some WIP's

We decided to close the restaurant on Sundays. That gives me a guaranteed day off where i don't have to think about pizza. I'm loving it... yesterday i spent the entire day in my quilting room!

I finished quilting a baby blanket for Waylon (grand baby #9). I haven't decided on what to bind it with... so that's not done yet. It is made from recycled plaid shirts with a few bits of stash mixed in, and a recycled white sheet. The green is the ugliest fabric i have in my stash but it looks great on a baby blanket, especially for a little boy! I am making a twin as well that matches for his older brother Wesley. I really like how it turned out and Ive got all the blocks made for the twin, i just have to piece them together.

I have been buying alot of shirts at garage sales lately. They are inexpensive and with all the little boy quilts the plaid shirts (like the ones Ralph their paw paw wears) are perfect. This weekend I hit a sale with alot of striped shirts, both men and women's, mostly pastel or light colors. I loved them together so i cut them all down and cut as many 6" squares as possible. It took 11 shirts to make enough squares for a queen. Ive started sewing it together and I love love love LOVE it. I'm going to end up giving it to Sharon, a daughter in law... but i LOVE it. This one may be REALLY hard to give away. It looks so good on my bed!!

I am enjoying the recycled shirt thing. Lately I've been cleaning up at yard sales buying them for a quarter each!! I get alot of fabric from each shirt for .25 each! The striped quilt... the fabric was $2.75 for the top of that quilt!! I think i paid a quarter for the white sheet that i used on Waylon's quilt... and i have enough to do Wesley's too!

The problem with recycled shirts, its really hard to keep the sewing room organized! I have stacks of shirts that i need to cut the seams out of, stacks that i have cut the seems out of, stacks that i have used some of the shirt, but there is alot of material left for future quilts and then... there are tons of bits and strings left over when i use all of one. So piles have taken over! I am trying to cut as much of each shirt as possible. Right now with the red and blue plaid i have 4 different quilts planned so i cut as many 6" squares as i can, then as many 3 1/2 inch squares, then 2 1/2 squares, then i stash all the strings and cut the bits left over into 1 1/2 squares. Still... there are way too many piles and I'm going to have to figure out an organizational system.

But... it feels good to post progress pictures again! Life is settling down some.