It's been some time since I last posted, but I finally have a break at work. I've been able to finish a few things and thought I'd post. I've also started some more projects that I wasn't looking for, but stumbled upon. I'll be sharing those too.
I finished my fat quarter shop block of the month (2011) including this block, which I think was block nine. I found it in my pile after I thought I had finished all of the blocks. I was getting ready to put all the blocks together along with sorting through all the scraps and ran across it. However, I was able to finish it and complete the top as well. I had to arrange it differently than what was called for as I didn't order the finishing kit. I like how it turned out though and plan on getting it to a friend that is going through surgery soon. I'm sure she'll love it. I found the green polka dot fabric at JoAnn and love the way it looks with all the fabrics. It really makes the inside of the quilt pop. I must not have photographed them all as I assembled them, but you get the view of all of them in the finished top.
About a month ago, I finished a t-shirt quilt for a friend's daughter. I think it turned out pretty good. I was able to quilt it as well even though I was terrified to put it on my longarm because I wasn't sure how it would go through. Luckily, it went through without any issues. It turned out really long because of the use of the backs of the shirts. It works out well for her since she's extremely tall.
I also worked on one right before Christmas and couldn't post it until I was sure that the receiver got it for Christmas. It's now four months later and here it is. It's another long one for a guy. With this one, I quilted along the sashing pieces.
With a little more experience with t-shirt quilts, I started my daughter's quilt. She graduates this year and she's collected a lot of t-shirts along the way. From her church groups to her school groups, she's been a part of a lot of activities. I have it quilted but don't want to bind it until we get a little closer to her going off to college as I don't want her to use it until she's away at school. It shouldn't take long to do. I also wanted to add a border around hers as it seemed a little small compared to the other two.
She uses a certain ruler, but as I am trying to not spend money and use up a lot of what I have in terms of fabric, I am managing to assemble the blocks without the ruler. They were all pretty easy except the second block. Here is my progress so far on those. The first two blocks I remembered to photograph individually and the third and fourth blocks are in the top left and bottom right corners of the last picture. Again, more fabric that I had left over from my mother-in-law's quilt is used as the light background fabric. Recently, I've found that I'm really loving fabrics with wording. It's tricky with these blocks as I want to have the wording all going the same way. As I got to the fourth block, I was able to get them all in the same direction after a lot of frogging! I just love how the black and red fabrics are playing along with the background. :)
Another online group I plan on starting after this post is the Quilty Barn Along from Bee In My Bonnet. I just love her site and often find things to keep me occupied; as if I need anything else on my plate! If you're like me though, you have a lot of different projects going on at the same time.
Once I have a block finished, I'll upload it. I have to catch up with her though, so it might be a little bit. I also go back to work soon, so my time to post will be limited. Once summer hits, I hope to quilt like a mad woman!
I'm also starting to look at the Virtual Quilting Bee online. They are two or three blocks in. I just joined the site by email, so I'll see how that pans out. Here's the link to that.
http://www.diaryofaquilter.com/p/the-virtual-quilting-bee.html She says that a stack of 42 - 10 inch squares may be enough for the quilt and I have a stack of those to use. I think I may start that as well and use it as a baby gift. It will be a little big, but the baby that gets it can grow along with it.
