Rebuilding a Top

Happy long weekend everyone!

A few weeks ago I was asked if I could finish a quilt for some dear friends.  Apparently her grandmother had taken her husband's t-shirts and made a quilt top.  Sight unseen I said "of course!"

Before I begin this post I want to make it clear that I am not criticizing the quilter's talents or poking fun at her abilities.  I think that this quilt top is amazing and I feel honoured to be entrusted with it!  I thought that it would be interesting to show you the process I had taken to re-build this amazing and thoughtful memento so that it can be cherished for years.

When I received the quilt it looked like this.

 

The top was extremely rippled and the seams were wavy.  But, she had done a great job of centering the motifs and arranging the colours!

 

Aside from those issues though the bottom of the quilt was unfinished.  Can you see how the "no shawarma for you" t-shirt is longer than the surrounding rows?  Those rows would have to be finished off because I was not cutting off the t-shirt!

She had also stitched and flipped the un-stabilized t-shirts to sheet. At this point the top was extremely heavy and there was NO way that I could load this onto my frame - nope - no way.  It was far to way and the top would just stretch and distort further.

The sheet had to come off.  Rip-it, rip-it, rip-it.

 

After the vertical rows were apart I  could really see the stitching.  The quilter was obviously having some pretty large tension issues with her machine and had trouble getting the t-shirts through her machine.  The result was that there were actual holes in the seams.  I ended up re-stitching every seam.  If I had this to do over again I would have taken the quilt completely apart and stabilized each block independently and re-sewn the entire top.  For some reason I didn't.  I am not entirely sure what my rational was - but I didn't.

 

After the vertical rows were re-sewn I pressed woven fusible stabilizer to the back of the rows.  Again, if I did this again I would do each piece.

 

You can really see the difference between the un-stabilized row on the left and the stabilized row on the right.

Next I sewed pieces onto the bottom of the rows to make them all an equal length.

 

I used a funky batik fabric for the ends and for the border.  Sorry, you can't really see it but it's very nice and I will show more pictures later - promise.

 

Much flatter and straighter now - yey!  I switched around a couple of the rows by accident but I am not taking it apart now!

 

Here you can see the stabilized rows and how nice and flat the quilt is.

I have the backing fabric but I am waiting on a Thermore batting, a very thin and light polyester batting recommended by longarmers for t-shirt quilts, and, for some funky Glide black-light threads  I ordered.  Why black-light threads you may ask?  Well, this quilt is very funky don't you think?!  I think it would be cool if some of the thread glowed under a black light and I am sure that the owners would too!  And if I can then why not!?  It will give the quilt an even funkier look :-)

I'll keep you up-dated on my progress now that the quilt is ready to go on my frame and once I get my stuff :-)

Minecraft Creeper Rag Quilt is Finished!

Booya!  Another finish!

I got this "Creeper" rag quilt finished ahead of schedule ;-)

 

What do you think?  Isn't he cute?  Not!

You might remember that in February I made the original Creeper rag quilt for my son's birthday.  Well, a couple weeks ago a friend asked me if I could make one for her son's birthday at the end of the month - of course I said yes - who could say no!?  I knew that my LQS had some green flannels in stock and I had the black flannel already so I knew that it was doable.  I ran to two different stores to get the greens and got to work right away with the cutting.

Since I have the rag dies the cutting went nice and quickly.  Since I process my batting left-overs right away I didn't even have to cut batting for this quilt - it was already done.  I also had a variegated green thread that I had used for the first one on hand so I was set to get this quilt together.

Unlike the first Creeper quilt - where I had to SEARCH for everything - ie black flannel, multiple green flannels etc everything fell into place for this one - it was meant to be done on time for another little boy's birthday.

In case you are wondering this was cut out using the large rag die from Accuquilt and the 6.5" square die for the batting.  Honestly I don't know how I made rag quilts before I die cut!

Honestly, I cannot WAIT to hear what his reaction to his birthday present was!  I think he is going to be thrilled since he liked the one that I had made so much :-)

Another Bed-runner Finished!

Yey!

Another bed-runner is finished!  And, I am almost done with my store samples for the fall - fall really crept up on me this year! 

Slowly I am getting through my samples  though and that makes me happy.  This one is for my die-cut Drunkard's Path bed-runner class I am looking forward to teaching.  Most people are frightened of curves but this is honestly easy and so forgiving.

 

I love how this one turned out - nice subtle colours in a very peaceful pallet.

 

I quilted this using the FilTec Glide thread that I love so much in a 1-2-3 pattern and I just love the texture it gives.  Since there were tear-drop shapes in the fabric it seemed like the right all over pattern for the quilting and that the two would gel together.   I like the back as much as the front :-)

So what do you think?  Is this a class that you would like to take?

Roly Poly Owls!

Hi all!

I decided to pull out a UFO from 2011 and get it finished!  It seemed appropriate to work on this one with my upcoming Drunkard's Path course.  You can create such cute shapes with this block!

 

Do you remember this from almost 2 years ago?  Here is the original link! This was a tutorial from The Tulip Patch blog that I fell in love with but never got around to finishing.  I think it was because I could never seem to find the perfect border for it.  I decided that done is better than perfect and picked the night sky print from my stash.

 

I quilted the quilt in Glide thread top and bobbin following the outlines of the clouds across the border and into the sky print behind the owls.  Using a brown Glide thread I quilted feathers across the owls to create some pretty cool texture.

All the owls were so serious looking that I just had to make one of them have silly eyes LOL!

Yey another UFO completed!

Drunkard's Path Bedrunners!

Hi all!

We seem to finally be getting some nice weather this weekend!  Yey!

To gear up for September classes I have been working on some store samples for classes that I want to teach this fall.  Many people have been asking me for classes which feature die-cutting so I have been working on a new class.  I am extremely happy with how this one has turned out!

 

Here it is my die cut Drunkard's Path Bedrunner!  I love the colours!  This uses the large Accuquilt Go! Drunkard's Path die.

 

Here is a close-up for you to see how easy it is to achieve a high degree of accuracy with the die cut pieces.  I cut out this entire bedrunner in just 6 passes through the machine!  Can you believe it?!

 

Because I teach at two different stores I needed another sample so I sewed this up today!  Isn't it cute?  A completely different feel from the first runner - so fresh and light!

So what do you think?  Do you like 'em?