Cranky!

I am cranky!

I have been working too much and not quilting enough and that is reason #1!

And I have no recent project photos to show because my camera is AWOL...reason #2!
Reason #3 - I missed guild meeting because I went to an Eagles and Dixie Chicks concert in Toronto...fun yes, but while at the concert, I missed the last guild meeting of the year, and rumour has it that it was great fun. Bummer....you just can't do 2 fun things at once!
And my regular quilting activities are finished until the fall, and that is reason #4! I miss my quilting friends and the regular structure of our activities that keep me focused on quilting.
For example, here is a photo of the some of the students I taught at the local senior's centre that I won't see until the fall.

This was a special request class, made by someone who had lost a loved one and wanted to make a quilt from his clothing. I did an internet search and found Nancy's "7 shirt quilt".  I tried out the pattern and loved making it - this is my finished quilt, which I apparently forgot to post on my blog :) I used almost every bit of fabric from the shirts in this quilt, including the backing and the scrappy binding which doesn't show up very well in this photo. The shirt pockets were used for the corner blocks in the borders.

This is such a great group of ladies and we had a wonderful time with this quilt project - many happy memories were shared about the men who wore these shirts, and some tears were shed over missing them. I am very thankful to Nancy of Life's a Stitch blog for generously allowing us to use her 7 shirts quilt design for this class. If you have some shirts from a loved one or want to purchase some at a thrift shop as I did, the instructions are still up on Nancy's blog - click here to get them.
Okay now...what am I going to do to cheer up?!? I think I'll go finish the quilt binding that I was working on in Monday's post...I love to stitch binding!

UFO Wish List

As I visited some quilty blogs this weekend, I found myself leaving a few comments that said "Great job on your finished quilt! I have a UFO somewhere in my cupboards that looks something like it... I still really love that pattern".
Then I was wondering to myself "where the heck is that quilt"?!?
I wish some of my projects wouldn't become UFO's, especially quilts I really liked.
I was thinking about this last year when I wrote this post. At that time I made a secret list of my top 5 projects to finish and when I went back to review the list I was happy to see that I had finished 3 of the 5. That's pretty good!
1. Quilted Garden -  DONE!

2. Carolina Crossroads - needs a backing purchased

3. Double Delight - DONE!
4. Kaleidoscope - backing has been purchased but I still can't find it!

5. Triangles - DONE!

So, I am being really brave and posting a 2010 UFO Wish List on the right side of my blog with a link to the last mention of the project. Now don't go looking them up...some of them are sooo old that it's embarrasing! And some of them I've never mentioned because they are older than my blog!
I am going to try to be more disciplined about starting new projects willy nilly, and instead I plan to dig up these old things and make a plan to attack them at retreat this year (which is in 3 weeks!). I am going to figure out what each quilt needs to be finished and make a list.
Or if I decide that the quilt became a UFO because it's unfinishable for me, I'll put it up for adoption!
On my design wall today is the backing for my plaid shirts quilt.  I sewed the backing and the binding at the same time using this pile of scraps . It was a bit of a challenge for me to get enough fabric from my 7 shirts and there are only small scraps and pockets left. Now I am ready to baste and quilt!
Last week on Judy's blog there were over 70 design walls to peak at! Take a look this week and see what's going on in quilt blogland - click here.

Design Wall Monday #4

It's a dark rainy Monday here...perfect quilting weather.
Unfortunately I have to get to work, but here's what is on my design wall today...a finished quilt top!
This is from Nancy's 7 shirt pattern - click here to see her instructions.

It makes a perfect lap size quilt from 7 shirts. I put the pockets from 4 of the shirts in the corners. I saved all the buttons from the shirts as Nancy suggested, and I plan to machine stitch in the ditch, and then tie the buttons in the middle of all the blocks.

While I was sewing this quilt top, my friend Louise was here for a wonderful (but too short) visit and look at this celtic knot quilt she is hand quilting. She is quilting on the middle block, so you can see that this is a king size quilt! Very inspiring to get going on my hand quilting projects!
For more inspiration, visit Judy's blog and see all the design walls.

Design Wall Monday #3

Since I finished a quilt last week (click here to see it), I figured I can start something new this week! Well, actually I would have started this quilt no matter what happened last week, but it sounds better if I tell you I finished one, doesn't it ?!?!?
Here are the blocks on my design wall today...

I teach a quilting class at my local senior's centre, comprised mostly of beginning quilters. Last year one of the students asked me if I could teach her how to make a quilt from her deceased husband's clothing. I had been thinking about that and searching the internet, and found a pattern called "7 Shirts Quilt" - click here to see it.
Once I received permission from designer Nancy to teach her design to the class, I started looking for some shirts at the thrift stores. I found 7 useable shirts but was not happy with the price I paid for them...it wasn't much of a deal compared to buying yardage, and it takes a heck of a lot of time to prepare the shirts - cutting off the cuffs, collars, seams, pockets, buttons, etc.
The first thing I did was wash the shirts and even though they were all used and previously washed, I tossed a "Color Catcher" in with the shirts just to be on the safe side.  I first heard about Color Catchers from Nicole over at Sister's Choice blog (click here) but was unable to find any in my local stores. I finally found them at a store near my sister's home in Michigan and have been using them regularly to wash new fabric.
I was surprised to see how much dye was absorbed by the sheet from these plaid shirts. Here is a new sheet to compare to the one that was washed with the plaid shirts.
Here are the dismantled pieces of the shirts ready to sew. I have the large pieces of sleeves and backs to sew into a backing, the strips for the nine patch blocks, a few smaller strips ready for binding (on the left) and on the right are the pockets which I wanted to save and will maybe use as cornerstones in the outside border.
What's on your design wall today? Want some inspiration? Hop over to Design Wall Monday at  Judy's blog...last week there were 64 quilters who showed their latest projects!