Stumbling Down Easy Street (and other adventures)

Yup, that's right. My Easy Street is made from thrift store shirts, and that shouldn't come as any big surprise. I know I said I was planning on using repro fabrics, but since I don't start the mystery until after the reveal, when I saw Bonnie's finish I felt it was more suited to my shirt selection than my repro stash. Other than my gold (I call it mustard) for her gray, and my more neutral background, I just subbed different shades of her same colors.

When I started in on the quilt last week I was going to cut everything for the entire quilt and then sew one full step at a time. However, after getting the first two steps cut and starting on the third, I got curious how my fabrics were going to work together. So I stopped cutting step three and cut just a few each of the rest of the steps. Then I assembled one block "A" and one block "B". I'm so glad I did. Although I really liked my shirt colors together, there just wasn't enough contrast with my purples and some of the darker blues and greens. So I dug through the shirt stash again and came up with more light blues and greens, sorted out the darker parts from the piles of things already cut, and unpicked the darker parts from the sewn blocks. I'm still not sure what the overall effect will be, since these are the only two blocks I have made, but at least the colors aren't one big dark blur.

And speaking of quilts made from shirts, I have come up with the final setting for my Barrister's Sow-Along blocks that I showed in my last post. I haven't changed the layout--I have just added the setting triangles and borders. None of it is sewn together. It is all just stuck on the design wall.

I get questions about how many shirts it takes. For the individual blocks I would just cut off a sleeve from each of the shirts I wanted to use, so there were parts of lots of shirts involved there. A "Large" size, short-sleeved shirt provided the setting triangles. The back of a shirt provided the strips for the narrow border. And the outer border is the same fabric as the setting squares. Remember I had 3 shirts of that same fabric, and I have used most of the big pieces of those shirts now, but still have plenty left that I could use in pieced blocks. I actually fussy-cut the border strips so that I could match the plaids and make the border look continuous. Some of you may groan or roll your eyes, but that is part of my obsessive nature and I have learned to live with it--even embrace it. : ) I hope to have this top to flimsy stage by the end of the month. I'm only doing a row or two at a time because I need to focus on making my Mom's birthday present that I mentioned in my previous post.

You can imagine that with all of the shirt work going on around here that my sewing room looks like an explosion in a shirt factory. Gotta do something about that.

Finally, I did get my BOM, Random Roses in Jamestown (because I used random rose fabrics I had collected for a few years), blocks all made last year (thanks to Teresa's loan of her acrylic templates). Though the pattern uses log cabin blocks for setting squares, I think I am going to use some sort of chain block. I just really like chains for setting squares.

If you are familiar with this pattern, you are aware that it is a Marti Michell BOM only offered through quilt shops.  You cannot just go out and buy the pattern. This is what the pattern actually looks like. I  pulled this photo from the web.

The same "Jamestown" pattern has most recently been reincarnated as the "Stonehenge meets Jamestown" BOM--same pattern, different fabrics. I received the pattern from Marj when she offered it on her blog after finishing with it. I am going to do the same. If you are interested in receiving this pattern, let me know in your comment. If more than one would like it, I will draw the name.
BTW, the pattern does include paper templates, but it does make up easier if you have Marti Michell templates, sets A & C.

That's it for now. Until next time,
Janet O.

Just a bunch of stuff.

Mountain Trail is all quilted and bound!

You can see the quilting pattern better from the back.

I'm going to link this up with Lori at Humble Quilts. I had just checked her blog to make sure I wasn't too late to link and I was surprised there weren't more links. I have seen so many of these around blogland. If you have made one and haven't linked yet, please join in. It is fun to see the unique qualities of each quilt, working from the same pattern.

I decided to get my "Random Roses in Jamestown" block done early this month. One more block to go and then I will make some kind of setting squares. I am thinking chain blocks instead of the log cabin blocks in the pattern. I love chains for tying sampler blocks together. I am so proud of myself for keeping up with this, since I am doing it on my own and there is no group, or link to keep me motivated and on track.

I also got another mini quilt finished. When Cheri posted her "labor of love" directions on Labor Day I made two and gave one to each daughter. But I just kept making 4-patches as leader/enders and finally decided I'd better stop and make something out of them. So I made another, larger "labor of love". As is my recent trend, I made the setting HSTs out of rather similar value fabrics--not much contrast there. The 4-patches save it from being too drab. I also bound it with something rather nondescript. I was determined to make this entirely from the scrap basket, and nothing else worked for me any better than this did.

