And now a sneak peek… the entire back will not be squares. I just want some bits of my ol’ school colors scattered about.
Can’t wait to pull this all together!
(Inspired by the Paintbox Blocks pattern at Oh, Fransson!)
Tag Archives: sewing
T-shirt Quilt Mistake and Lesson
I’d like to offer a haiku about my quiltmaking.
T-shirt quilt
How you challenge me
Time lost from mistakes
In reality, I didn’t lose too much time. It’s not like I have a hard deadline to finish this quilt. Though, I would like to move on to some other projects and stop kvetching about this one. Everything seemed to be going along so well…
… I prepared what I was going to sew, checked the machine and bobbin, made sure I had plenty of thread, and started sewing. What I didn’t do, was double check my layout. In other words, did I connect the right columns together?
First two columns - pay no attention to the crooked graphic
My excitement was short-lived as I realized, “Nooooo, I hooked up the wrong columns! ACK!” I definitely didn’t want to take out the seam ripper. The thought of undoing a seam the length of a large bedspread was not my idea of fun especially when I had taken so much care to sew the straightest line I think I’ve ever done. Ugh. I was so irritated with myself. I stormed upstairs, told my husband what happened, and he so nicely listened to my novice-quilter nonsensical ranting. Then I calmed down and thought, I’ll figure it out. I always do.
Lessons Learned (so far)
- Make plans: Make your gameplan, have something to follow. At least you have a starting point and a goal.
- Follow plans: I don’t have loads of uninterrupted time, but step-by-step, I was making progress.
- Be ready to “call an audible” and accept the change: You know, make a last minute change or decision. Okay, so I’ve used a football analogy. (I guess my husband’s football obsession has taught me a few things.) So, if the plans somehow don’t work out, sometimes it’s just better make new plans. In this case, I swapped locations for columns 2 and 3, then 5 and 6. I wanted columns 1 and 7 to stay in the same place due to t-shirt sizes.
I’d like to think I’m a little less wound-up than I used to be, because, if I was doing this maybe 5-10 years ago… I would be taking that seam ripper and starting over. I’d be cursing, and beating myself up for a fairly insignificant mistake. It’s a t-shirt quilt after all. This might be one of the more forgiving projects I’ve undertaken. Tell me there are quilters out there who just make lemonade out of lemons, so to speak.
New t-shirt quilt layout
Why am I sharing this? Because in a way, it’s like everyday life, right? You make plans, you think you know where you’re going, but then boom! You get sidetracked (by something significant or not) and you have to either compromise your plans or improvise new ones.
*sigh* Who knew hobbies could be so deep?
UPDATE ** I forgot to mention that there is a great crafty giveaway at Craft Critique! Open until October 10! **
T-Shirt Quilt in Progress
I’m happy to report, some significant progress has been made on the quilt over the last week. With the quilt taking shape, I was starting to ask myself, why did I start with this project? Couldn’t I have started with a smaller quilt? I suppose my “starter” projects were the craft aprons I made almost two years ago, or the baby blankets I’ve sewn now and again.
Last week, I got over the “still-cutting-fabric” hump, and am piecing the shirts and borders together now. I’ll have to return to the cutting mat later this week (hopefully) for the sashes between the columns. I picked a “coal grey” Kona cotton as the border – good neutral with the rainbow field of colors.
Now I feel like I’m in the “I’m-almost-there” or “Am-I-going-to-get-through-this” stage? (Do a lot of quilters/DIY-ers go through this?) And it’s not like I’m NOT enjoying myself. I actually love the listening to the sewing machine late at night, or when the kids are playing with each other. There’s this peaceful, rhythmic drone, except for when I busted the sewing needle one time because I didn’t take out the pins as I was sewing (which I normally do). It was an awful THUNK sort of sound, but just a small delay changing out the needle and I was up and running again.
It’s just that this project has been in the making for a long time. I’m learning to be patient with myself especially when I have to get friendly with my seam ripper. Thank goodness, it’s only happened three times so far.
Pillowcases – Another Project to Check Off
I finally finished these pillowcases, and taught myself how to do French seams from the Pretty quick pillowcase tutorial (& bonus french seam instructions) at Film in the Fridge. Think of the possibilities for the holidays?! I may be busy sewing for the next few months.
Notice anything? The design is upside down on the left hand pillow. Yes, lesson learned. Now I know what one of the tutorials meant by “good with non-directional prints”. I didn’t really stop to see how it was going to look. Abby didn’t seem to mind. She said, “That’s okay, Mom.” What a relief. Besides that, I turned the main fabric (apple print) 90 degrees contrary to what most of the tutorials showed. I don’t know if it matters. It’s just that if I didn’t, the apples would be sideways, and that’s not really what my daughter wanted.
Here’s a detail of the cuff from the inside. Nice and clean.
Basically, what you see right-side out is normal. What you see when the pillowcase is turned inside-out is this: the French seam. No raw edges.
Looking to add something to your list of projects? Here are some more sites that I scouted:
- This tutorial at jcaroline creative
- The pillowcase tutorial at Little Birdie Secrets shows a “tube” technique.
- To take my pillowcase skills to the next level, I want to try these two patterns at The Lazy Organizer. They’re just too pretty to not try!
Self-Binding Receiving Blanket
I’ve learned another trick – self-binding blanket! I didn’t know it would be as simple as it was. There are plenty of resources around, but I found these to be the most helpful.
Getting ready for hosting family and friends to celebrate Abby’s first communion this weekend. I’ll be back next week with the reception, a bunch of recipes and crafts!
Happy Monday!
Crafting Last Week
It was a great turnout at the Craft Social last Friday night! Special thanks to the Craft Social team! Lots of great women came by and doodled with me: Katie, Lindy, Jen, Susan, Karen, Sarah, Susie, Simone, Krissy… wish I had a sign-in sheet so I could remember everyone’s name. Well, there were at least 26 people at the table because I came home with only four handouts. These crafty colleagues were so fun to talk and brainstorm with. My head was spinning when I got home. Good thing I had yoga on Saturday morning. It helped calm me down. I think the future might hold some special projects – I’m checking into the possibilities and will report on them.
On another front, from my sewing table:
This baby blanket was shipped to my long time friend, Jen, and her husband. They had a new addition to the family, and I was finally able to sit down and sew this. It was my first time working with the cuddly, soft, “bumpy” fabric. Not too bad, but I did have a little trouble with it bunching every so often. The ribbon tabs are a fun add-on for babies, and not that difficult to do. I think choosing the ribbons was harder. At the time of this picture, I hadn’t finished the topstitching around the border, but you get the idea. Abby felt like trying it out for a minute before I washed it the final time.
My little guy kept himself preoccupied with this puzzle while I finished up. I’m so proud of him.
