DONE! DONE! DONE!

I'm sitting here, stuffed again, feeling sluggish, and wondering why I ate so much! My ham is pretty much used up, except for the bone, wisely put in the freezer for potato soup another day, and I have beans and ham simmering on the stove, and have made corn bread for supper. Life is good.

Incidently, the beans were a gift from my LQS! Hey, the farmers grow beans around here! It's nice to live in such a friendly community.

Shirt Quilt #2 -- Yeah - DONE, and I can start another project. This is all washed (to eliminate water soluble basting thread) and crinkly, complete with my label, and YES, I like it as well as Shirt Quilt #1. Amazing how friendly those old shirt plaids are. This one is about 65" x 75" - a generous lap/nap size. I left the pocket unquilted.

I left the sashing unquilted until after all the blocks were quilted, and ran into some problems with puckers and pleats. Next time I will be sure to quilt them at the same time as the block quilting. However, no one is going to find them -- I just know they exist.

Below is what I thought was the perfect plan for quilting the blocks, but no matter what I did, I could NOT follow this! Practiced on paper, practiced on my MagnaDoodle, drew arrows on the stencil to help my brain, and even drew it out on the block, but the drawing got more complicated because I had to draw in both blue and in chalk. Finally gave it up and will attribute failure to a Senior Brain. Almost every block is quilted with a different pattern - good practice. Most of them are 'O.K', there is one ringer, and a couple are done brilliantly!

Saturday I visited my LQS and came home with this book. Hey, they give me a nice discount - I gotta buy something as a visit is worth a therapy session (so I've heard!) The author gives numerous practical drawings/quilting designs, where to start, where to end, etc. I'm enjoying this book, and have already figured out one previously confusing pattern.
It's good to be sewing again!

Still quilting along

This is STILL my same project, Mission Shirt Quilt #2, and it is as pleasant to make as Mission Shirt Quilt #1. I only purchased the sashing fabric - the rest is from scraps from shirts I've made, or Mission Store Shirts purchased at 50 cents each. Yes, that's a shirt label in the first photo. I had the backing fabric already, a green/tan small check that hides stitches very well.
It's difficult (for me) to come up with an all-over quilting design, when you have blocks and sashing and side and corner setting triangles, so ... in my infinite wisdom (actually, it's my inability to concentrate on ONE thing!) I decided to use A LOT of designs! Almost every block is different, as are the side setting triangles. I did feathers, and wispy weeds, swirls, stipples, water, leaves, teardrops, and vines/hearts. Great practice! I'm working on sashing now ... what to quilt? what to quilt? Probably a leaf on a vine but ... time will tell. The Flying Geese border is almost done and now I need to find the binding fabric around here somewhere. (My lost Flying Geese never appeared.)

Any odd almost-straight lines you see are my water-soluble basting thread stitches that will wash out. It's going to crinkle and pucker up just perfectly and will hide imperfect stitches! 8-)

These are 9-inch blocks on point, and the quilt is finishing to about 65"x78" - a perfect TV watching size.

Shirt Quilt #2, Top Done, and Good Tools

#2, Ohio Star Mission Shirt Quilt top is DONE, bordered, and ready for sandwiching. Yeah, it looks a LOT like the previous one seen here! LOL My lost geese never materialized -- one of those mysteries. In the meantime, I wanted to get this DONE, so I used up MORE of the shirtings with the Flying Geese. There is something warm and inviting about these plaids, that made it most pleasurable to sew. And I felt very frugal and sensible. Only the sashing was purchased - less than a yard, and I'll use the leftover sashing for binding.
There's the pocket (below). The pens are there temporarily so you can see it! I will leave that area unquilted. DH and I BOTH love the pocket! I also sewed some labels on the front. Isn't that orange fabric just wonderful? I don't think that orange shirt was ever used.

I recently purchased this Creative Grids ruler (below) and LIKE it, because of it's size -- 2 1/2 in. x 12 1/2 in. - a size we use very often. I found using just that size was less stressful on my eyes. The non-slip dots on the back ??? uhhh, I'm not impressed.

This quilt took a LOT of Flying Geese. I've made them many ways, but my favorite is still Eleanor Burns method, and using her ruler. My next favorite is the No Waste method - I made a few of those also, and I DID buy the ruler, but once you know the formula, you don't need that ruler. My least favorite method was cutting a 2 1/2 in. x 4 1/2 in. rectangle and sewing squares diagonally to the corner, trim, press, then sew a square to the other corner, trim press. It works OK, but for me, is not as accurate. However, when you just have small pieces to use, it's OK but needs care not to stretch or distort with the iron. Some of my geese were made from pieced bits. (Yes, Mom, I have learned to be frugal and "Make Do".) And some of my geese values are reversed - hey I already had them!

I broke down and purchased the Blade Sharpener, on sale. So far, I used it just once on a dull blade that had a small nick in it, and voila! not like new, but MUCH better and the nick is gone -- a good purchase.

Shirt Quilt Number 2

If you are new to my site, I will repeat myself, and am posting my finished Shirt Quilt, finished several weeks ago, made mostly of leftover scraps from shirts I've made for DH #1 and DH #2. And being frugal, I've also used Mission Store shirts purchased for the amazing sum of 50 cents each! Some of these shirts are brand new -- what a bargain - so the quilt was practically FREE. And while I CAN afford NEW fabric (sorta), it seems appropriate for 'these times' to learn how to 'make do' as my Mom would say. Since the first quilt turned out even nicer than expected, I'm making a second one, an Ohio Star, using same type fabrics, with only small amounts of new fabric.

