Phew, this one took forever!

The T-Shirt Quilt is finally done!  

 
I didn't love making this, my first, t-shirt quilt.  In fact, I made it somewhat begrudgingly in an effort to rid these mostly-holey tees from my husband's closet.

Some of these shirts were so thin you could see through and others so thick with heavy painted-on designs. 

It is soft and snuggly though.

For the backing, I used manly buck heads.  One of the t-shirts had a line of aliens on the front and the back had the same aliens but pictured from the back.  So I transferred that idea onto the quilt.  One line of aliens on the quilt front, the other on the quilt back.

Have a great day!

Molly

ps-linking up to crazy mom quilts finish it up friday

Rewind Quilt

REWIND QUILT

 

This was my first time piecing curves and my first go around with spiral quilting.

INSPIRATION...

It all started with the 80s-erific cassette tape fabric.  

I had my own nostalgic mix tape of 80s thoughts running through my head while making this one.

PIECING...

I made my own templates from paper.  

As best as I can tell, the important thing to remember when planning for curved piecing is remembering to factor in the seam allowance on the curved sides.

 

 
I'm used to cutting out squares and triangles.  So cutting these odd shapes made me feel wasteful with my fabric.

Sewing them together is a bit goofy.  I pinned down the middle and the ends and a few in between for good measure. 

Ironing them flat is SO much fun though--like a little magic trick.





QUILTING...

I thought quilting a double spiral would be a great idea--inspired by the winding/unwinding sides of the tape in a cassette.  I probably should have realized that the shifting fabric was going to be a problem.  I wish I had done a single spiral.  It got a little hairy in the middle there!  Oh well, trying new things is fun.  You live, you learn.  I'm happy with how it turned out.

I used my walking foot and just went very slow at the beginning, taking a stitch or two at a time. 

 


 

 

The Kona solid colors that I used in this are:  heliotrope, pansy (purples), chartreuse, sour apple, fern (greens), robin egg, lagoon (blues), punch, melon (pinks), shadow (light gray), and coal (dark gray binding).

You can't really tell in the pictures, but I used a variegated thread (pastel blue, pink, yellow, green).

It's meant to be a curl-up-on-the-couch kind of quilt in the winter and a laying-in-the-grass-for-a-picnic-or-whatever kind of quilt for the summer.  Which means it's slightly bigger than usual for me, finishing at just under 60" square.

Thanks for stopping in!  Have a great day...

molly  

linking up with TGIFF at persimon dreams today 

and with sewfresh quilts let's bee social

Signature Quilt

      Signature Quilt for Grandma Phyllis

Almost a year ago I got the idea to make a signature quilt.  I planned a design and sent out a letter to my aunts, uncles, and cousins.  Included in the envelope was a piece of white fabric, a letter describing what to do, and a cardboard cutout guide to help people know how big to sign on the fabric. 


  



As the signatures began to trickle in I started piecing them into blocks and embroidering the names.  I chose to do the ladies in pink, the men in blue, and my grandmother in black.

It took a while to get all of the signatures rounded up.   I had the pleasure of waiting for the names of the two newest members of the family!

I spent a long time rearranging blocks.  I ended with an arrangement that had all of my grandmother's children touching her block.  From there, the blocks of each immediate families' members were also touching.  There had to be some empty blocks so I tried to position them next to the families who might still be growing.  

One block is in honor of "those who have gone before us".   

 In my quest to decide on the right backing and binding fabrics, decided it needed a border.  I love the diamond border.  A few of those corner squares had to be fudged just a bit to make the points match.



A solid, almost periwinkle, blue became the backing fabric.  I used the remaining  30s prints for a scrappy binding, which turned out great.




 
Then came the quilting.  Obviously you don't want to quilt over the names, so it was trickier than normal deciding what to do.

I machine quilted each square of four colored triangles--in the ditch above and below the signatures.

 

That wasn't enough quilting though, technically (per instructions from the batting I used) and aesthetically because the quilt was a bit poofy in the corners of the blocks. 

So I decided to tie the quilt also.  At the corner of each block (in the middle of the four-triangle-squares and where the four points of white come together) I tied with two pieced of white embroidery floss.  