I continue to plug along on Orca Bay (aka SOTMD). I have 32 more of those rectangle unit thingies to make and then I can stitch it all together and figure out how I want to border it. It will only be about a twin size. That is as far as I could stretch the peach and purple shirts. Even after a year, I still love the movement the string blocks (faux, in my case) give this quilt.

 Next up in the quilting cue are these two minis. Both are gifts and the recipients know who they are. I started marking the basket quilt this evening.

My main project for November will be to piece the quilts for my grandsons for Christmas. I have all of the fabric, but have barely begun to cut and stitch. Speaking of grandkids, some have asked to see the costumes I made for two of them for Halloween. 

Abby was a black cat. I made her skirt, tail, and faux fur collar and ankle and wrist cuffs. The ears were purchased. Can you hear her meow?

Ben was The Cat in the Hat. I made his hat and tail, and stitched a white tummy to his shirt. He was thrilled to be "Go-go", as he calls him, because of something on the PBS Kids Cat in the Hat show.
And lest one of the other two grandchildren feel left out, here they are. Matt's Ninja costume was purchased (and can you tell he took his role seriously?) and Josh's Mr. F. costume came mainly from the thrift store, but my clever daughter created his headgear.

That's enough for now. I'm going to go reset clocks and get ready for bed.
Until next time,
Janet O.

I Love Fall!

The days are cooler, the colors are gorgeous, sunlight takes on a golden glow in the evenings and pumpkins are everywhere.
When Kathie posted her little Halloween tumbler recently, I knew I had to make one, but I wanted to go with Fall colored repros. It is very small, and the leftover tumblers made an even smaller little quilt. I should probably call it a mug rug.

Here is the finish on one of my little Halloween colored minis. The other one is still a basted sandwich, ready for quilting. I hope to get it finished this coming week. Those are more of my little "Tuffet" creations from the Schnibbles pattern. I've had questions about how I made them chunky, instead of like pillows. I will put a tutorial on a tab at the top. I will not be showing the entire process--you will need Miss Rosie's pattern for that. I will just show how I adapted it to give it dimension. I've made almost a dozen of them now. Most of them are pictured at the end of the tutorial.

I made my next RRinJ block.
Then I got the latest Barrister's Sow-AL block made in Christmas Fabrics. Looks pretty simple, doesn't it. When I made it the first time in plaids it went together easily. This time I was having to unpick repeatedly. I hate to think what I would have been doing if it had been a hard block!

You can see the pins along the bottom of the Tuffet.
I haven't stitched the opening yet. : )

Now for some fun. Like I said at the start--I love Fall. So I am celebrating with a little Fall giveaway for my blog friends. It includes the tumbler mug rug, one of the Fall Tuffets pincushions, and a Fall bag of my handcrafted soaps in "Forest Blend", "Spearmint Clove", and "Spice Blend" scents. If you would like to be included just leave a comment and I will draw a winner late Monday night.

That's all for now. Thanks for all of your concern--I am recuperating nicely. There has been a lot of time for sewing and there are some things I am working on that I hope to share soon.
Until next time,
Janet O.

Just a few quick things.

This should be short, and won't that be refreshing?
I got September's BOM for my "Random Roses in Jamestown" sewn up.

One of my "labor of love" minis from Cheri's blog is now bound.

We were thrilled when my daughter's neighbor won the quilt Randy donated to her fundraiser.

This is LaReen and she is a sweetheart!

And this was the "haul" I referred to on my last visit to the thrift store for "a couple" of men's shirts for my Barrister's Sow-Along blocks. Several great neutrals, along with some wonderful colorful plaids. On the bottom of the right-hand pile you see two identical shirts. I actually have a third of that same shirt and I am considering using them as sashing and border fabric for the Sow-Along.

I wanted to show you what we are dealing with in Northern Utah. We don't really have fires burning in our part of the state, but they are raging in the Northwestern states above us. The jet stream is currently bringing all of that smoke right to us. Remember these lovely mountain views I sometimes share from my deck?

This is what we see now--same mountain. I wish I could hold my breath for a few days!!

Finally, I did draw Saturday for the "Fall"-ing Stars mini from the names of those who donated to my daughter's fundraiser for dravet.org. I was just too tired to post it after two days of fundraising. Carla (no blog) was the winner. I was happy to know that this brightened her day, as she has just been recovering from eye surgery. I met Carla earlier this year at a LQS. She lives just a couple of hours away.
I'm too tired to do links on this post (I'm tired a lot lately), so I am going to wimp out on you.
I will be away from the sewing machine and computer for a few days. I'm not ignoring any of you--and I will be back. Consider yourself warned! : )
Until then,
Janet O.