{Post 1,763} Vintage Pansy Quilt

 I have many friends at my daughter’s in PA. She lives over 300 miles from us. One of those dear ladies recently asked me if I would quilt an appliquéd pansy quilt top she made 40 years ago. So, on our last visit to PA (two weeks ago), I picked it up. 

Susan Smith of Stitched by Susan has a freehand masterclass that I finished earlier this year. I used so many “new” skills when I quilted this top. It had extra fabric all over the borders, which is rather common. I felt armed with better skills to tackle this and make it as beautiful and flat as I could. Here is a pic of before and after of the same corner. I used a peach-colored thread and an all-over feather pattern to pull in the fullness.

I was soooo thrilled with how flat and pucker/pleat-free it turned out.  Here are some pictures of the top in progress and some of the completely quilted quilt. The backing is white muslin.

This next top is one I’ve been working on for years. No rush as I don’t have someone in mind to give it to. I am trying to sell it. I will quilt it if the new owner wants. It is called Bear Mountain Cabin by Glad Creations Quilts. I love their patterns. 

Here is another quilt in the works. I just need 22 or so more blocks completed to reach 60” x 72” in size. This may have a border…I have not decided yet. It is made with a strip of selvage down the center and men’s upcycled shirts for the balance.

{Post 1,762} Juicy Fruit Quilt

We went to south GA this past weekend. We haven’t seen my oldest son’s family in about a year. I drove all the way down, and my husband drove all the way home. It was about 8 hours in the van one way. As usual, I gave much thought to what I should spend my time on while he drove. It was going to be daylight the whole time, which makes a difference. 

I never travel w/o my iPad. Between Kindle, email, blogs, etc., I can keep happily busy for hours. But I never pulled it out once. 

This box of shirt scraps was accumulated when I last cleaned off my cutting table. I am blessed to have a big pressing station as well as a big cutting station in my sewing room. I found bits and bobbles of shirts all over my sewing desk as well as the other two flat surfaces. I kept throwing them into a plastic tote box.

Often I get questions about how I get so much sewing done. Well, I sew every day (just about). Having pieces precut is something that I don’t do often. In this case, I was cutting down the shirt leftovers for two different quilts. They are both blocks I made up and both are pieced onto old phone book pages. That is for stability and to make sure they get up to the size I am shooting for. 

The first one is named Shirts and Selvages. I save selvages from all my fabrics. I have made many different items from them. I am using cash register tape (I got 4 rolls for $1 at a local thrift shop) to piece selvage strips, then I trim it down to 2-1/2” wide. I put that diagonally on a 6-1/2” square paper and use strips of shirts to finish the block out. I got this idea from Bonnie Hunter originally. If you’re new to upcycling shirts or string piecing, check out her blog. It’s quiltville.blogspot.com. I cut strips as small as 1” wide. Nothing over 1-3/4” on these small blocks. Here are my first ten. I use up a strip until it’s all gone. As I finish the blocks, I will spread out the heavily-repeated fabric.

 The second quilt I am calling Juicy Fruit, after the stick gum sold when I was a child. I don’t know if it is still sold. The block shape is gum-like, and the colors made me think of the multi-colored zebra in the commercials. I cut paper and muslin 3” x 6”. The paper is covered with shirt strips. The finished blocks are alternated with the muslin.

Here is where I am so far with that one as of a few minutes ago. This will measure 49.5” wide and 45.5” high when the blocks are sewn together. I have them sewn into groups of 18, 3 across and 6 down. That way I can move them around to distribute the eye-catching colors before sewing the final layout.

Each new quilt is my favorite, and when I’m sewing two at once—that’s a lotta love!

So my cutting strategy? I pulled out one piece (I figured it didn’t matter which one since I was going to try to cut up the whole box…and I did). If I could get a 3-1/4” long piece out of it that was at least 1” wide, I’d cut some rectangles for the Juicy Fruit. I stacked them all so that they weren’t in a jumble when I went to sew. If the piece was fairly large, I cut a 3-1/4” wide strip then subcut it into various widths for Juicy Fruit and cut the rest into strips for the sides of Shirts and Selvages. If the piece was too small, but big enough to matter, I matched it with a similar width piece to piece later. I laid those in my husband’s baseball hat which was beside me in the van. When we got home, after I put things to rights, I pieced and trimmed all those. I. Could. Not. Wait. You can see the pieced ones in the picture above. I also had those pieces at the very top of the shoulder seams of the yoke that have the diagonal edge. Two of those fit perfectly together. Waste not, want not! That’s pretty much my theme for everything. Here is a picture showing the difference. The top went into the very neat strings pile, and the bottom went into the trash. Even I have my limits.

