"BIG BROTHER" & "LITTLE BROTHER"

"BIG BROTHER" "LITTLE BROTHER"

My daughter-in-law saved my grandsons' "baby" clothes in hopes that I would make a quilt for each of the boys. They are now 5 and 3 years old. The challenge was to blend a variety of colors, deal with various fabric types and include key logos in both quilts i.e." DUKE" and "OXY".

I started by cutting and reducing the bulky clothing into usable "squares". As I was cutting up the T-Shirts, I realized that the brand labels and printed sizes inside should be used too. I also found that I could leave the ribbed neckline, pockets or the snap front from some body suits.

I laid out the various size pieces on the floor, distributing colors to repeat throughout. The remaining fabric was cut up and used for sashing and additional squares.

I did a lot of stitch-in-the-ditch and diagonal grids but I also had fun doing free motion designs that reflected the image in the logo. Since so many of boys clothing is made of plaids and stripes, it was natural to use plaid and stripe backing fabrics.

Invitation

Victoria at Bumble Beans is an prolific quilter, not just for herself but also for the benefit of others. I recently participated in a charity quilt challenge that ended up as 8 quilts, bringing in donations for Haiti. Now she has offered an opportunity to participate in another worthwhile project. Make one or more of these 10.5 x 10.5 block houses and send them to her and she will be putting them together. Click on the sidebar button for more information.


Last Saturday, I got to teach a class at my local quilt store, Fabric Patch, Montclair, CA, introducing my Memory T-shirt Quilt. I didn't want to talk about it until I knew that it was a go. I had 6 ladies participate and all went well. I didn't have time to take a lot of pictures but I did shoot each ladies' layout. The store is offering this class again on April 1.

Ready for the Walk

Abby and I are almost finished. We put the borders on and sandwiched the quilt. I decided on wavy lines for the major part of the quilt and stippling between the shells in the border.

Abby will finish the binding and it will be ready for the raffle on Sept 11. Abby limits the tickets to walkers, volunteers, family and friends who come to the Walk. She feels they are the ones who have family affected by MS and will appreciate the theme of the quilt. Even with that, they made $900 last year.

There is still time to donate at the site at the top of my sidebar. Let's find a cure.

Join the Movement

Abby, my niece, and I are putting together a quilt to be raffled at the Walk for MS. Our deadline is August 20, giving her some time for the presale (It can bring in between $600-1000).

The Challenge Walk takes place all over California on September 11-13. Abby's best friend from High School has MS so she and 5 friends do the walk together, my long time friend from church/college group is now confined to a wheelchair, the wife of a teacher at my school was diagnosed, and the wife of Jack's colleague from work has MS. It seems like this disease affects so many circles of friends and family.

Please consider donating either here or with your own connection.

Let's beat this devastating disease.

"MEMORIES OF AN ART TEACHER", finished

It's done and I'm really happy with the results. The dark border really framed it and tied it all together. Thank you for your comment Connie. The burnt orange is just the right accent for the binding (also from my stash) and the right color for the flannel backing.



I densely quilted as much as possible. I love the texture that shows on the back while images on the front still stand out. The most difficult areas to quilt were the vinyl transfers. They tended to stick to the presser foot and shift.

It's Time Again for "Challenge Walk MS"

Kathi and I have been friends for over 35 years. She was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in her early 30's. It has progressed to confinement to a wheelchair but her faith, sense of humor and spirit has never diminished. I made this colorful lap quilt for her last year and she loves that it draws people to come over and talk to her.

My niece also has a long time friend, Rita, who has MS. As part of Team Momentum, Abby will walk with friends who have known Rita since High School.

Abby raises additional money by raffling a quilt that she and I make. This was last year's and we will be starting another very soon.

The T-shirts for the walkers and volunteers become the focus and create the theme. Tropical stamp fabric was perfect for the sashing and palm tree flannel became the backing. The hibiscus flower was scanned from the logo and enlarged. I used fusible web (see "Mon" entry) and machine applique to create this shadow effect.

"Memories of an Art Teacher"

My husband is gone on a business trip for the week. Its the perfect time to lay out a project that requires continuous revision. I had cut up my teaching t-shirts as part of my retirement clean out and set them aside. I originally thought I'd do a fund raising quilt for California Art Teacher Assoc but after reviewing the pictures, I realized that they were too personal and held too many memories for me.

Several challenges ensued: 1) to add the correct amount of sashing to each block so the widths and heights added up to the correct measurement. 2) trying to use only fabrics from my stash. 3) to balance and tied the colors together from all the different t-shirts. I'm not sure of the result or what to do next? Do I add a border? What color?

"KAPPA KAPPA GAMMA" Memory quilt for Missy

My niece, Missy, asked me to make a quilt from her sorority T-shirts and sweats. I cut all the rectangles twice as long as wide. These proportions give you more options in the arrangement. The key to using knits in a quilt is to back each piece with a stablizer (iron-on light weight interfacing). Hint: I would avoid using heavy sweatshirt fabric. I removed the stablizer from these rectangles after it was assembled because they were too stiff.