Sunday Quilt Inspiration: B L U E

I've been busy sewing blue scraps together to make small blocks of 4" and 6" squares. Tomorrow, if there's time, I'll begin making some 8" squares, but I also have to take Jolie to Lafayette for new ballet shoes and then to JoAnn Fabrics for enough black backing to finish the Harley Davidson quilt. I thought I could do it using pieces from the stash, but no. It can't be done. There's just not enough black solid, even if I were to piece together all of what I have.

Since I was playing with blue scraps, I thought it might be nice to look for some inspiration for those blocks. Here's what I found.

"Paulitiks" by Preeti Harris of Sew Preeti Quilts
Made for her husband, Paul. Guess how I found out...

Have a wonderful week! I hope to see you in the studio,

Mary

Pin It Weekly # 232

Have you been pinning lately, or have you been fighting the flu virus? It's been the latter for the Marcotte group. Everyone, except Richard and me, has had the flu. They just keep spreading it around to each other. While I didn't get the flu, I got flu duty. All of the kids--no matter what age they are--were laid up for three full days. 

In fact, I was really concerned about Lane. I didn't see him move. Bathroom, no.
Water, no. Sprite, no. Gatorade, no.
Medicine, no.
Whining, no.


I'll assume that he did some of that. Maybe he did all of it. I just didn't see him move. I'd go look in on him, and he may have changed position, but it was barely perceptible. It's unnerving to watch your grandson for signs of life. 

So pinning was not on the priority list, let alone at the top. But I have some improv quilts that I haven't shown you from my "heart, quilts" board. Here you are....

And there are my pins from 

Cotton Quilters' Guild Meeting * February

On Monday the Cotton Quilters held their February meeting. We began promptly at 1 p.m. (I hate when meetings begin late.)

Counting out their yoyos? Or giving up half?

Remember the Great Yoyo Race? Well, it didn't fly as far as I'd have liked. We did count yoyos and one member had 250! In one month of yoyo making. I think she used child labor, but there is no proof, of course. Since I was using husband labor, I guess I can't complain.

Oh no, we're not talking during a meeting. We'd never do that!

Quilt of Valor twin

Quilt of Valor

Sue sharing her finished sampler
quilt from last year's BOM

Several people had quilts to share. And one of our members gave a demonstration on English paper piecing (EPP). She's been using this technique for several years, so she really knows the tricks and shortcuts. She has also presented to the group before, so she was comfortable speaking in front of everyone.

To prepare for the presentation, Marilyn called a company that she uses for purchasing papers and tools, and they sent enough small kits for everyone. Each kit has papers, fabric squares, and directions. Marilyn brought in glue sticks and asked everyone to bring in needles and threads.

She brought in some beautiful samples of the quilts she's working on. She has about four projects going at any time because, she said, she likes to change from one to another so that she doesn't get bored by making the same block over and over.

She apparently loves Kaffe Fassett fabrics. It's all she uses because the colors are so brilliant and the motifs don't get lost in the small pieces. These last two samples really support her theory. Aren't they beautiful?

I enjoyed the EPP lesson and can see how it would make a great portable project. I don't know how far I'd get before it became an abandoned WIP.  Have you tried EPP? Is it a technique you use regularly? 

Harley Davidson memories ~~ finished top

I've been working on this customer quilt top for several days now. The customer's husband must have been a Harley Davidson fan for quite some time now. His HD tee shirts come from all over the United States.

I haven't counted the number of shirts that I used in the quilt, but it's quite a few. Some of the shirts have interesting fronts and backs, so I tried to keep those together, but I didn't worry about which side I attached on top. It was enough to keep them together. 

Since my customer wanted me to arrange them in a puzzle configuration, I decided to put these two black shirts together so that they would look like one large block from a distance. I may even quilt them the same since the designs make quilting almost impossible in their centers. Stitching through the rubbery screen printing ink is a mess. The thread shreds as the needle punches through the heavy ink. 

When I have a shirt with a full design, I try to find a line or two where there is no ink. Sometimes, the printer chooses to skip the spaces where the shirt color will suffice.



An example of that would be the Grand Turk design on the left. Although the design is heavy, there are places without ink, the tan parts of the motorcycle, the character's face, and between the letters. 

The Renegade shirt is one that will be difficult because there are no open spaces in the design. To handle that one, I'll have to slowly stitch through the ink, going around the Indian character. To ensure that the shirts don't stretch, I'll quilt some small motifs, trying to find some that will work with the overall design of the individual shirts. 

 Hopefully I'll be able to get started on the quilting this weekend. I plan to go the Baton Rouge from Wednesday to Friday to help with the Beta Convention talent groups. I go behind stage and boss people around. Remember (click here) how I did that last year and had fun? Well, I get to do it again.

Link Ups!

Crazy Mom Quilts (Finish It Up Friday)

Busy Hands Quilts (Finished or Not Friday)

Confessions of a Fabric Addict (Can I get a Whoop! Whoop!) 

Sunday Quilt Inspiration: motorcycles

I've been working on a customer memory quilt for over a week now. Today it hit me (finally!) that the theme of my customer's quilt would serve as good inspiration for other quilts.   Apparently the customer has been a Harley Davidson fan for several years. The number of shirts and the places they represent tell me that he didn't just buy a motorcycle. This guy has probably seen all 50 of the states and has a shirt from each one.

