T Shirt Quilt: Finale!

Winter holidays 2026 feel like the gift that kept on giving. Steve was working through, so the girls and I kept things pretty simple; hanging around the house, catching up with people, reading, crafting, cooking and eating. I did get some kind of sickness in the middle, but it was nothing terrible, and mostly just left me tired and head-achey. 

Inconceivably, I managed to finish not one, but two hefty work in progresses among all the other life and sickness that went on. I've already talked about Maria's Denim Quilt, which was an achievement in itself, but today I get to say that I also finished the T Shirt Quilt! 

This had been a long long time coming - from back in 2020 when I first started cutting up T Shirts, to earlier this year when I realised I was getting close to having enough to get moving on it all. I lay out the shirts in what looked like a balanced and evenly distributed way and got sewing them up into columns. There were a couple of things that needed padding out, but that was a fairly easy fix to do. 

When I finished, I noticed one of my columns was slightly too short - I needed one more T Shirt! The girls and I voted on which of Steve's still wearable shirts to sacrifice to the quilt. 54 shirts in all.

So difficult to get a full photo of this quilt, since it's huge!

With the quilt top finished, I turned to the problem of actually quilting the thing. When I first made the quilt that went on our bed, 15 years ago, I had zero actual quilting experience and honestly, did not know what I was doing. This kind of worked out for me though, because when I finished that quilt, I really didn't do anything more than baste the thing together. Which ment that I could actually take the whole thing apart fairly easily. 

It was dusty, but I got to re-use all the batting that was inside the original quilt. Maybe I still don't know what I'm doing, but it was still functional and seemed a huge waste to just chuck it. The new quilt was slightly larger, so I added some extra strips that I had been given from a neighbour who was getting rid of it a few years ago. Yay for using up stuff! 

For the back of the quilt, I pieced together some leftover fabric from Sophie's Quilt, and grabbed out a random bed sheet that the girls weren't using anymore. I love the quilt top so much I really didn't want to spend any money (or time thinking) on the back. It made way more sense to just use what we had. 

Actual quilting (the process of sewing together the top, batting and backing) is honestly such physical work. The quilt is heavy! There is a lot of juggling things, figuring out where to pull or guide the fabric through. I have started doing this outside on the deck. I would just set up Sally on the glass table we have out there, but that table wobbles and bounces like crazy when you sew on it, so I take the dinning table out and butt it up against the glass one. Then there is plenty of space for the quilt to lay on the tables and I don't have the movement. 

Wanting to keep the cool images from the shirts as intact as possible, I just quilted lines down the columns and then across the rows. I really like the look of it, and I would have added more, but by the end of five or six hours of quilting, you get a bit over it. 

Since I had taken apart the original Queen Quilt, I cut that old top into strips and used it to bind the edges. I love so much that the old quilt is part of the new one. Can not say how much I love that. Everything in this quilt is something that was used before or leftover from another project. That's not to say that it cost nothing. Hours and hours of time went into making this. Even just prepping the T Shirts for the top was likely eight hours, not to mention sewing it all together, and that was before the quilting and binding. 

Even though no one would likely pay the hundreds of dollars that this quilt is worth, there is some serious satisfaction, joy and comfort when I see this quilt on our bed. Time well spent. 

This Moment in Time

I'm pretty beyond excited to talk about what I've been working on in the spare moments, but it's not finished yet. Sorry people. On top of that, Sally the Sewing Machine started to make some very strange noises while I was finishing a part of it last night and I'm a bit concerned for her health and well being now. I hope she'll be ok, but I might take her into the shop or read the manual or something before I sew anything else.

Suffice to say, there has been some quilting involved so far. As well as the use of much of the material from my stash. Hooray!

In other news, remember that before Rachel was born, I got all organised and made a few things including this top for Sophie?

Well now (eight months later) it fits and she's wearing it. I love that it is reversible and I can't wait to make more. Am I addicted to sewing? Probably.

Birthday Present Revealed!

I know I have yet to post about just what has consumed our lives over the last four weeks, but I'm still getting to that. Honestly I feel like it will never be done, and that I've got a stack of other things that I should be doing as well, though they really should wait until after the big thing I'm supposed to be doing, because that's more important. Steve tells me I've overcommitted myself with the number of "on the go" projects I've got. Maybe, but I still say I might have gotten them all done had we not had some unforeseen delays with the biggest one, and associated sickness.

The sickness that now plagues our house has meant that I'm staying home from church tonight with the girls and thus have time to post this. Steve leaves telling me to rest. Pish! Today is my Dad's birthday, and back in February I posted about working on his birthday present. At last I can now show you just what it is!