So, do you like one quilt more than the other? I’d love to hear what you think about them. Using upcycled shirts makes the quilt seem loved and antique from the start. They are more lightweight than using quilting cottons well. I simply love them.

I bought an old wooden lap desk years ago at a thrift store in town. We always take it on trips because my husband usually works if it’s a weekday (while I drive). I use it if it’s a weekend. My iPad, practice sheets for machine quilting, and other items work fabulously on it. I sat behind my husband in our van on the way home.That way I could spread out my things beside me (our second row of seats fold into the floor, so we folded the other one down).

Here are a few pictures of my trip home. Not only did I get all the fabric cut, but I also cut up all the selvages I took with me. I stored those in a plastic bag so they wouldn’t get mixed up with the shirt scraps. I am messy, but neat. LOL!!

Years ago I cut up a badly-scarred cutting mat, and I take one of those to portable sewing opportunities. 

This is the box I started with…the styrofoam cup was from lunch. I used it for a trash can. Only the tiniest bits didn’t make the cut, so to speak!

This is what I ended up with…the rectangular leftover container was laden with neatly stacked strips, and I had row upon row of pieces for the Juicy Fruit quilt. The cup held just a smidgen of trash. 

Back to sewing for a bit! 

{Post 1,527} Selvage Blocks

I started making these selvage and eggplant purple blocks a couple months ago.  I finally finished them all.  Here is my quilt with the top 5 rows sewn together and the rest webbed. After this is pieced, there will be one more row of pieced blocks all around the outside and then a border of the purple. Each block finishes at 5".

{Post 1,513} Maverick Stars Framed

Above are 4 of my Maverick Star blocks, with their frames.  I am trying to reduce scraps here, ladies!!  My center blocks are 5-1/2" square.  I am surrounding them with strips from my 1-1/2" strip bin in scrappy darks or lights.  For the outermost border, I am cutting one width of fabric, selvage to selvage.  I can get two 7-1/2", two 11-1/2", and two 2-1/2" squares (which is the size of the centers and corners of the Maverick Stars) with just a sliver of waste.  Voila!!

That makes these blocks 11-1/2" square.  I like the rest the same-fabric outer borders gives the eyes.

{Post 1,511} Alone Again and Still Tumbling

Yesterday I took my grandchildren back home.  It was a bittersweet time, for sure.  Their reunion with their parents was so sweet.  I consider it an honor to have had them.  I will miss the little nippers.  I rarely think to take pictures.  Just not wired that way.

I have been making major inroads in organizing my sewing room.  I found this box of irregularly-shaped triangles.  They are mostly from bindings that are sewn together at right angles.  Lots of them have the selvage fabric on one edge.

I have gone back and forth.  Pitch them?  Save them?  Donate them to someone else?  I just finished my Wild Goose quilt and gave it to my son recently.  That is what I used the other ones for, but I really did not want to make another one of those.

I made up one of these blocks this AM.  It will finish at 5" square.  It involves a LOT of precise cutting, which I would rather skip.  Is there a way to make wonky star blocks with triangles instead of squares or rectangles?  I really like this, but the construction is so time-consuming.  I am putting the box away until I hit upon a faster idea.

Here is a close-up of my tumbler quilt.  I will be adding 4" borders all around next, then piecing a backing and machine quilting this.  It measures 90" x 110" now and has 3,300 tumblers.  I will keep this one to use on one of our guest room beds.  We don't have many that are large enough.  

The close-up shows some of the details of the piecing and the wide genre of fabrics used.  Notice the middle row.  The brown tumbler on the far left is pieced from 2 of the same fabrics.  The one on the farthest right is Tigger in blue toile.  The one next to Tigger is cut down from a 4-patch.  There are Civil War prints, baby prints, I Spys, shirts, and anything one can imagine.

I am helping a friend with her son's rehearsal dinner for tomorrow night.  That means today is making cupcake picks, garlands, etc. as well as taking everything over for baking and cooking tomorrow.   

Praise the Lord for the strength to carry on!