Here it is folded just right and in our family's special box we reuse every year and lovingly call "the box," which I just so happen to have been in possession this year. 

 

 Thanks for stopping by my blog!  I've been waiting to share this one for such a long time! 

Molly

linking up with Let's Bee Social
 and Crazy Mom Quilts

Stars and Stripes Quilt

I made a flag-inspired quilt for my mother this Christmas.

STARS:  I used a darting minnows pattern in white and blues.  The minnows were paper pieced to get the points of the stars to line up perfectly.  All of the minnows used a medium blue, while the non-minnow squares of blue alternated between a lighter and a darker shade of blue.

STRIPES:  The red and white "stripe" fabric is from Ikea.  I originally planned to use it for the back of the quilt, but the top ended up being too small for a good lap size quilt.  So I cut it up and used it as a border instead.

Here are the pictures: 

It's super flaggy, and not likely to really blend in with any home decor, but I think it's fun.  

Thanks for stopping by!  I have yet another Christmas present quilt post coming up soon...

molly

linking up with Let's Bee Social

(chain chain chain) chain of hearts

Happy Friday! 
I have finished this sweet quilt for my new niece.  I'm so very excited to ship it off to her!  As I was expecting, it crinkled up wonderfully.  It's an Irish Chain pattern, which is like a checkerboard in a checkerboard.  I chose to do mine with hearts, which I paper-pieced.  Here are the pictures! 
 

I chose the shades of the solids to match the backing fabric, which I find charming and darling.  I'm on the defensive about it though because not everyone in my house is crazy about the strawberry print.  It was also on good sale which makes me wonder.... but I like it a lot and I think it looks great! 

I'll be linking up with Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts.

Also, today is my lucky day!  Can you believe I was the lucky winner of a giveaway from Rita at Red Pepper Quilts?   Woo hoo!  Thank yous to Rita and Stash Fabrics! 

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day...

molly

Rainbow Churn Dash Quilt

Two quilts finished within one week!  This quilt top was one of a handful that built up as I was procrastinating the purchase of my new sewing machine.  (It was scary to bite the bullet, but I'm loving my Juki!)

I decided on a white binding here, which felt weird for some reason but I like the finished look.

For the backing I found the rainbow leaves fabric and did some piecing.  I'm thinking the green solid was a bit bold, perhaps a white would have been better, but it's fun.

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day....

Molly
linking this post to finish it up friday at crazy mom quilts

Russian Waves Quilt

Here's my finished quilt!  I love how it turned out with the black and solids (and one red polka dot fabric).  It's bold, but still cute I think.  The Russian nesting doll fabric is fun, and I picked the solids to match.

I pieced this in blocks with the black square in the middle and 12 triangles around it making up one big block.  Can you see the blocks?  If I did it again I would do it differently.  I would make a block with the black center and only four of the triangles (sort of like an economy block).  Then I would make a block with the four multicolored half-square-triangles.  Then alternate them to make the exact same design.  Can you see it?  Then the half-square-triangle points would have been easier to match up.   

Thanks for taking a look! 

molly

linking with Let's Bee Social at Sew Fresh Quilts

also linking with Finish it up Friday at Crazy Mom Quilts 

Work In Progress - Russian Waves Quilt

Here's what I've been working on lately.  With back-to-school activities it's been slow going, but I'm anxious to see it finished.  It's the first time I've ever used black so it's a little scary.  The inspiration for the quilt was this darling Russian nesting doll fabric I stumbled upon.

The inspiration for the design was an ocean waves quilt block that I found in a library book.  I modified it by getting rid of a couple of rows of triangles surrounding the center square.  So I'm calling it my Russian (said with an accent so it rhymes with ocean) Waves Quilt.   :)

Thanks for stopping by...

molly

linking with other works in progress at Lee's Freshly Pieced blog

Woven Lattice Quilt

I was inspired by this flickr photo to make my own woven lattice quilt.  I had some extra Bella Butterfly fabric left over from the ruffled duvet cover I made for my daughter.  (Check that out here!  I was inspired by this awesome tutorial.)

For this woven lattice quilt, though, I'm thinking it might have been easier to just make the same design out of a pattern of squares instead of triangles.  Then set the whole quilt top at an angle.  Maybe next time.