T-shirt quilt progress and Sunday company

I made good progress on the borders for the t-shirt quilt. I will write a seperate post on how I made the piano key border sections. The sections are not sewn together. I need to make the bottom and top borders first. It all depends on how it works out whether the top and bottom borders go all the way across including the side borders.

On Sunday my quilting friend, Peg, came up for the day. We both had red projects we were working on. Her's was a tree skirt that she was making as a barter for getting her toilet fixed and I worked on the banners for my nephew.

Peg had never made ruffles or a tree skirt so I gave her directions. Then I found some bias tape that I had squirreled away in a box where sewing supplies go to die. LOL!!  She was going to try and hem the circle. I said no, no, no.  Bias tape is the answer!  While Peg worked on the skirt I worked on the banners. It was great to have a second pair of hands to fold those 31' banners up! I got the last 5 done.

Here is the pile of boxes and fabric she brought me. There is some quilting cotton along with lots of fabric for tote bags. Peg had collected the fabric from several people, and she was glad to get it out of her studio. So now I will have to get to making tote bags for the show Nov. 25th.  I made cornbread and chili for lunch and we had a great day.

Now we're cooking!

I now have the center of the t-shirt quilt sewn together! Yeah!

I laid out all of the little bits that I will be using for two of the borders. The other two borders will be piano key improv pieced using the leftover t-shirt material.

My plans for the weekend are to finish those banners for my nephew and work on the t-shirt quilt. I have a quilting friend coming to visit on Sunday. She has a bunch of non-quilting fabric to bring me that she has accumulated from several people. I plan on using the fabric for tote bags for the merch booth. Have a great weekend!

Row 3 almost done

I had a hair appointment after work so by the time I got home I had to jump on the stationary bike and get my activity minutes in. After that I only a little bit of time to work on the quilt, but I did get a few more minutes in this morning too. I am now at the point that I need to trim the other side of the column and it is done. I will sew together the last column, sew the 3rd and last columns together and then sew it to the other half.  So the center will be done hopefully tonight and I can start on the borders.

It all counts

I went to lunch with someone from work yesterday, so I didn't get my lunchtime walk in. That means I had to gets some activity calories in after work. It was beautiful outside, so I mowed the front and one of the sides to get some steps.  After that I rode my stationary bike which didn't leave me much time to sew. I did get these four shirts sewn together. It's better than nothing!

Half way

The center section of the t-shirt quilt is half sewn together. Yeah! I will be putting a border on it. Linda G, stayed tuned because I will post how I make improv piano key border pieces. I believe I will need some for the border of this quilt.

I had to take a picture of my ornamental grass when I got home. The sun reflecting off the grass was so pretty, and this is the first year they have gotten those feathery plumbs. The burgundy color is so pretty. I believe it was two years ago I had dug up this bed and divided the grass. This is about the best this front has looked.

Progress on the t-shirt quilt, banners, and goodies

It was a busy weekend! I worked on the t-shirt quilt and am happy with the progress I made. The right row is sewn together and the top four shirts in the row to the left are sewn together. There were so many white and light colored shirts it was easy to lay out a loose checkerboard design.

Mt nephew came over Sunday morning bearing gifts and a project. He had gone ot a wedding on Saturday and snagged some flowers for me. They are so pretty!

and he brought me some cookies from the wedding

The project is making 6 banners of fabric for the background for the show he is doing on Nov. 25th. He wanted something rather than just the black curtain. Here is the roll of fabric

Yes, that label says 75 yards! He wanted the banners 30 feet long. We decided on a double 4" hem. Then he bought some 4" wide hook and loop tape so the top of the banner can be hung over a rigging bar then the hoop and loop take would keep it in position. Michael helped me cut the lengths of fabric thank goodness! It would have taken me hours and hours to cut all of those by myself. And again, my big table came to the rescue and made it easy to pull the lengths of fabric. Michael had fun cutting the 32' lengths with my newly sharpened scissors. I showed him how to get started with a cut and then just keep moving the scissors to cut with one steady movement. We finished sewing up one panel so he could take it home to show his dad.

I got a box from my sister Saturday with all kinds of wonderful bday goodies - fancy pins for my pincushions, a beautiful bracelet, and a pair of embroidery scissors with a cross stitch scissor fob she made. She even made the trim!  This is my first scissor fob. 

I never did get anything done outside. The wind was howling all day Saturday. Sunday, I cleaned house and then Michael came. Looks like next weekend should be decent so I will push my luck and hopefully get some stuff done next weekend.

A few more t-shirts cut and interfaced

I cut up t-shirts and pressed on the interfacing for over an hour last night, but it doesn't look like I did that much. LOL!! So far there are quite a few shirts that just have a small logo on them. I set those aside until I get the shirts with bigger designs cut out first. I do like that brown shirt with the skulls on it.

The weather is going to be nice this weekend so I think I will find some time to finish sanding that table. I need to blow leaves to the woods while they are dry - it might rain next weekend- and mow the grass one last time. I would like to get a dent make in cutting up those t-shirts too. Have a great weekend!