Sinister Craftiness

I’m back!  Our family spent most of July driving through the Southwest:  we visited Arches and the Four Corners Monument in Utah, then Mesa Verde in Colorado, and spent a week at the Philmont Scout Ranch in northern New Mexico.  After Philmont we were in Santa Fe and Albuquerque for the weekend, then drove on the remnants of historic Route 66 to see the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest national parks, and north to the Grand Canyon.  Bryce Canyon in Utah finished up our sightseeing; we took a couple of days to rest up with the grandparents in northern Utah before the return trip home.  Phew!  GimletBlog has all the trip details, and there’s a photo gallery full of red rocks and sagebrush, too.

Early on in the journey, our hotel in Moab, Utah just happened to be across the street from a quilt shop, It’s Sew Moab.  How convenient!  It’s not a large store, about the size of The Quilting Loft in my hometown, but a nice selection of fabrics and notions, and a front-and-center display of Southwest-themed fabrics.  My memory is failing me, but I’m pretty sure I saw a room in the back with at least one longarm quilting machine.  I bought their signature quilt pattern as a souvenir and another small Moab-related kit which included a sampling of those Southwest prints.  If you’re staying in Moab for all the outdoor adventures southeast Utah has to offer, It’s Sew Moab is an easy shop to visit as you’re shopping for souvenirs or choosing a place to eat.

After Moab, we drove south en route to the Four Corners Monument, and made a rest stop in Blanding, Utah.  The Blanding visitors’ center is home to the community museum, which showcases several beautiful quilting and needlework projects.  It was an unexpected treat and an opportunity to pause and learn about a small town we were originally just “passing through”.

First, here’s a peek at Floral Fifteen.  The five green panels are complete, and I’ve stiched nine out of the ten white borders.

Not as far along as I’d hoped, but I thought it might take a long time to stitch all these panels, even if they are very small.  (The arrival of two new Just Nan kits, Grow and the Anniversary biscornu, were also distracting.)  This darling felt pincushion, and many more like it, can be found at the The Daily Pincushion on Etsy.  I have a poinsettia one for Christmas and a few other flower/color combinations; they brighten up my stitching area.  Most pincushion designs are available in two sizes and a matching emery can also be made to order.

Last week Bestemor, Thing Two, and I went to Ballard in search of this year’s Syttende Mai pins and discovered a sort-of-new (well, new to us) quilting shop!  The Quilting Loft is small, but it’s packed with beautiful, top-quality fabrics.  We are fond of backing quilts with flannel, and were happy to see a good selection of pretty flannels in patterns suitable for baby quilts or more grown-up projects.  Thing Two was intrigued by the antique sewing machine on display.  There weren’t very many notions or books, but what they had was very good; I found a lovely pattern book which I’m looking forward to using.  We’ll definitely be back!

Inspired by our visit, Thing Two made a set of rotary cutters for himself out of his construction set:

He’s hard at work on the Petits Fours table runner, and eager to get started on a quilt kit just for him which is on its way in the mail.  I had hoped to keep it a surprise for his birthday later this year, but he’s too excited about the quilt; it will be much more fun to make it with his help.  Stay tuned …

After making Thing One’s quilt, I wanted to make another, but just couldn’t seem to find an opportunity when I’d have enough space and time to spread out quilt pieces.  That opportunity finally arrived this weekend when The Gimlet took Thing Two along with the scout troop for a “clampout” (camping and digging for razor clams) at Copalis Beach.  Check out GimletBlog for all the details, but in summary, they all had a wonderful time and we now have a freezer full of clams.  We’ll be having slow-cooker clam chowder every Sunday dinner for the forseeable future.

Anyway, while the guys were away, I took over the dining room table and the coffee table, and very nearly completed the Petits Fours table runner, a free pattern from the Moda Bakeshop.  It’s mostly comprised of one Charm Pack; I used Portobello Market by 3 Sisters.  At this point the quilt top is completely assembled; now the table runner needs to be quilted.

As I’m a complete quilting newbie, I’ve never done this before (Thing One’s quilt is tied), and wasn’t completely sure that my little Kenmore sewing machine was up to the challenge.  Sears offers a quilting attachment set, which at $25 was worth the experiment.  Happily, the quilting attachments are compatible with my machine, so I can start learning how to machine quilt.  As much as I’d like to finish off Petits Fours and begin a Jelly Roll lap quilt, I had better work my way through some practice muslin “quilt sandwiches” before treating myself to dessert.

Thing One is a T-shirt guy:  regardless of the weather, he can be seen wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt.  Over the years we’ve collected dozens of T-shirts from vacations, school events, and other occasions.  The shirts he’s outgrown were taking up a good amount of storage space, but I couldn’t bear to get rid of them — it was a storage bin filled with memories — and then The Gimlet suggested, “Why not make a T-shirt quilt?”

I’ve watched my mother make countless baby quilts over the years (not telling how many years, but the first one was for Uncle B, so do the math) but I’ve been sewing machine-phobic ever since that disastrous quarter in junior high Home Economics, so I wasn’t sure I could make a quilt on my own.  Nevertheless, the local fabric store had a booklet by Better Homes & Gardens about T-shirt and other memory quilts, and I had bought a not-too-intimidating little Kenmore sewing machine to keep my linens, Hardanger fabric, and other evenweaves from unraveling while I stitched, so it was time to give quilting a try.

After cutting off the sleeves and neck, and separating the front and back of the T-shirt, attach fusible interfacing to keep the T-shirt fabric from stretching.  The booklet suggests using fusible tricot interfacing, with the stretch of the interfacing placed opposite from the T-shirt’s natural stretch.  Once the shirts were fused, I cut them into various sized squares depending on the size of the design.

Then it was time to play with quilt top designs and fabric choices!  Nanaimo followed the process with great interest from the beginning, whether stalking the rotary cutter or leaping into the bag of scraps, and laying out the rows of squares on the bed was an open invitation for him to roll around and act silly.  I chose two batiks in aquamarine and brown (looks like burled wood) to provide a neutral (but not boring) backdrop to the variety of colors and designs of the T-shirts, and a cozy blue flannel back that would complement the batiks.

The rest of the process was straightforward:  sew squares, then strips, together to create the quilt top; tie it, and finish up by binding it.  It was an easy enough project for this complete quilt and sewing novice to make, and somebody who really knows how to quilt could achieve more impressive results with a more complicated pattern of blocks (perhaps in different sizes and shapes) and a quilted, rather than tied, top.  One small note of warning:  the fusible interfacing adds an additional tougher layer of fabric to sew through, and I found tying the quilt to be more difficult than the baby quilts have been.  It’s not bad for a first attempt; I can see the mistakes I made but I think the quilt is structurally sound and Thing One loves his new quilt.  Not only is it great to be able to re-use these old shirts, it’s also a a fun way to remember the elementary school science fairs and school carnivals, and family vacations/Gimlet business trips around the country.  There are still several T-shirt blocks left over; not quite enough for a second full quilt but perhaps they’ll make up a smaller lap quilt some day, or I can add more shirts as Thing One continues to outgrow his old favorites.

A T-shirt quilt may be a project for the moms of younger children to look forward to making (you’ll be here before you know it, trust me) and it’s not a bad idea for recycling our own old shirts from Back In The Day which are just too cool to throw out.