Cheater Cloth

So, when I cleaned out my studio, I rediscovered 3 cheater cloth panels that had been given to me years go. 

I decided I would use them for practice and make them into charity quilts.  After recovering from an injury to my hand, I had not quilted or sewed much for over a year....yes, I needed the practice for my muscle memory.  

I added a couple of borders and this 46 x 48 size was a quick quilt to complete.

Notice how much green is in this fabric?

Using white thread, I quilted around each pattern, no rulers....all freehand.

Notice how the red dominates this fabric?

I pieced this pale blue backing from some 36" vintage fabric I found.  I was determined to use whatever vintage fabric I had in my stash. I probably wouldn't have ever chosen this blue backing, but in the end, I really like it....a refreshing surprise.

Wow, notice all the blue in this fabric?

The binding is made from a piece of 36" vintage fabric also. 

In contrast with today's fabrics, this selvage is almost negligible.

Here's the quilting pattern on the back.

The blue and green help to balance all the red.

Interesting...I learn something every day.

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A,B,C Wall Hanging

I love this wall hanging.

I found this fabric kit when I cleaned up and organized my studio.

Pattern by "Joined at the Hip."

I used most of the kitted fabrics, but I changed out the brown floral border for this red. 

An afternoon of machine applique...

And then it was quilted.

 I like my wall hangings to have a lot of dense quilting to make them stiff.

They will hang better that way. 

I hate to waste, so when I make wall hangings just for me,  I always use muslin for the backing and I use up lots of my leftover bobbin thread.  I used up 7 different thread colors on the back and now, I have 7 empty bobbins for my next large quilt.

Here it is on the wall in my spare bedroom.

I love it!

The Beast is Tamed!

I am pretty excited to finally get my studio organized. 

I went from this... 

to this....

I have all my yard+ cottons on the upper shelf and anything under a yard, folded like a fat quarter on the lower shelf.

All of my future projects are up here in ziplock bags.

All the backings are sorted. Three stacks of flannels on the left and 3+ stacks of cottons on the right. 

I didn't want to ever unfold and refold another backing just to find out it was not big enough for a quilt top so I measured and labeled all of them.

 I found an odd assortment of orphan blocks, they are tucked in the yellow box.

  It is almost full of orphan blocks.

Flannels and homespun in a separate area.

I already had these 3 boxes of jeans precut into usable fabric from pants.  The tub under the shelf is full of denim too.  Guess I better get a denim quilt on the planning board!

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My scrap drawers under my quilting table went from this...

to this.....

 plus a drawer for kids prints...

These are all under my quilting table so I can easily pull out a drawer to sort and match with the fabrics on the shelves right behind me.

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We made this ironing table for storage.  Here, I have:

a drawer for mixed homespuns...

a drawer for mixed flannel scraps....

storage for all my minky scraps....yes I do make minky scrap quilts.

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My cutting table is my old kitchen bar from 1978.  I have cut fabric on this 39 years (back when my sewing machine was put on my kitchen table.)  In 2006, we redid our old kitchen and re-purposed this gem in my studio.  It is 70 inches long and 32 inches wide. I painted it and took out 3 useless shelves and installed 11 easily removable drawers.  

We added a 72 inch tape measure to the front edge and it makes measuring yardage a snap.

I usually have at least 2 quilts I am working on, so the larger drawers are handy for keeping a project all together.

The great thing about all these drawers is that I can take them out and move them to the ironing board, the sewing table or where ever I need them.

Now that I am organized, it will be super easy to keep it this way, I am very excited and what a great way to spend a few rainy days.

Taming the Beast!

I have been annoyed with all the clutter in my sewing studio for awhile now.  After quilting and sewing for over 10 years I should be annoyed since I never have had great scrap organization.   How could this happen?  I am the person who has kitchen spices in alphabetical order!

I have filled 8 of these drawers with scraps.  They were so stuffed that I had to smooth them down to get them closed.  I don't have any more storage so it was time to get organized.

  I pressed and sorted into color. 

When it was all done, I could relocate them in the bins according to color and they fit a lot better. Now, when I make a quilt, I will be able to take proper care of my scraps and put them into the right bin!

I realized that my huge pile of fleece was taking up my prime real estate here on my shelves.  I refolded and relocated them to the uppermost shelf and can not start to sort our fabric that is fat quarter size and any other yardage over 1/2 yard.

I'm excited to find fabrics I forgot I had.  All these folded piles are still from my scrap bins.  As you can see, I haven't even got to the mess on the middle shelf.  But, I can hardly wait to get it all finished.

I alternate between projects so I don't get too tired of standing at the ironing board.  So, every hour I  sit and piece some blocks on my Snowman quilt.  This is on my design wall.

Notice the Arkansas Crossroads block lurking at the right..

....I have a design idea for all my lovely scraps with that block.  

Aurora Borealis T-Shirt Quilt

So, this just happened....

  

My cousin sent me these shirts from Montana and told me to think of the Aurora Borealis for colors. 

I used some ombre fabric for the sashing and the binding.  I love how this turned out and wait till you see the fabric on the back!

I  quilted a freehand topographical-meander-spiral.

I had one orphan shirt that just couldn't fit anywhere, so I put it on the back.

She has worked and lived in Glacier National Park for several years. 

I love the backing!

T Shirt Quilt

Fun, fun!

Last week, I received a box of T-shirts from a little cousin that lives and works in Montana.

I am making her a quilt.  I love making these.

Today I boned the shirts and got the interfacing ironed on.

Now comes the fun part, putting these all together, trimming, adding the small logos, and mixing them to fit.

I was able to get all the random logos appliqued onto the blocks, i love this part. The words, "Where the road ends..." and "adventure begins" wrapped around the bottom of the shirt, the small round logo was on the chest, the block is cut from the back of the shirt.  I also use interfacing on the appliques.

There were 3 shirts alike and I tried to make the blocks look different with the appliques.

When shirts have a only a long narrow logo, I often cut them down and sew 2 of them together for a block.  Here are 2 different shirts sewn together and I made sure I had room for the small logo on the grey one.   

 I like to use this feather stitch to applique these because it lays nice and flat and smooth.

Ready to start cutting the sashing.

She likes blues and greens and her prompt for me was Aurora Borealis.

 I only have 2 rows to sew together and it will be ready to quilt.