MY 4TH FINISH FOR THIS YEAR!

I'm not sure when I started this quilt, but maybe 2 weeks ago.  It measures 56" x 70".  It's my second T-shirt quilt and I'm not hoping to do any more of them.  

I just hope the recipient likes it!

Here's a close-up picture of part of it.  I ironed fusible web interfacing on the back side of all the T-shirts and then cut them to 12 1/2".  3 inch sashing was sewn on to each side of the block and then I  used a template to slant the T-shirt by trimming off the sashing so that every other block would tip the opposite direction.  The finished block measures 14".

For the backing I sewed a lot of the trimmed portion from the sashing into the center column and added a few other T-shirts on each side.  I quilted it in a large stippling design on my domestic sewing machine.

I haven't had time to post because of being very busy with this quilt and some family obligations as well as trying to get my tax documents prepared for our tax preparer.  I'll be glad when the tax papers are out of my hair!

Because I have more quilting to do!!!

TWO FINISHES!

This past week I finished DH's "Vintage Tin" quilt!  It was a year's worth of work on the embroidery in secret and then making the pieced blocks and the border in secret as well.  It was kind of fun surprising him for his special birthday.  This picture doesn't show up the embroidered blocks very well, but they are in another post here in case you haven't seen them before.  It measures 68" x 62".

I usually have a pile of string blocks that I work on from time to time and I got this string block donation quilt finished this week as well.  I do love these type of quilts.  This one measures approximately 67" x 52".

Here's the backing for the donation quilt.  I got this strange looking fabric at the LQS for $4.00/yard! I had originally planned to use it on a queen size quilt, but changed my mind and used something different.  I think I have enough of this for another donation quilt.

Guess what!  I have another new project!  This is a T-shirt quilt that has been commissioned by the SIL of a friend.  The T-shirts are here, and I bought a lot of wonder under for them.  These fabrics will be borders for the T-shirts.  School colors are navy blue and gold.  I plan to get started on it this week.

Are you starting any new projects this week?  Thanks for visiting!

WESTERING WOMEN AND WINNERS!

Congratulations to the winners of my give away!  An email has been sent to first place winner, Chantel L.  of At the corner of scraps and quilts and 2nd place winner, Marsha of Grandma's Quilts (Marsha and I have been APQ blogging buddies almost since the beginning).  I will send out their prizes as soon as I hear from them.

I had gotten behind on making the blocks from Barbara Brackman's "Westering Women" 2016 BOM, but now I'm caught up.  You can still find these 12" blocks on the Civil War blog.  Barbara also gives you lots of amazing information about the civil war.

Here are all 12 blocks finished.  I want to put them into a queen size quilt and am not sure how I will do that.  I will probably put them on point with an alternating block (non-pieced) in between.  Any ideas will be welcome.

These are a larger picture of the 4 blocks that I just finished.

Thanks to all those who entered my give away!  I wouldn't be doing this if it wasn't for all of you!

THE JOYS OF QUILTING and A GIVE AWAY!

I have been busy quilting DH's Vintage Tin quilt.  On most of the embroidered panels I am quilting cross hatching.  I mark the quit with my Clover hera marker.  While I don't like marking quilts, it has to be done sometimes.  Especially on straight lines.  The hera marker puts a dent in the fabric without putting a colored mark on it.  You can see the dent in the picture below.

This shows more of the cross hatch quilting already done on the second embroidered panel.  Now, I'm working on the outer border of flying geese.

At one point where I had to stop for either putting in a new bobbin or some other reason, I couldn't find one of my quilting gloves.  I was quilting along and noticed that the quilt seemed thicker in one spot and thought I better see what was going on.  My glove got quilted onto the back of the quilt!  That is one of the "joys" of quilting.

Now for important things!  I'm having a GIVE-AWAY to celebrate my 700th post!!!  I started blogging in 2008 and have had a lot of fun with it.  I've learned so much from other bloggers, gotten encouragement, ideas and fun!  Seeing what other quilters are doing is amazing.  So, I want to have the give-away to express my appreciation to my readers.  I remember the first comment I got and also how excited when I received a comment from outside our country!  Quilters are the best!

The prize that someone will win is a 24" square of labels and 2 yards of fabric from my Etsy shop.  You can go to my Etsy shop by clicking on it in my sidebar and see the fabrics that I have for sale there in the "fabrics" section.  I don't have a huge selection, but maybe there is something that you can use.  

I will have the giveaway open for 5 days and will select the winner on Feb. 7, 2017 at 7:00 PM Pacific time.  A second winner will get a panel of the labels.  Just leave a comment on this post and tell me approximately how long you have been blogging and just one thing you have enjoyed the most from other bloggers.

WHAT? A NEW PROJECT?

Oh, yes!  Lori of Humble Quilts had a QAL (quilt a long) with this quilt last year - or was it the year before? - and I bought the book, but had other projects to work on so I didn't participate then.  So, last month, I started looking at this pattern again, and besides the eagle in the middle, it looked pretty easy - and I'm all about easy.

This is the whole quilt.

So, I thought I would get started with some of the easiest blocks.

Before I knew it, I had 12 blocks finished!!  All from my stash.  Of course, I'm machine appliquéing them, so that makes it a lot faster too.  So, what will I do when I get all the blocks finished except the middle one?  There's that eagle.  And he's a rather strange looking one at that!

My next post is my 700th!!!  I think I'll have a give-a-way to celebrate!  So be sure to check back in a few days.