Winter Spice Flannel Curves (Circles) is done!

 

I am really great with deadlines....and I definitely subscribe to that quote, "if it wasn't for the last minute nothing would ever get done"...

that's me........

Anyway.....I was really wanting to get the Flannel Circles Rag quilt 

(Sounds better than Flannel Curves Rag quilt, right?) 

finished before I leave to spend a week with Mom and I stayed up til nearly 4 in the morning today and got my finish!

Front....

I decided to go with a scrap-pieced border and originally was going to rag the border too but since the pieces are different sizes from the quilt blocks I thought it would detract from the quilt design so I sewed the border right sides together (except in the corners).

Here's the back.....

I made sure not to touch any of the same fabric on the border to the blocks on the front but really didn't pay attention to the back and I see there are a few on the back that touch but.......ah well....

....I didn't do any additional quilting....thought the circles were plenty since the batting is held in on the seams of each block.

I love the Boho colors in this throw, which measures 51x51 inches........it is ready to accompany me with my sofa lounging......and I can check off one more on my WOOFA challenge list!

Halfway there and a new place for gnomes...........

I have half of the flannel squares quilted and sewn together in groups of 4.  This way I'm able to do the quilting in a complete circle and hopefully add more stability to the rag quilt.

These 32 squares are all ready to be sewn together and make one half of the quilt.  After my regular sewing scissors began creating blisters I ordered some rag quilt snippers which will be delivered today.

 Last week my friend Mary Ann posted a link which I was more than elated to try to re-create on this sad tub which I had been unable to grow my ice plant it............

This is a daylight shot.....still not sure if I will leave the solar lights on it as it really has way more lights than needed and looks a bit overdone during the day.....

But is is rather sweet at night........I think I will try to get a different idea for lighting it ......maybe a solar spotlight will work better........

Winter Spice Flannel Curves....

I started this quilt back in 2013 with some beautiful flannel called "Winter Spice" I purchased at FQS with a gift certificate I had won in 2012...it is on my WOOFA challenge list so I decided to bring it out of the UFO pile.......

...............this was the old layout I had back in 2013 and I had already cut all the patches out and sewed 16  of the 64 squares sewed together RIGHT sides together..... 

my plan had been to make the quilt a rag quilt and after looking at the 16, I wondered "why hadn't I sewed them together with the wrong sides together if I was making a rag quilt?"

In checking back at old posts apparently at the time I was afraid the quarter inch seam would come apart after clipping it so it would fray....

hmmmmmmm....well....the seam ripper and I had a little conversation and decided that wouldn't happen so we un-did the seams then I re-sewed them again this time with wrong sides together...clipped them and decided they will be just fine.

The templates I used are Elisa's Crazy Curves templates, which really are just Drunkard's Path templates....but I do remember I was able to cut 4 layers at a time so I was happy about that..........

So, as I said, this project is on my WOOFA list....and it is going pretty fast now so ....I think I will be able to add it to my October finishes..........

Of Silk Purses and Sow's Ears...............

 I thought I would show you the latest on the Sow's Ear to Silk Purse swap............

I made another sewing carry-all with the unloved fabric I got from Barbara.........Barb loves everything Native American so I did this for her...

 the multi-colored stripe is the "sow's ear" fabric Barb sent.........I had the Native American Print, which just happened to match perfectly.  

Both sides have the Kokopelli machine embroidery emblem, which I carried on onto the Needle book and I have made a new pattern template for each one I've done, depending on the fabric and design I decide on......I was trying to make this one look like a Native American Pot but it sort of turned out just looking like a little bag.....lol...

I am so glad my lovely friend, Shez, made one of these earlier in the year and I took the idea from her....thanks again Shez!

Done! Done! and Done!

 I am soooooooooooo happy!! Got the quilting done, sewed all the sections together and put the binding on the T-shirt quilt.  Here it is, front on the left and back on the right.

 I used T-shirt scraps and sewed them together to make the binding...........I am really pleased with how it worked out...........I used the decorative stitch that looks like the one you see on baseballs......and I am happy with both sides.........

 With T-shirts on both sides plus all the t-shirts had stabilizer I didn't add any more batting.........the quilt measures 63" x 82".......

....and weighs over 6 pounds!

I did have a couple of hiccups........first I decided to wash the top half to ensure that the water soluble in pen marks would be gone and I am so glad I did.  I knew some of the Tye-dyed T-shirts were bleeding when I ironed on the stabilizer with hot steam so I used ice cold water and the tye-dyed colors still ran like they were in a high stakes race!  

I was able to take some of the stains out but the top half does have some visible....but I don't think it is too bad....close up is noticeable...but over-all it doesn't look as bad as the photo above and thankfully the bleeding only shows on the back side......and I'm sure from an airplane or a fast moving train the stains aren't noticeable at all!

......but, seriously, I will now be sure to let my son know that it can only be dry cleaned....I don't think I would have mentioned it if I hadn't tried to wash it first....... 

 

I also had a little trouble when I sewed the top section to the bottom section and had to re-sew it so the top stitching on the back side looked better......but other than that for my first T-shirt quilt.......I'm happy with the results.

So I am ready to package it up and send it to my son.............I'm so excited to hear his reaction when he gets it........he has been waiting awhile for me to get this done and I really think it will be a big surprise...............

FNWF and Wow! This is amazing!

 I quilted the first section of my double sided T-shirt quilt today and I am Soooooooo happy with how it went.  I used my quilting foot and did just a simple diagonal stitch spaced a little more than 2 inches apart.

Here is the main side:

....and here is the back side...

I used a variegated blue/white/gray thread on the main side and a variegated gray/white on the back.  I will probably quilt each section in the opposite direction of the section it attaches to.

and here is the Wow!...This is amazing! part of the post.....

I have had this water soluble marking pen for two or three years and I don't think I've ever used it .....til now.......

I started marking my quilting lines with a blue marking pencil when my eyes fell upon this marking pen........I tested it out on a white T-shirt scrap and it came right out when I sprayed it with water!  I didn't even have to rub!........

Here are the quilt lines I marked before spraying with water:

\

..and here they are after spraying with water!

I'm sure I'm probably the only one who didn't realize how wonderful these water soluble pens are but I will certainly take advantage of mine from now on!

I'm linking up with Friday Night With Friends today hosted by lovely Cheryll.........please click on THIS LINK to go see what other friends have done today!

 

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..........