a man quilt

This quilt idea has been in my brain for A LONG TIME. I have been saving hubs' old shirts since he started working and my box is overflowing! A good friend of ours just had some serious surgery and needs a quilt for snuggling. These shirting fabrics were just the right thing for his quilt. I think I will make a twin one for hubs (since I've never actually made him a quilt!) All the fabric in this quilt was made from 100% cotton dress shirts except the outside border (I ran out of white.) Here is a closeup of the quilting my sister-in-law Emily did. She has recently acquired a long arm and has already quilted 4 quilts for me! She does an excellent job and is looking for more clients - if you're interested here is her blog - Emerson Quilting. Right now she is offering a 25% discount! I think this is my favorite quilting pattern. I will definitely be requesting it in the future.

A scrappy binding. I would have preferred it to be cut on the bias, just for the look, but I didn't have quite enough for that. The backing was just a solid white flannel. Nice and snuggly.

If you are going to make a quilt using men's shirts - I would suggest NOT using the ironed pleats (in backs and sometimes sleeves). These folds didn't come out even after I washed the quilt.

If you are interested in dimensions or a tutorial - please let me know in the comments!

Thanks for looking!

a new old quilt

Last time I went to my Modern Quilt Guild meeting - I brought this quilt.

I started this quilt before my oldest was born - so probably around 11 years ago. At some point I put it away because I decided the colors weren't boyish enough. But eventually I finished it. I'm not even sure when - maybe 3 years ago? Anyway - it took me a while.

I planned this all out in my idea notebook at the time. I picked 5 colors of embroidery floss that I loved and designed a different plaid pattern for each square (or partial square). I also designed a border that I never got around to doing.

The quilting doubles as embroidery and both the front and the back are white, so they are pretty close to the same.

Before starting the stitching I marked the squares with an erasable quilt pencil. For the stitching I used masking tape as a guideline. I also started in the center (using a ruler to find it) and worked my way to the outside of each square.

I love how this quilt turned out and I love that it was so creative and original. It's hard to be original these days when I find so many great ideas that someone else has already come up with.

Jack's Stripes

I finished this quilt a few weeks ago. I have had it on my list for years. Jack got a twin quilt for his bed when he was 2, but it got worn out a while back and I never really liked it anyway.

I just did a simple top (8 inch wide strips) - which took no time to sew together.

For the back I wanted to use only fabrics from my stash. So this was sort of improv pieced. I LOVE how it turned out. I think I even like it better than the front. It's nice that it's reversible.


The quilting was just very simple straight lines random widths apart. My lovely sister-in-law Emily quilted it on her new long arm! Thanks Em! (If you're looking for long arm work - you should check her out! Here.)

spring and summer quilt for my bed

This quilt was intimidating. That's why it took me so long. I started it in March 2009, so it took me just under 2 years to complete. Anyway - I am VERY happy with the results.

I got this idea from Denyse Schmidt's quilt drunk love in a log cabin. I also wanted a springy quilt for the warmer months (my other quilt is dark and perfect for winter).

I debated for a while how to quilt this quilt. Fork out a bunch of money and have someone else quilt it? Hand quilt it? Machine quilt it myself? I finally stopped being afraid of it and just did it myself. I wasn't too happy with the quilting and took out all the stitching on the outer border. I knew if I didn't like something about it, I wouldn't use it. Once it was all washed, all the other problems seemed to go away.

2010 quilts

I was thinking back on this year and feeling like a total failure. I was pregnant for most of the year and I mostly remembered laying around. But I looked at my flickr page (where I keep all my quilty project photos) and was surprised to find that I completed 8 quilts and started sewing together my hexagons. I know I got a few house projects done too. Feels nice to have accomplished something other than laying on my bed playing solitaire.

1. fish in bags wonky star, 2. dachshund quilt, 3. pink and yellow scrap quilt, 4. wonky star quilted and bound, 5. strawberry lemonade hourglass, 6. starting to sew them together, 7. HR dog quilt done!, 8. yellow and orange zig zag, 9. elephant baby quilt

a new quilt for new baby 5

So I started out making one quilt, not loving it, and making an entirely different quilt. All that really matters is that I've finished it in plenty of time before the baby gets here. (I only have 4 - 5 weeks!)

The whole quilt

A bit of a close up of those adorably Japanese elephants

The back is just solid light grey. The quilting is my own design. I did it on my regular old machine. It worked out great and didn't take too long. I think I'll use this design again.

I had just enough of those cute little ladybugs to bind the quilt with them. Cute.

a zig zag quilt

I have been wanting to make a zig zag quilt ever since I saw this one. I also had to have that fish fabric when I saw the same quilt and now it can't be found (unless you're willing to pay an arm and a leg or unless you have something good to swap.) Lucky I got it when it was affordable.





And here is the back. I guess I went a little overboard when collecting my yellows and oranges. I probably have enough to make another twin sized quilt. And in case you're wondering - this quilt is staying with me. Orange is my favorite color and orange and yellow is one of my favorite color combinations.