Shirt Parts. Everywhere.
If I made a commitment to stitch with nothing but shirt parts I could probably still quilt to the end of my days and never have to come up with anything more than backing fabric.
I'm dead serious.
It might get monotonous, and monochrome - It turns out I didn't have as many red shirts as I thought I did. I had to go digging in the shirt vault (Quiltville Inn cellar!) yesterday to see if I could find some more to enhance my variety.
I'm so pleased with these. THis one reminds me of my recent trip to Scotland. I see a kit in that tartan, don't you?
And a couple more.
Light shirts and random cut strips here - the key thing is that there has to be a certain length of strips, enough of them, to get the cut parts I need for both the background and main parts of the block.
Some of my pre-cut strips have just been way too short.
A couple of times I've pulled in substitutions which will add a more vintage look. (Two triangles short of a star block? Throw in something CLOSE.)
My cutting table is being taken over.
There has to be a better way to deal with all of this - and there is.
I spent yesterday's in-between moments while waiting for the Pieceful Hearts gals to arrive cutting up and kitting out - because once all of the blocks are cut out and clipped together I can' CLEAN UP THE MESS!
Up until this point I've just been cutting one, sewing one. That seems to take so much longer.
Red/neutral block kits are made. Now I'll move on to the blue ones.
Father & Son visit in Idaho!
You know how it is to beg man-family to "Take lots of photos and send them to me!" Exactly.
I got 3 photos of the whole 2 weeks Hubster was away. But they are good ones!
Eldest grandson and grandma!
Hubster Dave and mother-in-law.
And yes - the gargantuan hexie quilt made it home and I'll start in on piecing a backing for it. It's king sized. I need like 12 yards of something. I've looked locally and no one has a bolt with enough of anything on it. I'll piece one scrappy to go with the front.
I also ordered a neck holder for my cell phone so I could try to do a video of hand quilting per your request.
It's NOT EASY!! To get the phone in position and be watching what the screen view is while also trying to see where I need to be stitching is a challenge.
But it's not bad for my first try. There are times where my stitching is out of the range of the camera, but you get the ide. Until my thread breaks. Click to Play:
And yes, Lola was directing the whole thing!
5 more blocks to go and Ladder Star will be done. I'm hoping by the time I get mom's hexie quilt quilted and bound that I'll have the patriotic star quilt ready to put in the hoop as well.
As hand quilters know - it takes a long time to develop good callouses - and we don't want to lose them!
This morning - nice and cool. Hoping to grab some of the Pieceful Hearts ladies for a walk along the river.
And then I'll get started in on kitting up those blue stars.
How is your Thursday shaping up?
Quiltville Quote of the Day -
It happens.
Every. Single.Time! Lol!
Hey, it's 7/11! Slurpee Day!
If you have a 7/11 near you, enjoy a Slurpee for me, okay? It's been forever!
Have a terrific Thursday, everyone!
10 comments:
Terrific pictures of Hubster, Son, and Mom!
Loved the video of hand quilting. Many years ago (maybe 50) my Dad hung a frame from the ceiling in one of the bedrooms so that hand quilting could be done by my Mom, my Grandmas, my Aunts, and anyone else who came by. It was just the right height for chairs to move along the sides. Great memory this morning.
I love sewing with shirts!!! Course I don't have the stash you have!
I think I would have thought I died and gone to heaven if I did.
Still hot and humid here 🤢 too hot to mow the lawn even.
Have a Sparkling good day 💞
"Two triangles short of a star block? Throw in something CLOSE." is my favorite way to quilt with shirt fabric. I love the make-do vintage scrap bag feel that results.
I'm enjoying the progress shots of your RWB shirt star quilt.
These star blocks are enchanting!!! Tell me, will there be sashing between them when you assemble the top? Essee C.
I also use a Roxanne thimble which I love. YLI is my favorite hand quilting thread. I wish they had not discontinued several colors. I love what you are doing with this quilt. I try to keep a hand quilting project going as well and have done small whole cloths quilts this past year.
Thank you for the video!
I love your mom's hexie quilt. It's so free and spontaneously pieced. That one will take a while to hand quilt, for sure!
Bonnie, I recognize some of the shirt fabrics in your patriotic star blocks. I'm working on three memory quilts from my brother-on-law's shirts and have some of the same fabrics. Make it a great day!
Thank you for the video. I have just started hand quilting again. This was so helpful. My fingers are sore but I am working on building them up. Your stitching is perfect. This is what I want my quilts to look like.
I don't know if it was before slurpees but we used to go to the Kresge in the mall and get frozen Cokes same idea just made with "the real thing" as their slogan went. Janet J
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