T-shirt EBTKS Quilt

Started in February!

Wrestled all the parts together....

and now.

The T-Shirt Everything But the Kitchen Sink quilt is a completed top!

These quilts are a puzzle. There is no direct plan, I build and LOOK as I go... What does it need, what block shape does it need, what Colors do I need to add, how do I balance it... Working with one T-shirt at a time, this quilt came together...

It's a Big One! 86" X 98", (before quilting...) It will shrink down a inch or two...   It is such fun to finally take it down off my wall...

It gets to be quite a challenge to maneuver under the machine. when the top is nearly completed !

I do hope the customer loves it as much as I do!

Other Everything But The Kitchen Sink Quilts I've made over the years...

the first:

Everything But the Kitchen Sink Quilt, Original, 2009 (NFS)

Ragamuffin Everything But The Kitchen Sink Quilt 2010 (Sold)

Santa Everything But the Kitchen Sink Quilt. 2012

Silk Everything But the Kitchen Sink quilt... Must find final photo! (2011)

Still waiting to be quilted... LOL. sigh.

coming along!

The top half of my Everything But the Kitchen Sink Quilt using T-Shirts is complete!  Now to finish adding the bottom half!
Weeeeeeee!
Such a joy blast of color!!!

Progress!

I'm still plugging away on the T-shirt/Kitchen sink customer quilt... Each day I design a new block or two for it. Remember these are not Orphan blocks, but I am designing one block at a time, to make each article of clothing into an original block... Then adding it to my design wall, and seeing what I want to add color wise to make sure I'm working in a complete .. So I have not pre-designed this quilt. I'm making, and designing as I go...

Part of my goal is to leave elements of the Clothing, but not let it be an obvious thing that Much of it is T-shirts and other clothing... I want to cut it up as much as I can, so it's all about color...

The customer wants this quilt to be as bright and happy as possible, so I get to add in color here and there, so it doesn't get dominated by the majority of white, blue and gold fabrics that are in the BOX I get to dig through. ;-)

As I was playing with  the blocks, I grabbed a half a dresden I had made in one of my classes way back when, and put it into see how it worked... I loved how it changed the movement int he quilt, so I grabbed my warm up 15 Minutes of made fabric, which I do every day...

 And sliced it up to give me more Dresden blades... I have a dresden template in my shop page here.

 Using made fabric to make the blades is such a fun way to infuse color into this quilt...

I finished the one Dresden, then thought, It certainly needs another, and before you knew it, I had three Dresden plates, then started making a few others in smaller size to dot around the quilt. My camera is not behaving lately, so I've been relying on my iPhone. I apologize the shots are not great... (I'm waiting for a new camera to come out mid April! I'm ready for a new one! A new toy soon!)

See how cute and fun these are? ...and Easy too!and T-shirt fabric to make more dresdens in different sizes... You can see below how how cute it is shaping up... I'm going to make 2-3 more MINI dresdens, and dot them around in the quilt. This quit is due Mid May, so I gotta stay on this project this week and get all the blocks done, so I can then take my time getting the top joined, quilted and bound!  I wonder if the recipient will recognize most of the fabrics... hehe.

I'm having so much fun with this quilt. It was quite a challenge to just start cutting and making without any real idea how it would turn out. Although that is always who I work, It's slightly more intimidating when the fabrics(child/grown man's clothing) are not yours!  But I am very pleased with how it's turning out.  

My original quilt which was used as inspiration for the above quilt, is this one below:

 But The Kitchen Sink Quilt, 2009 Victoria Findlay Wolfe quilted by Linda Sekerak

HAPPY EASTER!!! 

THE WINNERS:

SHERYL S. wins a copy of my DWR Book

Marla's Crafts won a Copy of my DWR Book

&
RoccaGal won the Cut it up TShirt!
CONGRATS!!

long weekend...

We came out to our house on Long Island for the long weekend... In time for the season's next snowstorm... I'd rather be stuck by the fireplace then in NYC... although I think NYC missed yet another storm. Oh well!

Don't worry, This old MN gal will get back to NYC just fine in time to get to QuiltCon. 

Have no fear, I took my drivers test in Minnesota snow. LOL...

Snow does not stop me,  A girl has to get her bagel...( a new yorker indeed!)

I had to pull over to snap this picture, This guy had every intention of getting out of his long flat, driveway... until he reached the end and found a massive snow drift right as it met the road... Bummer, I'm guessing he had to walk back to his house... which is not even visible here...  The snow is only barley coming down now, but the wind is quite something in the flat areas... 

It seems much more peaceful at my house... not as blustery...

 and INSIDE my house... It's even more PEACEFUL!!  BINDING! I'm binding the KING sized Double wedding ring beast by the fire...  ( lovely) 

 I finished the binding on my Quilt Alliance, Animals we love contest quilt... Have you made one?  Please do!!! so fun, I'm making a second one... entry deadline is MAY 1st... details here.

Here's an updated picture from Friday... You can see how many more blocks I got made this week on the commission quilt, using Tshirts, to make my "Everything but the Kitchen sink" style quilt... See last post, down below... I'm really having a blast making these blocks... Each one, individual, making a pile of orphans, to use, cut, and add too, so it does not look like a tshirt quilt... love it, love it, love it...

Lastly... a little Valentine I made up for my hubby for Valentine's Day....  I have to finish it off into something for this office...  Isn't it sweet? ;-)


Off to sew together some class samples for QuiltCon! I fly out Thursday early morning...  Must get my ducks in a  row, over here! ;-)  Enjoy your day!

New project begun!

So, I was like a kid in the candy store this week, by finally having tieback in my studio!  Where to begin!  This could be a very long post if I shown you every single thing I did this week!  I'll start with this New Commission quilt.  Something completely out of my comfort zone! Can you imagine?

I was asked to make a quilt for a woman whose son is graduating from college soon, and getting married.  Special right?  Well all the fabrics are clothing from all his years!  From the Blanket he came home from the hospital in, to the Cub scouts, High school teams, PJ's and maybe even some boxers and swim suits!

Truly a unique bunch of clothing, and the request was for a "Everything but the Kitchen sink" style of my quilts. Like the one above...

Making a quilt that does not LOOK like I have 50 T-shirts included...

Great challenge right?

Well, I am so up for the challenge!

Favorite PJ's ... Dinosaurs are  in! I'm fusing all the t-shirt and starchy fabrics using a lightweight Pellon fusible stabilizer.  My Biggest goal is to use as many of the fabrics as possible, and add as much COLOR as I can as well, so that it is a bright happy quilt.  Many of the clothing is blue, white and yellow, but we want a BRIGHT COLORFUL quilt.

Some of the LOVED fabrics have stains, from being loved so much... 

But that's OK, we are trying to use as much of the interesting fabrics as possible.

I'm working one garment piece at a time, and looking at only making one interesting block at a time. I am not looking at the grand scheme of things... I need a completely random set of blocks with many colors. So designing each individual block relies on the info on the shirt, and how can I add MORE color....  So far, I've cut up... His small bib, Apron with his name on it, PJ's, Boxers, Snoopy sling from when he broke his arm, and swimming T-shirts...  I'm having so much fun exploring this challenge, and I'm very excited at the process of this quilt.  I would say this does not look like a T-short quilt, so far... Would you agree?

I'm off to play some more... and PACK for QuiltCon!

Are you going???

I HAVE BUTTONS!!!  ( And maybe tattoos too!)

Find me at Quiltcon, say hi, and I will share a button with you!!!

My schedule will be posted early next week...

Thanks!!