T-shirt quilt progress, empty spools, and snow

I am making good progress on the t-shirt quilt. I got the backing all sewn together.

I crunched some numbers and got the width of the rows figured out.

I started with the center rows. I would trim two blocks then sewn them together. I marked my table to approximately the length I was aiming for. I left extra on the top and bottom pieces so I could trim those edges once I get the entire top sewn together.  I have no idea why my some of my pictures are coming out blurry.  I do not like the camera on this new phone.

I laid out the next row. Again, I trim as I go. I lay the cut and sewn pieces back on the table to see how everything is fitting into the space I have.

You can see that the orange shirt is gone. It was too narrow, so it will go in one of the outside rows. I pulled three pieces from the outside rows to take that space.

Here is the next row laid out. If I don't mess around today, I want to have this top sewn together.

It is time to document my empty spools for 2025. I counted 83. I guess I did some sewing last year! LOL! I had 24 in 2024, 42 in 2023, and 39 in 2022.

We had received a couple inches of snow. My neightbor was out shoveling his driveway and then headed over to shovel mine. Well, I threw on a hat and coat and headed out to help. The sunshine was nice. The snow was light and dry so it was easy to shovel.

Happy New Year! T-shirt quilt is on the design wall

I am wishing you all a Happy New Year! Lots of football to watch today while I work in the studio. I worked all day yesterday on cutting and interfacing t-shirts for a lady who has seen many of the Haley t-shirt quilts. This one doesn't have to be as big. I had a lot of shirts to try and cram in for a couch sized quilt.

It snowed all day yesterday. There is maybe 2" on the ground. It is 15 degrees right now. The wind died down thank goodness.

Flannel top sewn together

I had three more rows to sew on, but I was just too tired last night. I finished those this morning so now this top is done. I don't have time right now to quilt it, but I am glad to at least have it sewed together

It still very cold; 27 degrees but feels like 14. The wind had died down to 11 mph. Looks like snow and a wintery mix this afternoon. So far we have only received an inch or so of snow.

I made a pot of my chicken, kale, bean soup this morning. It will keep me energized and warm today!

Rail fence and road trip

I took a road trip yesterday to go get my glasses fixed, stop at the credit union and go to the bulk food store. The weather was challenging to say the least. I hurt all over today from holding on the wheel with both hands fighting a 20 mph wind with 39 mph gusts. A goal was to avoid semi trucks and thankfully there weren't too many on the road. I did see one swerve off to the right - he was in the slow lane- so I waited until he got her straightened up and sped by him. I needed some spices and nuts at the bulk food store in Sugarcreek. It was snowing lightly.

Just around the corner is a fabric store that carries lots of different things so I stopped there mostly for white quilting thread. I checked out the mark down shelves and found a few pieces that were $7.50 a yard.

I thought this bird fabric would make cute project bags and thread beds.

I then headed to Zinks in Berlin, Ohio to see what flannel they had. I was looking to get a bolt of white or off white for backing. As I drove west to Berlin, the snow got heavier and the road conditions got trickier. It was a quick stop and didn't find anything I wanted. The snow was coming down hard and I just wanted to head home. The parking lot was covered.

After I got out of the traffic jam in Berlin - yes, a traffic jam in near blizzard conditions mostly because of two poorly timed traffic lights - I finally got to my turn off 200 yards from Zinks. That took about 10 minutes! I wasn't going to drive 20 miles back to the interstate so I headed northeast on a state route. It is good road, just a bit hilly and curvy. The craziest thing was to see the people on bicycles! I don't know how they could stay on a bike in that wind! The roads were dicey thru Winesburg and Wilmont,

but better thru Brewster. It was snowing hard in Navarre, but that is where I turned on a more heavily traveled state route.

As I got north of Massillon, no snow!

It was smooth sailing with just light snow once I got closer to hone. My driveway when I got home. I have driven thru a lot worse winter weather, but I did just want to get home.

After getting something to eat I worked on sewing together three rows on the rail fence flannel top. I was pretty tired.

My hair appointment got moved up from 7:30 pm to 5:10 so I headed out the door again into the cold. With the wind chill it was 1 degree. When I got home I made a to do list, cooked some dinner, watched a little of the Falcon Rams game and went to bed. Let's see if I can put a dent in this list over the next few days.

Flannel rail fence and 4 patch progress

The flannel rail fence is ready to sew together! The blocks will measure 6" after sewing them together so this will measure approximately 60" x 72".

I spent all day Sunday wrangling the flannel. I had to take the 4 patches off the design wall; there is not enough room for both quilt tops. Here is my stack of 6 1/2" 4-patch blocks, strips for making more 4 patch blocks, and a stack of nineteen 5 1/2" four patch blocks that I made out of the scraps. I could add an alternating solid block to those smaller 4-patches and get a nice sized baby quilt. The larger piece is big enough for backing one of the flannel quilts.

Here are the remaining scraps. Not too much left!  So all the blue flannel has been cut except for the backing piece.  Once I sew together the strips for the 6" 4-patch blocks, I am sure there will be scraps that I can make more of the smaller 4-patch blocks.  

Flannel progress

I struggled yesterday because I was still tired from Friday's festivities. I would rest a while then work on the flannel bits. I got blocks sewn and hung on the design wall. Here is the rail fence so far and the four patch. Sorry for the blurry pictures. This new phone and I are not getting along,

I did get this snap kit. I want to up my game by using snaps for closing the thread beds instead of velcro.

I am feeling great today so I will be getting some stuff done!

A busy two days

I spent Christmas day getting ready for family on the 26th and playing with scraps. Remember these leftovers from the blue flannel quilts?

I had both longer and shorter 2 1/2" wide strips. I took the longer ones and cut them down to about 7", pieced them together, and made a nice pile of blocks. I still need to press and trim them. I also added in some strips of red and light blue to add some pizzaz.

Then there was a pile of wider pieces that I turned into 4 patch blocks.

When I trimmed the four patch blocks I ended up with some pieces that will make smaller four patch blocks. Scraps generating more scraps! LOL!

I still have the pile of short pieces that I will probably make into the smaller 4 patch blocks.

I had a whole row of zig zag I had cut off the zig zag quilt. The zig zag quilt was too long.

I took this row apart and now I have some more pieces to make the large four patch blocks and then a pile of triangles that I have to figure out what to do with. A long with the yardage I still have, I should be able to get two to three more quilts out of this.

I found some time to work with my plants that needed some TLC. I had a philodendron that need to be cut back. I have lots of new starts in water.

Put my succulent starts in a new pot. They were just in a plastic dish you put under a pot.

And finally stuck these pieces of snake plant in a pot. I don't know if they will grow since they have been laying around for probably two months.

I got the table set with the new placemats for the day after Christmas dinner.

I made two pumpkin pies, a pecan pie, chocolate cover Nutter Butter cookies, chocolate covered Golden Oreos, and Buckeyes. We had a fun day and I was exhausted! We had ravioli, garlic bread, and roasted broccoli and cauliflower for dinner.