Tshirt Quilt Finished!

This is my project since about January - tshirt quilt for my nephew, Sean. Sorry the photo is not the greatest. I took it on our pool table.

Sean graduated on Saturday, May 30 and I gave it to him then. My sister asked me to make this for him back in the Fall. When she showed me a photo of a tshirt quilt, it looked easy. But this was more work than I envisioned. First of all, I wasn't even thinking about interfacing the back of the shirts. But that was easy enough. Then to make sure the blocks are centered. Sometimes that's a little difficult because some of the shirts have a lot of space and some have very little.

I basically followed a pattern in a "Quilts 'N More" magazine I had. I think it turned out ok. Sean seemed to like it.

Here's a close up of one of the blocks. I think this block turned out pretty nice. The Spirit Band was one shirt and the C Band was another shirt. I just added more of the blue tshirt to the sides of the C Band and than added it to the Spirit Band shirt. The corner blocks are set on an angle which I kind of liked.

The quilting gave me some trouble. First I quilted in the ditch. And then I decided to quilt a crosshatch. Well, I used the quilt guide from my machine and I ended up with wavy lines. So I picked out a good bit of those. Then I decided to draw the lines on. I should have done that from the beginning. Oh, well, trial and error. 

One thing I learned about some of these tshirts. A few have what I call "paint" on the shirt. After sewing through a couple, I finally figured out to sew up to the paint part, backstitch and cut the thread. Then jump over the paint part (such as this Spirit Band above) and then begin sewing again. 

I'm glad it's done and presented to my nephew! 

Here's a couple more photos.

This is a XL Twin size quilt so it should fit his college dorm bed. Or can just be used lounging on the couch.

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway

Welcome to my blog. This is the first time that I am participating in the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway.

I am offering this pattern and enough batik fabric to make this table runner.  The dark blue batik can be used as the feature fabric.  There is enough on the right side to make the top and on the left you can piece the back and binding together.

I have sewn this table runner and I really like it.  Here is my version. 

If you would like to win this, please leave me a message. Since I listen to audio books on my drive to and from work, if you know of a good book, that would be great. If  not, just let me know if you like this giveaway. Please leave your email address in the message.

You can follow my blog if you want to because as of today, I only have 2 followers. But that is not a requirement. I will have my husband pick a number out of the number of messages left for the winner.
http://www.sewmamasew.com/2015/05/giveaway-day-sewing-craft-supplies-fabric-patterns-etc-2/

Hometown Place mats

I've had the tops of these place mats sitting in a dresser drawer for about a year and never got around to completing them. I decided I was tired of looking at my same old place mats that we use so I got these out and they are now ready to use for dinner.

These have the backs flipped over. Here they are by themselves.

I think I'll have a cup of tea.

Sugar & Spice Bag

Not surprisingly, I did not finish my Sugar & Spice Bag in time for the Sew-along, but, regardless, it is finished! I really like how it turned out. It will be my new Spring purse.  

This is Amy Butler "Hopscotch" which, of course I have had in my "Fabric Room" for quite sometime. I used Kona light blue for the lining. I made one of the pockets with the white that I used for the piping. The white fabric has roses imprinted on it, so the piping is kind of textured. 

I didn't much enjoy making the piping. So then, I put off adding the piping to the bag pieces and finishing the bag. But once I decided to pick it up again, I just kept on going and it came together nicely. I just loved my new bag when I was done.

Now if Spring gets here soon, I can start using it!