Tag Archives: patchwork

Now on to other things

9 Replies

The T-shirt “quilt” is done.  It is actually a duvet cover.  This picture shows it empty.  It can work that way.  Or, a comforter could be placed inside.

I am going to count the number of shirts before the hand-off tomorrow.  My guess?  47.  [Try – 70!!!]  It was challenging not just because of the number of shirts, but because their sizes ranged from toddler to teen.  Assembling fifteen or sixteen years of shirts is also, of course, what made it charming.

My advice to Tshirt quilt makers boils down to a few pointers:
1)  Interface right up to the edge of your rectangles (using a presser cloth) (I used fusible midweight);
2) Make sure you know which T-shirts have priority;
3) Make sure customer knows some stains that laundered out will be visible again with heat from iron;
4) For a large, multi-shirt quilt, work in four quadrants;
5) Rather than quilt a queen-sized blanket, consider making a duvet cover;
6) Consider adding some top stitching here and there as you go to further stabilize the patchwork;
7) Get rid of voluminous scraps when delivering quilt (unless you plan to use them for something immediately).

I really am so happy to be working with woven cotton again.  As a treat to myself upon duvet-cover-completion, I made a great pair of cotton pants (pictures tomorrow).  They were a pleasure to make because the material was good quality, ironed well, and didn’t stretch under the needle.  Plus, start to finish, the project took an hour and a half!

Now I am covering one of our raggy chairs with patchwork slipcovers.  Again, working with woven cottons feels so pleasurable after man-handling all that knit!!  My goal with the slipcovers is to let the process be easy (lesson learned in Jude Hill’s boro class).  Anything I create will be a vast improvement on the faded Waverly vines that I have been judging as a mess for many years now.

With both boys gone, the house assumes a different rhythm.  We are eating more lightly, more leftovers, and cleaning up!

on the table

9 Replies

Items in progress on the coffee table.

This fragment from the larger Middle Passage series is nearly done.
A little bag in progress… not sure how I’ll construct straps yet.

I shipped these 2×2″ squares to Jude Hill on Thursday as part of her “Magic Feather” project.
This one was too big, so it’s a keeper:

It’s a real lesson in scale, because at four by four instead of two by two, this little shape is decidedly more moon-like than stone-like.

picturing along

8 Replies

practicing blanket stitch

Mary stitched - Unfortunately, paint and pigma pens 'ruined' front side

Winter session class - table

class mascot

Audition for ‘African patchwork’ by Leslie… beautiful scraps, beautifully arranged.  She has since dispensed with the black borders, and butted all the African prints up together.  I love how it looks above, but I’ll admit to preferring her later version.

Desert Town quilt in progress - Leslie

house landscape WIP - Mary

As you can see, we are having fun in this class.  Last week, we worked on embroidery stitches.  This week, we’ll continue with a few more stitches, look at binding ideas, and continue with works-in-progress.

Find a great stitch reference here:  arts and design needlecraft glossary.

itty-bitty-bits

2 Replies
 

a border takes shape… this is for a “quick” happy quilt for D., whose eight month adventure with two broken bones (actually four, because it was the ulna and radius, twice), too many casts and x-rays to count, one night in the hospital, and two surgeries, came to a close a week ago with the removal of the pins.

and now, the big questions is:  to skateboard again, or not?

the doc said, “all I can tell you is, we see a lot of repeat customers around here.”