September WOOFA................Progress with T-shirt quilt...........

Goodness this year is going by fast.......seems like we just said goodbye to August and now September is gone too!    

I have the back of the T-shirt quilt more than half done now.........Since I decided to make it a double sided quilt it is literally like making 2 quilts.........these are all the blocks which will go on the back side of the quilt.  I turned over the front side of the quilt and just laid them where I thought they fit best.

I wasn't sure how to do the back........I thought about using regular fabric to outline the blocks I had and I tried both a dark fabric and a light fabric and didn't like either..............

  So I decided to just add to each block to make it the same size as the front block it will be behind......

  Here is what I have so far......the 3 bottom sections which comprise the bottom half of the quilt are ready to quilt. Once I quilt each of the 5 sections I will sew them together with a quilt as you go method..........(at least that's the plan right now....subject to change if plan A doesn't work like I want it to....lol)

oops....had to edit this post....I forgot to give you all the link to visit the other WOOFA projects at the lovely Cheryll's blog at "GONE STITCHING"....here is is....just click 

HERE

 

A Silk Purse.... a place to hang my rulers.... and trumpet vine gone for this year!

I belong to a sewing swap group and this round we are making a "Silk Purse from a Sow's Ear". Each sewist sent some unloved fabric to the others in the group and so forth.  The person who receives it will then make something out of it and send it back........This is what a got from Lynette......a beautiful Fall Table Topper.... Lynette made some beautiful Log Cabin Blocks. The fabric I sent her is the predominate fabric on the upper left and lower right log cabin blocks and the center piece in the other blocks.  Thanks Lynnie! I love it!

 While I am waiting for the stabilizer for the T-shirt quilt I made a place to hang my rulers.  I had been looking for something for awhile and while looking for the stabilizer at my local fabric store I went by the rulers and saw that they were hanging on the type of hooks you use in pegboard!  Well shoot, why didn't I think of that?  I remembered having a piece of pegboard in the garage so I went out there, put it on my table saw....cut it to size and Voila!  Exactly what I needed......Notice the scissors hanger.......I had bought it awhile back hoping it would work with the rulers but the hooks weren't right for rulers........they sure work great on scissors though!

I also worked out in the yard this morning and cut down my trumpet vine.........it had been growing against the rock wall and put some rather large cracks in it so now I have another project when the weather gets a bit cooler..........

Here is how it looked this summer.....so beautiful and the hummingbirds loved it so much!

and this is how the trumpet vine looks today.....

Unfortunately, this is what it has done to my wall....so I will need to repair it before next year because I don't want to disappoint my hummingbirds.  I know it will come back....it's an old hardy vine.  I just need to re-route it a little further from the wall..............

                                     

Working on the back of the T-shirt quilt.....

I finished sewing the T-shirt quilt top into 5 sections.  Now I just need to finish putting the iron-on stabilizer onto the blocks for the back.  The photo on the right shows all the blocks that have stabilizer on them.......I ran out of stabilizer today and won't get any in until Wednesday....grrrr....(couldn't find it locally...they were out, so had to mail order)

      

Ok.......so this is what the back of the front looks like.......My (latest) plan for placing the back blocks is to try to place them by section......(if you look close you can see the 5 sections)

....anyway......I have these blocks left to put the stabilizer onto....(about 15 more).....these are not as large as the blocks on the front, which numbered 30,  and they still need to be trimmed......so they should fit....

.......and while I wait I seem to find more embroidery patterns to add........I have LOTS of T-shirt scraps....many are still pretty large....so I find myself making more blocks.......I do plan to use the scraps to make borders, as well..........

well.......that's the latest on the T-shirt quilt.........since I have to wait til Wednesday for my stabilizer maybe I'll switch gears and try to make a block for my Long Time Gone quilt tomorrow..........

WOOFA T-shirt Quilt Progress...

 I got all the t-shirts backed with the iron-on stabilizer and have them laid-out like I think I want them.  It looks like I will be able to quilt it in 2 or 3 sections...maybe 4. It all depends on the backing layout.  For now I will start sewing the front sections together and see how it goes...

I didn't want a perfect grid layout but more of an interlocking hodge-podge layout as above.  I am, as we speak,  working on an embroidery piece that will fit in the blank spot on the upper right side of the New Orleans T-shirt front.

The back side will be made from other meaningful T-shirts and embroidery pieces using the left-over pieces of T-shirts from the Harley Davidson shirts.  I don't know yet what that layout will be............but I'm happy with what I have so far on the front...........

Learning about Clams..........