Now, I haven't the foggiest of ideas what I've just posted. Other than to have seen a motorcycle, I have no experience on one. When on the highway, I try to avoid traveling close to one because I believe in giving everyone their space, especially something small enough to lose when changing lanes. 

The thought of hitting or being hit by another vehicle is rather sickening: I certainly don't want to see someone sliding down the highway with nothing but road under him. Everyone gets some free space.

Anyway, I found a few motorcycle quilts. Most, if not all, are Harley Davidson themed, but it's the only brand I've seen enough to recognize.  

I'm not showing you the quilt I'm working on because a) there's not much to show and b) I haven't taken any pictures. If all goes well, I'll post a picture of the top in a few days. I'm at least a week or so from a finished quilt. So far it's looking like it will be a big one!

GSQA Show Entries

Today was the deadline to enter quilts into the Gulf States Quilting Association biennial show. So yesterday I entered three modern quilts. That's what I'm counting as my finish this week. Although I did get some sewing done, nothing is complete.

I planned to enter five quilts, which is the limit, but decided that two of the quilts are too large. I can't afford all of the costs of entering shows. The two large quilts are too heavy for standard mail and won't fit into the flat rate box with the quilts that are going.

Modern Scrap Sampler

I thought about this for a few minutes. I wanted to know, in general, the total cost of entering a quilt show.  This is what I came up with: 1) you need to be a member of the guild or association; 2) you pay the costs to enter the quilt(s) in the show. Of course, 3) you have to get the quilts there, so pay for shipping. No matter what, 4) you know you want the quilt(s) back, so pay for shipping again. All total, I will spend $80 to enter these three smallish quilts.

I may want to go to the show with my guild, that's more money for transportation, meals and shopping (maybe?) Add these in and I've hit $100 before I consider the question of shopping. I guess I know the answer to that question. :) Do you get to do much shopping at shows?

Now don't misunderstand me: I am president of our local guild and know how much everything costs. Even little prizes and treats add up quickly. So I get it, the guild is trying to raise money. The problem is that I'd really like to participate more in state, regional, and national events but, honestly, I can't afford it. Not being able to participate hurts my heart: there's a whole world of quilting out there. Oh, how I'd like to be a part of it somehow!

I'm open to suggestions for ways to be more involved without it costing more than, say, my monthly water bill. If you have any ideas, please pass them along in the comments.


I'm also adding this post to a few...

Link Ups!

Crazy Mom Quilts (Finish It Up Friday)

My Quilt Infatuation (Needle & Thread)

Busy Hands Quilts (Finished or Not Friday)

Confessions of a Fabric Addict (Can I get a Whoop! Whoop!) 

More cleaning {scour and scrub 2}

I did a little cleaning when Richard made my new shelving unit, but why stop there? For some unknown reason, there is a table in the studio that I don't need. You know what it became...you probably guessed it: a dumping place for all the stuff that we don't need but it's too good to toss out. 

www.thirdshiftvintage.com

Most of that belonged to other people, some had come home with me when I retired, and some needed to go back to Walmart. We worked on that table early last week because it meant not really dealing with my studio stuff. The good news about some of it: I returned several items to Walmart and found $53. 

www.thirdshiftvintage.com

Eventually, though, I had to get over my emotional self and look at the real problem: I have too much sewing/quilting stuff. I'm working on getting some of that stuff and the emotions under control, and I've made some difficult decisions. 

• New items that I don't need can go to my guild as door prizes
• Fabric that is not 100% quilting cotton will be sold 
• Fabric I can't sell will go to Salvation Army (someone else can wash and use it in charity quilts)
• Fabric that is not good will go into the trash (okay, don't judge--it is fabric)
• Fabric that I don't like (but is quilt quality) can go into a backing stash or be sold

www.thirdshiftvintage.com

Notions are a big problem. I used to make garments, so I have buttons, zippers, lace, etc. Plus, I've tried almost every craft at some point: needlework, beading, sculpting clay, silk flower arranging, and goodness knows what other crafts. I'll try to get into that area of the stash closet once I've moved a few boxes of fabric.


I have no idea how this crazy happened but it probably began many, many years ago when I could barely afford anything for sewing. And it continued for many, many years while I worked and could afford almost anything I wanted. I was very good at bringing in fabric under the guise of other shopping. Do you have ways to sneak fabric in?

pegboard of thread in my studio

Then there were "the Garan gifts." Richard worked at a garment manufacturing plant for 25 years. Garan is the parent company that creates Garanimals clothing for children. There was a plant in Marksville, where he was head mechanic/maintenance supervisor. 

He is such a sweet husband: he'd bring scraps home and my mom and grandmother would make quilts from them. Then the factory closed. Rather than incur the costs of shipping items overseas, the company sold thread, huge pieces of fabric, and other items. Anything that was left was to be thrown in the trash. And so I got quite a few Garan gifts, especially thread, fabric, and elastic. And buttons, hook and eye fasteners, and snaps. And fabric. And thread.

It's time to edit and let some of it go. I hate doing that because it seems as soon as I do, I find a need for some of the things I tossed. Friends tell me I'm silly but it's true, don't you think?