Humdingalingcious!

It's finished!  The humdinger recycled shirts quilt is all bound and labelled and has been road tested (bed tested?) to great satisfaction.

I truly love this quilt.  When I started on this shirt recycling venture, I was a little worried that I wouldn't get the scrappy thing very well, that either I would over-engineer the scrappy look (in my OCD way) so it would no longer be scrappy, or that indeed it would just look chucked together.  I never seem to know how to get it right. But hooray, I think this one looks suitably randomly scrappy - you are not allowed to disagree and burst my bubble!

In spite of it being a beast to quilt, and I really mean that, I just love the resulting snuggly quilt.  It's very special to us since all three of us have contributed a number of our old shirts to the making of the quilt top.  Surprisingly, all of the pinks in the shirt fabrics are hubby's and son's shirts, not mine! The only new fabric in this quilt is the burgundy solid I bought to bind it with.  I didn't want to go scrappy with the binding as most of the shirts left were pale and I'm not sure we own a shirt that it'd be possible to cut 9 metres of binding strips from!  If you're interested, the pattern was Cluck Cluck Sew's Squares and Stripes Quilt.

Now, anyone know a good physio?  My shoulders are killing me!

It's a humdinger!

Remember those 88 blocks I made from recycled shirts following the Squares and Strips Pattern? Well, DS and I spent a fun hour a week or so ago laying out all 88 into his quilt design.

Up until now, most of the quilts I have made have been lap quilts of a small/medium size with the largest measuring just 52" x 66".  To me, that was pretty big.  But this humdinger was planned to be for a single bed and is 64" x 88".  

To say that I knew in my head the expected measurements of this quilt but hadn't really translated that into quilt on floor space is an understatement, and I am learning lots about big quilts in this process.  

So big I can't get it all in the picture!

When I did get it all in, you can't really see it properly!

I have learned that while moving 20 blocks around for balanced placement can be tricky, 88 is a nightmare!!  DS did join in, scratching his head as he moved one block and learned that it can have a knock-on moving effect on 5 others.  After more head scratching and lots of laughter, we decided it was as good as it would get and checked a quick photo on the laptop to see if anything jumped out at us.  Nope.  Great.  Good to mark up into rows and lay away for joining another time.

Yesterday, "another time" arrived courtesy of some cancelled plans and this little birdie took to the sewing room for some peace and therapy.  There I learned that big quilts aren't therapy, they're endurance tests!  But endure I did, and it was so worth it to see DS's wee face as his quilt top came back downstairs in one piece.

He even helped me baste it and find a backing - I think he's secretly hopeful that I might get on with it faster if he helps where he can!

There then ensued a silent meltdown (so as not to disappoint DS) as I contemplated the 6" throat space of my machine and the acres of this quilt which would need to pass through it.  I began to feel a wiggle coming on. (As in wiggly, wavy line quilting in case you're wondering.)

And so, the third thing I've learned about big quilts is THEY EAT THREAD WHEN QUILTING!!  One and a half spools of thread and this baby is now officially resting on my ironing board until new supplies can be obtained.  How did I not anticipate this?  I only made it to the halfway point, too!  It was such a shame not to be able to keep going and finish the quilting while I was "in the zone", but hopefully I won't have to wait too long to continue the newly named "humdinger" quilt.

All in all very satisfactory progress for an afternoon when I didn't expect to have any sewing time!

All About My Boy

This post is all about stitching for my wee son, who in all honesty is getting to be not so "wee" anymore.  It was this realisation that made me interrupt planned sewing to accommodate his request for two post-Christmas makes.  After all, one of these days he's going to waken up and think that it's not really cool to want items stitched by mum!

So, when he asked very politely if he could have a wee bedside table holder for his new watch and if I could make a larger pencil case/pouch that would hold all of the chargers and earphones his various gadgets are accumulating, mum got on the case (terrible pun, I know).

We had a fun few minutes choosing fabrics for these items - no messing around for hours making decisions like his mum!

We decided to recycle a pair of last summer's shorts which already have a handy dandy pocket on (bit less work for me) suitable for keeping delicate earphones separate from destructive plug pins.  Then I think he was channelling an inner retro, slightly hippy groove, when he chose the camper van fabric to go with a wee piece of denim for his watch tray and the lining for his pouch, and he was very keen that the zip on the pouch would be bright and zingy next to the dark camouflage of his old shorts.  Like a man who knows what he wants!

These wee makes got a great big smile and a big hug too - definitely worth taking some time for my precious boy.

His recycled shirt quilt has had some progress this week too.

Last time I left this quilt I thought I had just about six 16 patch blocks to make but I seem to have miscounted a little and I actually needed eleven.  Anyway, now it's confession time - I gave up on the remaining 16 patches after five and used up some larger squares to create four patches to finish the quota of 88 blocks.  Yep, I cheated!  And, I don't care (how daring am I?).  The four patches will look great mixed in with the other blocks and actually, now I'm only sorry I didn't make up some more of these for the quilt.  In any case, I now have 88 blocks to trim, layout and piece into a top.

As was always the plan for this quilt, it was to be a slow time project, but now that DS has seen the blocks finished he's keen to see it come together.  Perhaps one afternoon while he's bored I can convince him to help me play with layouts for all those blocks!