{Post 1,506} Tumblers Away

Got up to 8 rows in a hurry.  I have lots of these cut out.  I wanted to get to this point because I had a partial section of 4 short rows to add.

The section below is 16" wide by 90" long.  I am, really liking this.  This is 480 tumblers!

The following pictures are ornaments I have for auction on eBay.  My user name is whistlersmother10.  I thought the selvage ones would be especially cute for a quilting friend or a guild meeting.  The back fabrics are plain, so one could personalize them for gift tags or ornaments.

I got so much done today in my stitch den.  I cleared out a whole large drawer, tamed most of my shirts, and nearly got my cutting table cleaned off of things that have been marinating there for some time.  Whew--I feel good.

{Post 1,476} Sew Many Posts in a Row!

Is this truly my third post in 3 days?  Maybe I'm back!!

Here is a quilt top I'm machine quilting to give as a gift to a friend who is going to visit on Friday from Colorado.  I haven't seen her for a couple years.  She's the kind of friend that I just continue a conversation with as if I'd seen her yesterday.

This is my Red Zinger selvage top.  Click on the link to see all posts about the Red Zinger.

I came up with a unique design to quilt in the red X's.  The same shape appears in all 4 "arms" and they connect in the middle of the X.  I used red thread on red fabric, so I have a flashlight shining on it to get a good picture.  Hope you can see it!

I like the quilting I've done so far.  I used cream thread first and went through and stipple quilted all the selvage blocks, with a big feather in the border selvages.  Now I'm going back and doing the above design in all the arms plus a back and forth kinda squared off chain in the inner border in red.  I'm pleased with it.  Will show a pic of the whole thing when I finish, which I hope will be tomorrow.

{Post 1,353} Three Runners for Susie

I am going to a post-wedding shower on Saturday for my newly-married daughter, Susie.  She requested two runners (the first and last), and I added the one in the middle. 

This first one is a new technique for me...curved seams.  I made the center panel one WOF and covered it with selvages.  Then I followed the instructions on Red Pepper Quilts blog for curved seams.  I made the curves gentle to see if it would work for me.  It did.  I even did the quilting a little outside of my comfort zone.  It measures 12" x 42".

I think I used 6" wide for the selvage and white layers and 9" for the black, then trimmed it to be 12" x 42".  That is for Ruth.

This one measures 18" x 23".  I think the colors look like camouflage.  Fitting for her, I think.

This one measures 16" square, and is loosely based on a baby quilt I pinned.  

{Post 1,259} Long Time No Post

I have been busy with this, that, and the other.

Sewing-wise, I've been making Christmas ornaments to sell on Etsy.  So far no bites, but hey--they're there!  Clothespin snowmen and selvage trees.  Check them out here.

I've also sewn several tote bag/zip pouch combos.  I would like to sell some of those at a local Christian college.  Time will tell on that.

Rachel and I went to a quilt show last week.  Here's a few of the ones we liked:

{Post 1,184} It Figures!

When I went to the Landrum, SC quilt show a couple days ago, I bought a few FQs for my Grandmother's Flower Garden.  One was a PERFECT green to accent my dark Thimbleberries greens.  So why was I still surprised to see this when I cut off the selvage?

Thimbleberries--I am drawn to them.  :)

{Post 1,124} Scrappy String Selvage Spiderweb Quilted

Today this entire quilt has been quilted.  I did a simple design so it would not be so stiff (the selvages make it stiffer than usual anyway).  I did a Fern Ziggle (Pajama Quilter design) on the center, reverse curlicues on the gold inner border, and what I call a hook feather on the outside border.

I did the center and inner border with a variegated pastel thread.  After that was finished, I realized I didn't have any thread that matched the outer border.  I didn't really want to wait until the sewing shop opened tomorrow because I had time to sew TODAY.  I looked through my machine quilting threads again, and came across one that sorta matched, but it looked way too gray.  It was from a box my friend Sam sent me a long time ago.  She was getting rid of threads she didn't like and sent me a box.  Thanks, Sam!  After quilting, this one really filled the bill!  it matched so well that I had a hard time seeing it as I quilted.

I'm so grateful for the GOOD things the internet provides.  I have made many new friends through it.  I used a design that I saw just a few days ago on my friend's blog.  The pattern was easy to figure out and went so quickly.  

