Shirt Swap.

February 10, 2015May 3, 2015Leave a comment

May Chappell blog hosted a Shirt Swap last year. The shirts are made with the Shirts pattern by Carolyn Friedlander.

I made 8 shirts and requested 8 Pink shirts in exchange.

This one is from Karen in Franklin, North Carolina:

And these two are from Karen in Winston Salem, North Carolina:

And this one is from Jacey in Houston, Texas (she has a blog called Jacey Craft.):

These kangaroos and little bugs came from Emma in England:

This lovely print shirt is from Becky in Pendleton, Oregon (she has a blog called Solar Threads):

Last, but certainly not least, is this lovely graphic shirt from Cynthia in Winston Salem, North Carolina:

Finishing this quilt was one of my goals for 2015, and I am happy it’s now been quilted and hanging on the wall in my laundry/utility room:

Shirt Swap

By the way, I used silk pins to attach it to the wall. I hammered them in, making sure to avoid the studs. It’s a great way to hang quilts if you have sheetrock walls.

May Chappell is hosting another swap with a deadline in April. She’s added the Outhouse pattern by Carolyn Friedlander as an option for the swap. I have the pattern but haven’t made any blocks yet. I should get stitching.

2015: Shirts, Hexagons and Canoes.

January 4, 201513 Comments

My quilting goal is to finish three quilts in 2015:

I. Pink Shirts Quilt

I participated in the “Shirt Swap” hosted by May Chappell blog. I sent 8 shirts and received 8 shirts in return. It was fun to receive quilts made in fabrics I would not have chosen, but they add character to the quilt. I made 8 shirts to go with the ones I received in the swap. I added frames from solid scraps. The pattern is by Carolyn Friedlander.

To do: Quilt and Bind.

II. Hexies Quilt

On the blog, Modern Handcraft I saw a modern quilt using hexagons as appliques and wanted to do something similar.

To do: Finish Hexies, Quilt and Bind.

III. Crossed Canoes Quilt

I love Crossed Canoes. I want to make a lap sized quilt. These are paper-pieced and I worked on them throughout 2014. I have a dozen or so to complete and assemble the quilt top.

To do: Piece, Quilt and Bind.

So that’s Shirts, Hexagons and Canoes.

Nest Egg Tote: learn from my mistakes.

December 16, 20144 Comments

The Nest Egg Tote by Carolyn Friedlander made me realize I can’t always use what I have on hand or it won’t turn out the way it should, and I learned precision is vital when making this tote.

First mistake: I cut the handle and strap strips too wide. Luckily I was using the wrong sized D-rings and it wasn’t too much of a problem on the handle, but the straps were supposed to sit completely on the outside of the gusset and mine are inside the seams so the handles hang a little wonky:

Second mistake: I didn’t use ultra-firm stabilizer for the inside inserts. Instead I used Soft & Stable stabilizer and when the tote was finished it tended to collapse. This was one mistake I fixed. I bought ultra-firm stabilizer and stitched it to the inserts I had already made:

It was now even stronger and I liked that.

Third mistake: Using a dark fabric on the outside and a light fabric on the inside. The black thread from the outside stitching sometimes peaked through the light fabric even though I used white thread in the bobbin, and I don’t like that.

Fourth mistake: I didn’t intertwine the elastic strips to give the right tension to hold the items inside. When I redid the inserts with the ultra-firm stabilizer, I fixed this mistake: