more shirts

I have figured out that the prep table at zippys is the perfect height for rotary cutting! We have to come to town early some days, so i have been bringing shirts with me and cutting them into pieces for something to do. I think the answer to the pile of shirt problem is that if I'm going to cut into one, I'm going to just cut the whole thing up into various sizes. Cutting on the cooking surfaces at zippys, i really don't think it violates any health codes... i did bleach the table afterwards...  and i do have to make sure i don't have strings on me when its time to work! no one wants strings in their pizza!

this is one shirt, some 6" squares for 3 different quilts i want to make. 3 1/2" squares for another one i am working on, I always need 2 1/2" squares and I don't think i will ever have enough 1 1/2" squares for the 9 patch and hand piecing one i am working on. The pile on the far right... those are strings, there are two that i want to make with them, and i don't have nearly enough strings yet to start. The wad  of scraps at the bottom, that is what I'm putting in the compost pile... i am not saving anything smaller than 1 1/2" square!!

I actually had sewing time this morning. The pastel stripe quilt for Sharon I broke down into 9 - 5X5 sections. I have finished 7 of the sections now... tomorrow morning i should be able to finish the flimsy. I don't think I'm going to put a border on it, if i do it will be very simple, maybe a white or pink border. My goal by the end of the weekend is to finish the borders on Bridgette's postage stamp and piece together the blocks of Wesley's (the match to the latest baby quilt i finished)... then I'm not sure where I'm going from here... i am in pretty good shape to get all 23 finished by Christmas. I have finished 5, just one more step on 2, almost finished the tops of 3, and have over half of the remaining cut out ready to piece!

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.

a little this and that... and a finish

Its been a few weeks. Life has been SO hectic here, It seems like every time i sit down to blog i get interrupted and never get to post. So here is a quick overview....

 i helped throw a baby shower for Caty:

A baby has been born. Introducing Grand baby Number 10, Tristin Eduardo Gauge Hampton: (no it is not the baby that i threw the shower for... we have 6 more weeks before we see her!)

Ralph's Daughter #1 has come to visit with grand baby #1 and #6 and #7 and will be here till august. Her husband is in the military and they are in the process of moving from Albuquerque NM, to Mobile AL. We have seen alot of them which is nice!

(Trini and Desi... #6 and #7)

We have been slinging ALOT of pizza. The guys on the gas rigs in the area are eating it up and getting an order for 10 at a time is no big deal lately.

At home... we have several new babies added to the ranch. 4 so far, from the looks of it we will end up with 7!!! ugh, we need more horses like we need a hole in our head. We really hadn't planned on them, but Cutter the stud got out and obviously had ALOT of fun.....

And finally a finish. I didn't finish it in time for her shower, but i did get it done before the baby was born!!! It is the same pattern as my last finish.

I think I'm going to join in on a quilt along. The kaleidoscope one... i will post a button as soon as i can.

what a horrible night!

last night was a night off... but we didn't get much rest! While feeding the horses one of the big dogs attackd "jake man" the little tiny.... i dont know what he is... he is just a little tiny teacup type dog. He ran away and hid in the bushes and when ralph pulled him out (after the little fella bit him) i screamed. The little guys intestines were on the outside of his body!

It was the most incredible thing. I actually had to help hold things aside while the vet sewed him up... and he is doing fine. I am not a blood and guts kinda gal... im amazed that i didn't pass out as i had my finger inside of my dog!

anyways here is a pic of the little jake man that i took last week while doing paperwork.

finally a pic of the finish!

This one is for Grand baby Tristan Gauge Hampton. He will be born on June 20th. Mamma's had alot of complications and we didn't expect him to be full term... but he made it and hes going to be a healthy bouncing baby boy!

I also have to include pictures of the latest additions to the ranch.

Meet Guinevere and Czar. Guinevere is the grey in the background. A few weeks ago, we were feeding after work and there was this grey horse in the pasture being really friendly. I was tired, it was dark, and I was just trying to get the water trough full... so she was annoying me! It took a minute to register.. we dont have a grey horse in this pasture! We think someone dumped her at our place knowing we would take care of her.We haven't tried to ride her but my guess is she is ridable. She is really friendly and curious and loves people.

