embroidery on each block.........My goal is to finish this quilt this year.

Granddaughter's Graduation Quilt

This was a fun quilt to make. I knew that Granddaughter # 2 would like it. I made one for Granddaughter # 1 when she graduated...........I used a pigma pen to do the writing around the white middle border, then pressed using a vinegar solution, spraying the lettering then ironing.......The quilt will be a remembrance of her high school  and college friends........ Amanda wants me to make her one combining left over fabric from both girls quilt..........Will have to see how that works out....... I will eliminate the white border..........
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We were at Amanda's shop when I gave it to her, see all the sports bras hanging in background...........They are as bright as the quilt.........Amanda's company is www. spandees.com.........It is a small company specializing in fun spandex shorts and tights for sports teams......... I have a pair of them that I use for yoga.