This quilt is for my daughter, Sophia. I made one for my son, Liam, when he was done with 5th grade, and now it's Sophia's turn. I quilted it stright-line, but I made the back a maze: She chose Frolic in Plum from the House of Hoppington Collection by Violet Craft. Here's the back label: I have quilts handed down from my dad's side of the family that don't have labels and I'm left wondering, "who made this?" Not to mention the books I've seen with examples of collector quilts

I made another t-shirt quilt! This one is for my niece, Erin. She helped me cut some of the shirts and picked her fabrics and now it's a quilt for Christmas. I don't think she knows it's coming and since nobody reads any of this, it'll be a surprise! Here's the label I made for the back: She chose the black & white border fabric, as well as the orange binding. The backing she wanted was sold out, so I found something close: And here's the final: Next up is Sophia's quilt. #Qu

I made a pillow from a t-shirt and fabric scraps, strung together in a string type quilty manner. I added a zipper so the cover can be washed (here's a great video on how to easily add a zipper to a pillow). Here' what it looked like flat - I added simple wavy quilt lines, which are super easy and fun to sew: Here's the front: And the back, which I think turned out really cool: Next up: finish a t-shirt quilt. Then another t-shirt quilt. Then maybe finish two other projects..

A teacher at my kid's school asked me to make a quilt for her son who is turning 21 soon. I'm super excited to make this quilt for her and her son! Here's the pattern I found for free online from Robert Kaufman: The size of this pattern is about 42" x 52" which is a little smaller than what she asked for, so I expanded the pattern to create a quilt about 58" x 79". Here's my rough draft pattern from an excel spreadsheet: Where each finished half square triangle (HST) is 5.25"

I'm sad to report that my Labyrinth quilt did not get selected for the Patchwork Pundits Take on Politics show at the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum. The letter said they had over 100 entries and were forced to be very selective. I am looking forward to checking out the show when it opens. I saw one quilt in the show in a recent email and it is spectacular. Clearly I have much to learn! But no lie, it hurts to put so much time into something and have it rejected. Already moving

Happy 4th of July! Quilting is like surgery and I'm the surgeon! How? I've made a handy list: 1) Just look at this photo: Quilting the center is like a surgery spotlight shining down on a living brain! 2) I had to break my arm and then reset it in order to fit this thing in my machine. That's some full-on Orthopedic science right there for you. 3) Surgeons are self-important because they're helping people, probably saving their lives, but maybe just making their nose look ni

This week I visited the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum in Golden. The current exhibit is Australia Uncovered and the artistry of the women that made the quilts is phenomenal and inspirational. The exhibit goes through July 26th and then the museum will move to a nearby location in Golden. The current building is small but has so much character. I'm glad I went to see it. I'm happy that the museum will move to a large space because I really, really, really want to get my quilt in

I'm on my last 10 rows in the Labyrinth quilt. Here's the remaining stack of triangles: So close! And yet, still so far away. After I finish these last 10 rows of triangles, I'll start to connect all of the 54 rows. Once that's complete, I can then start to quilt. That is, if it fits in my sewing machine. If it doesn't, I'm going to have a long, complicated conversation with the longarm quilter. #Quilt #Labyrinth

I've been steadily working my way through this quilt. I'm at Row 35, so 19 more to go. After that, I need to connect them all. I'm not sure this thing will fit in my machine to quilt. But, I'm going to try anyway. I knew going in that it would be huge (or yuge - this is a political quilt, afterall). But, I didn't get a full grasp of how yuge until I connected the center section: I don't know how big it is - I didn't measure it. It's yuge, but that's sort of a Grandmother's Fl

I'm at a point in making this quilt where I think it will work. Here's how I'm making it. It's tedious, but I think the end result will be worth it. Here's my stack of cut triangles. I will need to cut more... My triangle cutter creates a flat top and that helps when sewing them together - bias edge to bias edge. Whole lotta bias going on, but that's politics! Hahahaha? First, I lay out the triangles in order according to my map. I have to do this so I don't get them mixed up

I have to fight a bunch of defeatist thinking when I quilt. My problem is that I look at all of the amazing projects on Instagram and Pinterest and compare my own work and feel very inadequate. I don't know why I do that. I'm working on letting my work stand on its own for whatever it is at whatever stage of learning I find myself. And that brings me to my political quilt. I live in Denver, CO and the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum is in nearby Golden, CO. They posted a call fo

It's all done! I sketched the tree on muslin and based it on a metal tree on the school playground (see previous post). I cut out the sketch and then laid it out on the woodgrain fabric. Then I cut it out. I only had a yard of woodgrain fabric, so I had to put a seam in for the top half of the tree. Also, I have lots of woodgrain scraps for another project...someday. Here's what the muslin tree looked like. I had outlined where all of the owls would go just to make sure I cou

My daughter's class is going to help me make a quilt! They don't know it yet, but I'm sure they'll be happy when they see the sweet little owls they get to make (owls are the school mascot). I'm going to base the quilt on a metal tree sculpture at the school: My daughter and I made some test owls with my stash fabric & scraps over the holiday break. Here's how those turned out: The owls are loosely based on our school mascot and also a quilt I found online by Barabooboo. The

My dad told me not to mix plaids. So, of course I do. I found a free Craftsy class online, 2015 Summer Block of the Month with Kimberly Einmo. It was great to spread this out over 6 months. This is what the blocks look like before quilt assembly: And here's what it looks like put together: I think I'll make the backing out of the plaid shirt scraps - here's the rough layout of that (plus kids playing, cat watching...it was a snow day in Denver today): And here's the rough str