Czar is a rescue race horse. One of ralphs horseshoeing customers had adopted him but she now has cancer and needed a new home for him so we went today and picked him up. Hes a nice friendly guy and to see him run is breathtaking, so smooth and beautiful!  The really sad thing, Czar has never lived in a pasture with grass... he didn't know what it was. he is now going to have 80 acres to run free and graze on... that makes me happy.

This makes three horses we have "rescued" in the last year. We have 24 or so now and were trying to reduce the herd, not grow it... but it doesn't seem to be working.

progress on several!

I almost finsihed one of the baby quilts today! lol.. i dont have pictures though! I will have more in a day or so.

I do have pictures of some progress on others though!

This is "Daddys Lil Girl" It is for the grandbaby that is due in august. The finish for another grandbaby due (that i dont have pictures of) is the same pattern but its called "Mamma's Lil Cowboy" and is in red, blue and yellow. I am in love with both of them and cant wait to finish them. Although I finished the girl flimsy before the boy, i had to hurry up and finish the boy because he is due in 3 weeks!

 

This is for Bridgette. She is the mamma of the baby boy on the way. It is a postage stamp and the solid squares are this yellow soft cotton that i love. Its a sunny quilt! I have one more row, then the borders and I can start quilting it.

Last but not least... this is the one that it will be a miracle if i finish. The 9 patches are made up of 1 1/2 inch squares. I have several more rows before it is bed size, then a border then quilting. I was going to give it to someone else but when Caty, (the other pregnant mamma) saw it, she fell in love, when she was a girl her grandmother (my sweetie's mother) taught her how to sew by teaching her 9 patch blocks.

ok... dont have the pic of the other one, will have to post it tomorrow~!

Thats what i have going right now, ive got several im cutting out (i hate cutting for long periods of time, so i cut a little every morning)

Bloggers Quilt Festival - Spring 2011

I have decided to participate in the Bloggers Quilt Festival - Spring 2011. I am a new quilter (well, a new quilter in the respect that I have just started finishing what i start!) What a cool thing to include my work with hundreds of other quilters. Sometimes it seems like I'm the only one in the world that quilts because I never get to spend face time with people who quilt. (There is a quilting group here but they meet during the day when i work) I'm thankful for the blog quilting community so that i can learn and grow as a quilter, and not feel so alone!

I am sharing the quilts that took me 5 years to finish. I started them because i was applying to be a foster parent and they were going to be the quilts in my "girls" room. That plan never happened because the state of Texas never got around to approving me (although i passed all of my classes and home study.) Eventually, the quilts sat in a box and kinda felt like broken dreams. I cant have kids, and i really felt that foster parenting was God's plan for me. Well... 4 years later, I have found out that he had a different plan. I now am about to marry someone with 9 grandchildren and 2 more on the way! I get to be Mimi to a whole mess of children, and although they wont be a part of me, they will be "mine" to cherish!

I am making quilts for all of them. The two quilts i started years ago I have now finished and they are going to the twin granddaughters. The fronts are almost identical, the backs are different and I quilted them differently. I used fabric I had on hand, scraps of shirts, fabric I bought at a yard sale or were given to me... they are truly scrap quilts in that respect. A few of the blocks are from one of their great grand mothers shirts, that they never got to meet.

They are the 2nd and 3rd quilts that have finished. I machine quilted them and I think that is what I learned most from making them, the process of sandwiching and pin basting, then machine quilting. By the end of the 2nd quilt, I think I can do a half way respectable job! They were also part of a "finishing" trend. I used to get to a point that i wasn't that confident at and stop, meaning I have several starts to quilts that I may someday revisit. On these I was able to push through the lack of confidence and finish them, I am sure I will continue to do that!

Be sure to visit all of the other quilts in the Bloggers Quilt Festival!