4 x 4 x 4

In a wee box in the corner of my sewing room is a collection of blocks for the recycled shirts quilt I'm making in slow time.  As part of my plans for November I had hoped to make a few more blocks and at the weekend I did.

Four 4 x 4 blocks were stitched up and added to the pile.  Those little blighters have quite a bit of shift going on in them - differing fabrics and some cut on the bias as per the original shirts are giving me a run for my money on what should be easy peasies.  Undeterred, I've added them to the box and will just have to put my faith in my trimming abilities when all the blocks are made up.

Weekend Update

Nothing big going on around here this weekend on the sewing front but there are some bits and pieces I can share.

First up is this fabulous Bee Blessed Antique Tile quilt top - 

I've been piecing the donated blocks together for the Bee and I think it's so stunning.  Of course, I have a penchant for blue and white quilts so this is right up my street, but I think you'll agree that this block looks great as a quilt.  Thank you so much to all of you who contributed blocks - can you spot yours?  If you don't see yours here, fear not, we have a second Antique Tile top in aquas/blues coming along with the remaining blocks that were sent to us so if yours isn't here, it'll likely be in there in due course.

September brought a return to hours of my week spent waiting poolside during swim training so I've been picking up my crochet again and the chevrons now look like this - 

Would you believe me if I told you there's an hour's work in every chevron stripe?  (Maybe I'm just slow!) This is soft and snuggly, and some days too warm to be working up in a stuffy swimming pool, but I am really enjoying making my waiting time productive again.

Also this week I finally got around to making a zippy cosmetic purse requested by my mum some time ago - bad daughter!

She likes angels, so while the rest of you are having heart attacks over the country angels in brown, I am happy that she will be okay with it!

And, I have finally reached the end of the 572 pieces I've been cutting from shirt scraps for my son's Squares and Strips bed quilt!

What's more, clever me already has 22 of the 88 eventual blocks completed? See ...

Single square blocks

Is that cheating? In any case it means just 66 blocks left to make!

So what have you been up to this weekend?

Deconstruct before Reconstruct

In the odd moments between other things, I have been deconstructing this pile of shirts (and a few more) for my son's slow-time Squares and Strips bed quilt.

When I first posted my intentions for these shirts, the lovely Trudi sent me a very helpful link on shirt de-boning.   You should take a look if you are interested in making the most of every bit of available fabric there is to be had from shirts - it made me think twice about some of the areas where the fabric is more usable that I had first thought.

I must admit though that I wasn't quite as diligent as Bonnie in my de-boning, probably because I'm too lazy or life is just a wee bit too short at the moment.  In any case, I am making inroads to the pile, measuring and chopping and storing away for the future blocks.

I suspect (or perhaps just hope) that this cutting will be by far the most time consuming part of working on this little bed quilt.  Whilst there is something special about repurposing family clothing, there is also a LOT to be said for nice big pieces of flat straight fabric from the bolt that allow your rotary cutter to whizz through them.

Still, there's no rush on this one and I did declare it to be my slower time quilt, so I shall plod on measuring and cutting the pieces individually as the various shapes of the shirt pieces will allow.  I am looking forward to how the blocks will come together though, and so is my son who keeps popping in to the sewing room to see if I cut any more pieces today!  I love that he's keen on having his quilt made but a little too cool to admit it ;-)

At a Slower Pace

I have been trying to make the most of the free evening space available to me while the normal routine has relaxed a little for the summer months.

The Not So Gross Quilt

Yellow Brick Road Pattern in Swoon fabric.

Hence the greater than usual number of quilts, quilt tops and other projects that have been showing up here in the last 3 weeks.

Wiggly Bags

Brit Quilt Swap 3 Mini-Quilt

Pencil Case extra for BQS 3

Bee Blessed block - Very Square Like Me

Bee Blessed Block - Antique Tile

It's a much quicker pace of making than I normally have time, energy or indeed fabric to indulge in and there are still a couple more quilt commitments that need to be taken care of in the next month or two.

Greys Quilt for Brother and SIL

Ladder Strip Quilt - gift for aunt

While it has seemed decadent and been thoroughly pleasurable to be so creative, it won't be a sustainable pace so I'd like to start something that's a little more long term, less pressured but ticking over in the background; something I can dip in and out of amid other projects, without losing too much momentum in the project itself.

I think I may have found just the thing.

I have been collecting this pile of shirts (mine, my son's and my hubby's) to make a scrappy quilt for my son one day. I'll need a few more but as this will be a slower project that gives us time to wear out/outgrow a couple more each.

A few weeks ago, when I saw the  Squares and Strips Bed Quilt by Cluck Cluck Sew I knew that this was exactly the pattern I'd like for this quilt and so now I have my project and my challenge:

• It'll be scrappy and I don't really have great confidence with scrappy (especially when it's a bit limited and clashing like some of this pile of shirts).
• I'm aiming for a single bed size quilt which will be the biggest quilt I've ever made.  The piecing doesn't make me nervous, but the quilting does.  Thankfully the pattern should lend itself to nice straight line quilting which I'll be very happy to achieve on something of this size.

So that's my plan.  Oh, and I hope to have it finished before next summer when it will be lovely and warm and very necessary to change the duvet on DS's bed to a lighter summer quilt! (Who am I kidding?)

Now to start cutting off those sleeves and buttons!