T-Shirt Quilt

A friend asked me if I could put together some old t-shirts of her dad's into a quilt. Most of the pieces were already cut from the shirt. There were a few that came from jerseys, duffel bags and hats. Her dad used to coach high school football and now works as a scout for college football.




I fused each piece to Wonder Under (I love that stuff!) and then squared up the edges of each one. I left a one to two inch border all the way around most of the shirt fronts . Then I fused the pieces onto an 18 inch square of quilter's cotton and satin stitched the edges.

When I started this project, I thought that I would end up with a throw-sized quilt. It ended up being 93"x103" which is King sized!

I didn't quilt this project. I have mostly used my machine to quilt baby quilts and the occasional twin sized quilts and I have found that the bigger the quilt is, the more of a headache it is to quilt it on my machine. My friend will take it to a long arm quilter to have it finished.

I have found a local quilt shop that offers lessons on their long arm machines and then allows you to rent them in four or five hour blocks. I may look into doing that sometime next year.

Blue and Brown Cuddle Quilt

This quilt is made from super soft and warm Cuddle fabric. The customer bought a kit from a craft store and then asked me to put it together for her. I used a high loft batting and both the front and the back of the quilt are made with Cuddle. It was a chance to try out basting spray again, and I don't know how you would sew Cuddle fabric without the spray! It's so slick! This was a sew and flip project, or I've also seen them called quilt-as-you-go.


The end result is an extremely soft blankie that none of my kids could resist stroking whenever they passed my sewing desk. I'm eager to try more projects with Cuddle fabric and I have a few ideas of things that I will do differently next time.

Monster Quilt is Finally Done!

This quilt started out as an experiment with applique. I have wanted to try it for a while but have been too intimidated. I got the idea for a monster quilt from Little Birdie Secrets. Their monsters inspired some of mine and the remainder I made up. Each piece is hand drawn, cut out and fused, then machine stitched. There was a ton of time involved in the making of this quilt but it was a lot of fun and I love the end results!








I also used this quilt as an opportunity to try out a few other firsts, namely basting spray and stipple quilting. The basting spray was nice and I think I'll be using it again in the future. The stipple quilting took a while to get used to. I had trouble getting the tension right and there were issues with the top looking great but the back being too tight. Also, I learned the value of good quality thread. I thought that I was using good stuff but after it broke innumerable times and I finally switched to a different brand, I was much more pleased with the results.

All in all, it was a great learning experience and I'm very proud of the end results! I think that for a quilt that started out as just an experiment it turned out very well. If I was asked to make one of these for someone, I'm not sure what I would charge because I worked on this quilt off and on for over six months and didn't pay attention to the total amount of hours put in, but I'm sure there were a lot of them! If you're interested, let me know and we'll work something out.

Mini Wallet

Introducing the Mini Wallet! Perfect for credit and debit cards and all those rewards cards you need to have for every store at which you shop. Also has two extra pockets for receipts and cash.




More colors soon to come.

Mom's Purse

I just finished this purse for my mom. She picked out some red and black fabric and next I'll make one for her best friend.

Car Seat Tent

This was commissioned by a friend for her daughter's first baby. I had never seen these before but I was able to find some pictures and make my own version. It is flannel both front and back.

I love this Forest Friends print!

Diaper & Wipes Clutch Redesign

I made myself one of these a while ago and found that I never use it because the velcro closure made it a pain to close. I had to make sure it was rolled just right in order for the velcro strips to meet. After a little bit of thought, I changed the closure to a button/elastic combination so that I can close it up no matter how many diapers I have stuffed in it. One roll and it's good!



I also decided to round the corners. I think it gives them a nicer, more finished look.

These two lovelies will be making their way down to Lucky's Grill today to join the rest of my things on display. As always, be sure to contact me if you'd like to purchase one of the items shown or make a custom order.

Suspenders

This is another project that I never got around to posting. All of my boys were born without bums and thus have trouble keeping their pants up. I could never find belts for small boys so I made some suspenders. Adam loves wearing his "spenders"!


I have recently discovered a pattern for a toddler belt and that is on my ever-growing list of projects to do. I'll be sure to post pictures when I finish that one.

Tractor Bag

I was just browsing through my old photos of all of the things that I've sewn and realized that I never posted this one.

My son loves all things with wheels but John Deere tractors hold a special place in his heart. I made him this bag to hold all of his tractors because those are the toys that he always wants to take along with us when we go anywhere.

Doesn't that look say it all?

Red, White and Black Quilt

This is a "cheater quilt" that I finished a few months ago. For those of you who don't know what a cheater quilt is, it is a quilt that looks like it is pieced but the pattern is actually printed onto the fabric. Some cheater quilts look really, well, lame, but this was a cute pattern and I think it turned out fine.


It also has the distinction of being the first of my creations to end up with an overseas customer, so yay for that!

Cowboy Quilt

This was commissioned by a grandma for her grandson. Both the front and the back are flannel so it's super comfy! I threw in a couple of Tee Pees that I made from the scrap. It's so gratifying to see when people are pleased with my work.