Boy, have you guys been busy! I have been working with my niece and my daughter on American Girl Doll clothes so I have a need to quilt. I currently have 2 Operation Snuggles quilts (for wounded veterans of the Iraq war) I am trying to get quilted. One is done and the other is 1/2 done. I have also finished 1 baby quilt to donate and have a second panel and borders cut for a second baby quilt. I do this because one of my best friends has a son in Iraq, and our American Heroes deserve quilts for themselves as well as the babies born to fathers who are deployed. Enough on this topic...

Does anyone have a favorite interfacing to use when making a t-shirt quilt? I want to do one for my son from the Hard Rock Cafe shirts he has collected thru our travels as well as the ones my husband brought him from his business travels. I have collected some lightweight denim to pair with the shirts, so I would welcome any suggestions!

Thanks, Shelli

Next

There are enough little squares left to do a baby quilt. I think I'll use a 30s yellow for the snowballs and the nine patches on this one. Then, all those light-background ones will be used up, hurrah!

Pat in Rockport, TX

Another top done

Over the years, I bought several packets of 1930s repro fabric, and invariably there would be a few in there with white or cream backgrounds, which I didn't really like much. Recently I pulled them all out of the stash. There were 33 of them. I whacked them all up and found a nice lavender solid for the background, and put them together. There are enough little squares of the prints left to make another baby quilt. This monster turned out queen-size. I will probably donate the top to our quilt guild for someone to quilt for a fire quilt. We give quilts to folks whose homes burn in our area. You can see my supervisor, Miss Arwen, on the little ladder--she had just completed her quality control inspection.

Pat in Rockport, TX

O Tannenbaum

Started the quilt/wallhanging O Tannenbaum today. It's going to be very nice, I think, I hope.
There are 17 log cabin blocks (each with about 29 logs). Strips are cut 1 1/8" wide. Lengths end in 3/8" , 5/8" & 7/8" And blocks finish at 9 7/8" . Pattern is by Hilary Gooding, Quilts & More, U.K. So I'm thinking it's been converted for Americans from metric measures that might be easier numbers. Eight of the log cabin blocks also have little squares at the end of the logs.
So this isn't to complain, but it is a heads-up! I wouldn't consider this a beginner's quilt and because it's a very expensive kit, I thought it was worth pointing out. It finishes about 60" square. Anyone else working on this? Harriet

Well, when the pics showed up on the posting page, William Caleb's quilt was on the left, I see it's now moved down.

Pat in Rockport, TX

Baby quilts

The quilt on the left is made for our new grandson, William Caleb Nordmark, who will be born on November 8th (C-section). The one on the right I made for my cousin's very first grandchild. He and his wife were in their 30s when their only child Hillary was born, and Hillary is in her 30s now, so this baby (Isabelle) has been a long time in the planning, LOL. I used a lot of my 1930s repro fabrics for these quilts--lots of bunnies, kittens, etc.

Pat in Rockport, TX, who will be heading off to Houston on Wednesday, and taking the Alex Anderson/Ricky Tims seminar on Thursday and Friday.

I snorted when I recently saw ....

I'm all for recycling. I've been doing it since I was a young mother and used worn-out drapes to line comforters. That was in my pre-quilting days. I'm still recycling. I recycle a lot of things, putting them to good new-use.

But when I recently read an article in the WSJ about the new, in-style re-cycled clothing I snorted in my coffee-cup and choked on my bagel. Heading the article was a full-length gown that must have used 25 pair of blue-jeans in its design. Waistbands, pockets, and all. Stitched in a helter-skelter layer one over another in order to provide enough Yardage for this full-length full-skirted gown. I commented to myself (after I cleaned up my spilled coffee) that this dress must weigh a ton. Anyone who has made a jeans quilt knows that denim is heavy. Very heavy. Too heavy for a shoulderless gown. I wondered which idiot of wealthy means would wear such a thing in true seriousness. (I can hear the snorkles of laughter in the prim crowd surrounding her.) Green is green. But blue jeans do not an evening gown make.

And having said all that .... here's a pic of my most recent recycle experience. My sewing room has windows that overlook the street and which face houses across the street. I am in this room many hours of any particular day/nite for my computer resides therein along with three sewing machines. I like a little privacy but want to open the blinds to let in sun. My solution was to make short curtains for the bottom of the window. Sure, I could have purchased a pair at a very reasonable price at the local mall. But while shopping recently I found a cotton eyelet skirt (teen style) on sale at 85 percent off and I couldn't resist buying this "fabric" and assembling these curtains. When I told the clerk I was going to make curtains out of this pretty white skirt she gave me a very odd look. Her disdain did not deter me from my goal, however, and I love my new curtains.

And while this topic is unquilty, I'll add that I'll soon have a Project Linus baby quilt top to post. Keep tuned.

JudyPete