The original idea of using Mission Store shirts came from Bonnie at Quiltville. I want to be Bonnie in my next life.

My 'lost' flying geese border pieces have not materialized. I'm trying to come up with another type border, but somehow, I think it calls for yet another Flying Geese. Quarter Square Triangles are too wimpy, IMHO. I'll work on that.
And yes, I am including a few labels on the FRONT of the quilt, for added interest. And doesn't that orange perk it up? Oh my, NOW, (too late) I'm seeing two light stars too close together ... how did THAT happen? Rows are not yet sewn. I had to add new fabric for 5 of the side setting triangles. One is pieced from used fabric.

However, to carry the theme of 'thriftiness' over the top, I've included the pocket in the side triangle (below). It seemed a shame to waste that big piece of fabric just because it had a pocket sewn there! Whatever will end up in that pocket? LOL
The last photo (below) is one more shirt that needs to be washed and cut apart, but it has a unique collar. The label says "Expandable Collar" and there is a little tab with the button on it, that can be pulled out of the collar to give more room. Funny - it's not a dress shirt, and I don't ever remember that men wore collars buttoned to the neck.

Shirt Quilt DONE and a smelly box of scraps

Not bad for a bunch of old shirts! This one was FUN - just plain FUN! Let's see, 15 shirts at the Mission store for $7.50, and we kept four of them ... the top probably cost about $4.00? The backing is an on-sale white with small black 'doo-dads' shirting. I have a LOT of shirtings left over. All the scraps went back into the 'Shirt Fabric' box, and what do I find in that box ??? 25 Jacob Ladder 9 inch blocks, all DONE, of shirt fabrics. Apparently, my NEXT project is waiting for me. This possible addition is not my fault! - It's Bonnie Hunter's fault at Quiltville.com! ("lol, lol" said with great happiness). Above is a close up of quilting. I wish I had quilted the flying geese in 2 colors, but when I started, I didn't know how to do that. By the time I was finished, let me tell you, I KNOW now. 8-) OK, it's a utility-type quilt, but my DH sure LOVES it!

What I learned? A lot of the fabric was thready and ravely. I should have been more generous with starch. Some is also loose in weave resulting in stretching. The seam allowance on the side of the geese border got a little teensy in places, so the binding was not as neat as usual.

So, it's done -- I was thinking about revisiting the Mission store after work today, to fill in some blanks in my fabric stash? Luckily, that answer was provided today at my office -- what timing! Someone had cleaned out his Mother's home and found 2 boxes of scraps - he brought them to ME! What a great gift!!! I knew they would not be fresh, and would have some throwaways, but, here are a lot of keepers - especialy shirtings of all things - freshening up on my badly-needing-painting deck railing.

OK, group, how do I freshing them up better than this method???

They are cotton bits and pieces - if I washed them, they would definitely get very ravely.

What I did on my Vacation

Returning from an at-home vacation and a scenic drive through northern Colorado, I was so pleased to see this award given to me by Ruth at CountryLogCabin. Thank you, bunches. Now, one of the rules ... huh? RULES???? oh no, I'm dead!!! Everyone of the names in my side bar, as well as each of the bloggers who stop by my blog, or whose names are in my Bloglines (over 100) are also worthy of this award. Some days, each of you, have provided ME with some measure of inspiration, ideas, calm, wisdom, etc. I cannot possibly choose just a few!
When returning home, I resumed my Shirt Quilt, which called for a million flying geese. I am using the No Waste Flying Geese method, which calls for drawing lines but I decided the last step of 'drawing lines' could be eliminated by drawing the line ONCE on my machine bed, instead of on each of the many squares. I keep my eye on the corner of the square and that right line, drawn 1/4 inch from the center line. Saves me drawing on 100s of squares and the square is still sewn straight. Works for me, and the line eventually wears off.


I'm very pleased with this quilt, and have used all Mission Shirts as well as pieces left over from shirts I've made for my husband. He needs extra tall, and likes snaps on his shirts, so I've made most of his shirts. I especially like the randomness in the border. Again, thanks to Bonnie of www.quiltville.com for all her GREAT ideas! In my last post I mentioned her book was out -- well it's not quite out, it's 'almost' out, and not yet released. I'm already placed my order! Yeahhhh!

The lower photo (above) shows a closer view, where I've sewed on a shirt label -- it adds a lot to the character, and used several more in the project, including one that says "Handcrafted by Elaine Adair" ... you know, those labels we've ordered to put in our special gifts we made?

Our driving trip through Northern Colorado was lovely, fresh, beautiful! But we enountered a lot of rain and fog, which turned into 3-5 ft. of snow, making our planned drive to Estes Park impassable! Uhhhh, we flatlanders forgot about that!

The damage caused by the Pine Bark Beetle is devastating, destroying millions of acres of Pine Forests. Apparently, there is no reasonable solution, other than time.

You can figure why a quilter would love this rock formation photo. Looks like quilting lines to me!
We drove what is called the "Poudre Cache" route, starting from Ft. Collins, going west to Walden, around down to Granby, then hopefully through Rocky Mountain National Part to Estes Park (where we couldn't get to, due to snowfall). The last photo is just one I liked, especially the reflection in the mirror. This was going to Waldron, CO, a high plateau with many fields of hay, cattle, and FLAT.

After this vacation, I believe I've reached a new 'plateau' in my own life. The one where one must admit, "it's REALLY nice to sleep in one's own bed!"