I hand stitched my first clamshell last night and learned later than it isn't necessary to stitch down anything but the circle part because the rest is hidden below the next clamshell......duh.......

Onward......

.....while browsing the internet for clamshell ideas I came across this interesting "short-cut" by Susan Stiff of Moda which uses a machine seam.........

So I decided to try to see if I might like this method...I tried several different ways of stitching and I think the most accurate for me was to actually stitch right next to the template, press over the template, turn the shell right side out and then press again with the template inside.

                                 

Here are my first 5 clams. 

I think I could even use this method with hand stitching....

.............(stay tuned for more of my clamming progress)......

One more LTG block before heading home.....

 I finished the Plus a Star Block yesterday and will be going home from Mom's today...........

Now I have only 2 more big blocks and one small one to do plus whatever filler blocks are needed to match up all the blocks.

I have been collecting 5 inch charms for awhile and looking at different patterns for charm quilts and have never found something that "speaks" to me until I ran across several clamshell quilts all in one day!  I decided that's what I will attempt to do with all my charms.....

I cut these templates which leave way more than a half inch seam so I may cut some larger ones before I start.  I've always enjoyed stitching hexies so I am hoping this will be similar...........I brought them to Mom's thinking I might have time to stitch a few but stayed interested in LTG.....

There was still fabric left over from the leaf quilt we all made and I found a little time to make a throw pillow to match the quilt and pillow shams.................

 

Sewing at Mom's....

I brought my Long Time Gone fabric/scraps to Mom's and have finished 3 new blocks.  I finished HST block #1 and HST block#3 and Jacob's Ladder block....

Here is HST #1 made with 2.5 inch HSTs

And HST #3 made with 2 inch HSTs.....

....and finally Jacob's ladder.....

I had to bring out the seam ripper for Jacobs ladder. After I had finished it I noticed I had sewn 2 of the 4-patch pieces backwards....can you see the mistake on the "before" photo below?

 I still need the Plus a Star Block, the 60 degree triangle blocks and the last flying geese block and I'll be ready to sew the flimsy together!

The weather here at Mom's has been cold the last couple of days but tomorrow it is supposed to be nice so I'll get Mom out for a drive.  We won't stop anywhere because of COVID but she enjoys the ride.

 

FNWF............ T-shirt goings on...........

Here it is Friday night in Texas USA and all my blogging friends on the other side of the world have already had their FNFW.....but not with out me!   I still feel like they are right here working right along beside me!  Thanks to lovely Cheryl for organizing FNWF to help us all be crafty and bloggy!

So this is my first FNWF and I spent most of the evening working on the T-Shirt quilt.  I have the backing on 10 T-shirt fronts and have done some additional backing on smaller pieces which I will use as filler pieces.

My son gave me so many shirts that I am going to put them on both sides.....I am also using left over pieces to embroider other filler pieces...........these still need the iron on backing to keep them from stretching when I sew them together.....

This pile still needs backing ironed on, as well.......

On Sunday I will be going to stay with my Mom for a week so I won't be able to work on the T-shirt quilt....just too much bulk to take with but I have a tote already packed with all my Long Time Gone Fabric which I will work on at Moms..........

So that's it for now...........

You can go over to Cherylls page and see what everyone else worked on during FNWF

Click Here

Do you ever look at something cool and say

Flying Geese, Churndash, and Bow-ties, ...Oh My Stars!

I finished 7 more blocks for Long Time Gone and it is now September ... time to change gears and work on my WOOFA project for this month.......But first...........

2 of the flying geese blocks are done.......one more to go!  The last one is a double of the first one you see here.......I had toyed with the idea of replacing the biggest flying geese block with something else...first because flying geese are not my favorite blocks to work with and second because I thought the block looked too busy....But after completing this one I sort of like it so I might go ahead and do the last one after all.......

I really like the placement of the flying geese in the block below, don't you?

Both Churn Dash blocks are done.....Oh my gosh...I remember the Churn Dash block being rather easy but each of these squares that make up these block is only an inch and a half square!  I struggled at not clipping points on these.......

 The Square in Square Stars Block is done!

And both Bow-Tie blocks are finished!

The flimsy is coming together.....  I still need several sections .... .but I'm really pleased with what I have so far.........I love the use of the checkerboard fillers....my finished blocks aren't always the size they are supposed to be so the fillers really help.

I have 6 more big blocks to go....but Long Time Gone "ala Ida" is beginning to take shape! 

I have added Long Time Gone to my WOOFA Challenge list because I have committed to work on the T-Shirt Quilt on the list for September and I don't want LTG to turn into a UFO .....It is on my display wall so I have a daily reminder.....lol