Repurposed denim quilt

I really love the quilts that are made by the ladies in Gees Bend. They're so colorful and creative, and made without buying extensive lines of matching fabric.

I also read a book about the modern clothing industry, and it included a bit about what happens to donated clothing. Apparently only about 10% of what we donate is ever sold. Some of the remainder is recycled, and a lot of it ends up in landfills.

Given both of the above, I decided to try to make my own quilt out of repurposed fabric. I bought six pairs of jeans from a thrift store, added another pair that my husband wore out, and used a flannel sheet from the store for the back.

It's not my favorite quilt design-wise, but I love the concept. I also love the fact that I turned waste into something functional that my kids love. As usual, I showed it to them and there was a scramble to see who would curl up with it first. My son said it looks like something from his favorite computer game, Minecraft. I can kind of see that.

There's no quilting on it, so I suppose that makes it a blanket and not a quilt. I used my Singer 27 for most of it, but I also used my Free a bit. I love that machine.

My last couple of quilts have featured a lot of straight line quilting, so my Singer 115 has been pretty neglected (I use it exclusively for free motion quilting). I'm thinking my next projects will be a quilt for my cousin, and a small whole-cloth wall hanging featuring a ton of free motion quilting. I can't wait.

Robot!

I saw a great idea on this blog and it's been kicking around in my head for quite some time.  You could turn your child's drawing into a stuffed animal!  Since my son loves to fill up pages and pages of paper with robot drawings, I asked him to draw me a robot to sew for him.

He drew a pretty complicated robot, but I gave it my best shot.

He adores it.  I still have to sew blue stripes on the legs, but then it'll be all done.  The proportions are off, but not bad for my first shot.

My son was glued to my side through the entire process.  I think it really sparked his interest to see his idea turn into something real.  He was full of questions about sewing and my sewing machine, my trusty Singer 27.  I love to model a maker mentality for him...I hope to encourage him to be creative.  I sew and my husband builds electronics and plays music.  I hope my kids pick something up that gives them a creative outlet. 

In the meantime he has a cool new robot to cuddle up with.

Finally finished!

After 18 months of work, I FINALLY finished my scrappy log cabin quilt. 

It's made entirely of scraps, except for two fat quarters that I purchased.  And, to be honest, there was another fat quarter that I took a little square out of, and then used the rest for this.  But the vast majority of these pieces were just scraps. 

I adore it.

I pieced it mostly on my Singer 66 hand crank and bound it with my Singer 27 treadle.  I did free motion quilting on it with my Singer 115 treadle.  The quilting isn't an overall pattern...there are lots of hearts, stars, and swirls, some pictures of things the kids would like (our house, a t-rex, a robot), words (the kids' names, "I love you," my name and the year, etc), and other things.  My hope is that in the years to come the kids will spot these things as they curl up with the quilt.  And since there's the possibility the quilt might exist after I've passed away, I hope the messages will make them happy after I'm gone.

You can't see the quilting unless you really look.  I think that makes it more special...like a secret message.

The quilt is around 64" by 64", which is about right for curling up on the couch.  I'm so happy to start 2014 with a finish I'm so proud of.

I finally finished my double-slice quilt.  We're having an unseasonably warm couple of days here in Wisconsin so I'm not going to curl up with it yet.  But it's going to be back down into the 40s by the end of the week, so it'll be put into good use then.

 I like the texture that the spirals give the quilt.  I can't wait to see it after it's been washed!

 The loops in the border were my first project that was done with the 115.

My first quilt that was made entirely with people-powered machines!  I'm so proud of it!

Finished wall hanging

I finished my wall hanging.  Although now I think I may cut it up and make it into a tote bag, or little pillows.  I just can't leave well enough alone.

The writing is kind of hard to read, but it says, "Home sweet home Milwaukee."

The squares puckered up...I think that's because I put interfacing on them before I stitched on them.  I was trying to make them stiff, but I think it just ended up weird-looking.  What a headache. 

For now it's gracing the wall in my bedroom.  Until I do something else with it.

Former UFO

I finally finished my Floating Dresdens quilt!  

I really hate binding.  I haven't figured out a way to make it look great by machine, and hand binding takes forever.  I know some people machine sew the front and hand sew the back, but that doesn't seem easier than hand sewing the whole thing.  I have another quilt that's on hold because all that's left is to hand sew the binding and I just hate doing that.  I'll do it at my local quilt guild's next sew day.

Anyway, I bound this one with my Singer model 27...

...by flipping the backing fabric over the front, folding it, and sewing it down.  Cheating!

Finishing a quilt is a little anticlimactic because after all these months of work it just winds up getting tossed onto the rocking chair in my living room, or stuffed into the basket where we keep our quilts.  But over the next weeks I'll see my husband and kids wrap themselves in it, build forts with it, and take it to bed with them to keep them warm all night.  That makes the work worth it.

This former UFO is finally done.

Finished mini-quilt

I finished my half-square triangle mini-quilt!  

I bound it by machine to save time, and I don't like how it turned out.  I'll stick with hand binding for now, even though it takes forever.

Now all of the attachments are stitched down and safe against curious fingers.  They are, clockwise from the right, a tucker, a ruffler, a button hole maker, a rolled hem foot, a regular hemmer, and a regular foot. 

I also had a chance to get some more thread (thank you, weekend!) so hopefully I'll have a chance to make some headway on my Floating Dresdens quilt. 

Completed tumbling blocks quilt

I finally finished my tumbling blocks quilt. Despite the headaches I'm pleased with it.It's not really my typical style, but I think I learned a lot from it.

I did a pieced back for the first time.  I think my kids will like it because when they use the blanket for forts or hide underneath it, they'll have patterned fabric to look at instead of just solid.  It doesn't really match the front, but the kids don't care.  My son already remarked about liking some of the patterns on the back.

 I used different types of quilting.  A ton of straight lines...

 ...free motion loops...

...and stitch in the ditch, all to help the blocks stand out from the densely quilted background.

 My daughter grabbed it as soon as I took it off the line.  She likes it.

I like it.  Now on to the next one.

Rail Fence Done!

I'm on spring break now, so I finally finished my rail fence quilt.  I got a jelly roll of Ruby for Moda fabric for Christmas, and this seemed like a good way to utilize all those pre-cut strips.

It's a nice throw quilt size.  In fact, it's been passed around from person to person since I made it.  It looks really bright and cheerful on the wooden rocking chair in my living room, but it hardly ever gets to rest there since it seems like someone always wants to curl up underneath it.

I did free motion quilting all over it - just squiggles.  It was hard at first but after many snapped threads and a few broken needles, I got the hang of it.  I think the reason it's so popular in my house is that it acquired a lovely crinkly texture after I washed it thanks to all those squiggles.

And all that sewing was done wtih a 45 year old machine that I got for eight bucks at a thrift store.  Score!

Here's the obligatory folded-up shot.  It seems like a lot of quilt bloggers like to take a photo of the quilt folded up.  Maybe to show off the binding?  Anyway, I'm not so good at binding, so let's just move on.

I love this quilt and I'm going to make a few more similar-sized throws.  My next one will be in fabric that's a 1930s reproduction print.  I can't wait!