There was also time to sew on the binding to the front.  I am going to start sewing it to the back tonight.  My daughter's baby was due 2/28 but has not been born yet.  This will keep me busy until we get the word that she is in labor and we start the 8-9 hour drive to go see our grandson!

These are the best pictures I could get until it's washed and dried.

{Post 1,121} Scrappy Selvage String Spiderweb Top Finished

Pushed through yesterday afternoon to get both the outer borders on this quilt.  I already have a quilting pattern in my brain, so I might get started on quilting this soon.  It is about 80" square.

Here is an all-over shot and 2 close-ups:

My plan here was to 1.  use selvages.  2.  use up a bunch of the bright blue fabric (which the back will be made from as well).  3.  make a rainbow theme (please tell me you noticed the stars are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet diagonally).

Now to quilt and deliver.

{Post 1,118} Surprise Squishy!

Yesterday I received a squishy envelope from my b-friend at the Country Log Cabin.  She hadn't told me she was sending me anything, so that just increased the anticipation.  You know when you get an unexpected envelope from a blogging friend, it has to be good, right?

It was full of selvages (with lots of the fabric showing!).  How did she know I was working on these for my dear daughter in Wisconsin?  There are 6 rows total.  The leftmost row is folded under to make it fit on the design wall.  The 3 rows on the right are just lying there, waiting to be joined to the mother ship.

Below is my sad little selvage box...it's nearly empty!  My new selvages are going to beef it up quite a bit!  Thanks, Country Log Cabin lady ;)

{Post 1,071} SSSS Blocks

This AM while I was cooking grits, I tore off the papers from the back of my green units for the scrappy string selvage spiderweb blocks.  Here they are on the design wall.

A reader asked if I wanted her selvages.  YES!!

BTW, I mailed an envelope of fabric to someone today.  Let me know when it arrives, won't you?

The blocks are 11" square.

I cut out the purple sections for the next diagonal row.  Stay tuned!

~Joan

{Post 1,070} Spiderweb String Selvage Blocks

It's been over a week since I posted!  So much has been happening.

Quiltwise, I started a new project.  It's a spiderweb block made from selvages and is a string project.  Natasha--see any of your fabrics???  I do!

Here is a close-up of a finished "web" with the blocks just stuck to the wall, not sewn together yet:

I am going for a diagonal rainbow color look...red, orange, yellow, green blue, violet, then reverse back out to a red in the bottom corner.

Here's what I have pieced so far.  The selvage strips really multiply and go much farther than one thinks:

More updates later as time permits.

~Joan

{Post 1,063} Ornaments Finished

I finished the first batch of the selvage Christmas tree ornaments.  Now I'm wondering what to do with them!  I would like to sell some to support my habit (of quilting, that is).

Here are six of them:

As I was sewing the jute loops to the top with buttons, I was having trouble finding buttons small enough to use in my button box.  Then *aha* I remembered my small jar of buttons that I'd removed from the men's shirts I was using for quilts.  Perfect!

Making fantastic progress on my 3 identical secret Christmas projects.  Head on over to my secret blog to check them out.  If you need the URL, just email me.

~Joan

{Post #989} Quilting Coming Along

It is so hard to get a good picture of quilting.  I admire those who do it often with good results.  This AM I started machine quilting my scrappy bargello quilt.  I finished the center with a variegated dark tan thread.  I did a dwirl and twirl pattern.  The dwirling on Pajama Quilter is neat, but I added about half of the surface covered with "twirls".  See if you can see it in these pictures...

The second picture has a row of HST selvage blocks to stretch the back!  I needed about 3-1/2 more inches.

The following picture shows the pebbles I'm quilting in the 5" wide border.  Those take a lot of thread and a lot of time!!  I'm doing them on my domestic sewing machine.  I might try them some time on my Handi Quilter.  I have nearly two borders finished.  That's over 2 bobbins of thread.

~Joan

{Post #927} Red Zinger

Here is the progress on my Red Zinger as of this moment.  I also have the bottom selvage border pieced, measured, cut, and ready to sew on.  I would have sewn it on already, but duty calls.

Here is my favorite fabric in the top selvage border...the monkey in the middle.  So cute. 

I'll tell ya...making a selvage quilt is like making a library of your fabrics.  A tiny piece of them all!  Well, at least the ones you've taken the time to cut the selvages off of :)


TTFN, Joan