My parents love to entertain, and use their outdoor area to great effect when doing so. They have a trolley that Mum usually puts the drinks on, though Dad is in charge of seeing everyone has one. Hence why Dad gets this present. It's a towel/cover thing for the top of the drinks trolley.

I actually used an old towel on the back for condensation and spill absorption purposes. The top, which is quilted over, is made from off cuts from my Dad's pants. My Dad is not the tallest person in the world and Mum took up about six pairs of pants in January, handing me the off cuts. I also used two dress shirts Dad passed onto me for a crafty purpose.

I was really happy with how it all turned out. The way that it actually fit on the top of the trolley was very satisfying (unlike Mum's birthday present, but we won't go there). It was also really nice to be able to give it to Dad after it being in the cupboard for so long. That's what happens when you get a little carried away though I guess. :)

Secrets Finished

Have been trying to use my spare time to finish things on the to-do list rather than add more things. It's difficult when I have so much inspiration from watching Sophie play and blog-land. But, I'm happy to report that the not-so-secret Christmas presents I've been working on are now finished. Man did it feel good to have that last push through nap-time yesterday and see them all complete.

Of course, I'm still trying to be a little vague about them, so you don't get good photos until after Christmas. Sorry folks.

Previous posts on this secret topic appear here, here, here and here.

Coming Along Nicely

The rather not-so-secret Christmas presents I've been working on are coming along nicely. I have everything I need to get them finished. I've been taking photos of my progress (which I can't share with you). That said, I'm taking a break now though so I can get onto making something for my sister's upcoming birthday.

The Bee and the Flowers

I know I've been pretty vague about what I'm working on sewing wise at the moment (see here and here if you don't know what I'm talking about) because they are going to be Christmas presents for some friends, but I'm way too excited not to share the latest in this adventure. The final product will have nine interactive squares, and last night, I finished the last of the nine.

This was certainly the most fiddly of all the squares (probably why it was left until last). I've really gotten to know that blanket stitch on Sally the Sewing Machine very well over the last few nights. It all looks pretty standard to start with; flowers, bee hive, boring right? But then notice the rings! And look - from that bee hive, comes a bee!

And the bee goes to the flowers!

And gets nectar from all of them! Good work Mr Bee!

Yes, I know the bee in these pictures seems to be lacking stripes. I'm being lazy and I couldn't be bothered sew them on. Give me a break, I gave birth to a child last week! I drew the stripes on with a sharpie (after these photos were taken, sorry people. You get the idea though, I'm sure).

All in all, I'm stoked with how it looks and works. What great lacing practice for some unsuspecting child! They think they are playing with a bee and some flowers, but really, they are working out those fine motor skills! Yeah for learning!

Alternative Use

We had extra blankets out for bible study last night, and this morning, I had a brain wave to spread out the Jeans Quilt and let Sophie investigate. All those friendly functional pockets must be good for something right? I am right!

I got out all of her Noah's Ark animals and stuffed them in quickly. So funny watching Sophie find them all. She was a bit confused at first as to why the actual ark was empty. Such fun though. Jeans Quilt for the win!

Top Secret Birthday Project Two

Knowing that I'll be very busy with bub number two in the coming months, I've been trying to get all of the birthday presents organised and out of the way prior to his or her appearance. Aside from one last gift, I think I'm done!

This gift is for my mum, and has an extended epic story to go with it, which I can't share with you until after the 4th of July when I get to give it to her. Needless to say, if I had to describe the story I will tell, imagine you've read The Hobbit, and then you go and see Peter Jackson's drawn out, over done and often completely inaccurate movies of The Hobbit. Then you will have some idea what you are in store for come July.

Excited? I know I am!

Baby Stuff

Still crossing things off my to-do list, yesterday I packed my bag for the hospital. Ready to go! Well, kinda. I had to pack a bag for Sophie too, which was honestly something I didn't even consider until last week. She'll be having a sleep-over at my parents when the baby comes.

Something that my Mum has crossed off her to-do list was putting together the quilt that will be for baby number two. At the baby shower, about three months ago now, everyone worked on a square that would come together to be a cute quilt. I love how bright and colorful it looks, even on the washing line (next to the nappies... this will be a familiar sight I'm sure). I feel so blessed by all of the wonderful women who contributed to this, and especially my Mum for putting it all together.

Here is the square I did.

Cot Bumper

The cradle is set up in the nursery, and despite my initial reaction to Cradle/Cot Bumpers (adding to the risk of SIDS and what not), I thought I'd make a set give that a) this bub will probably be in the cradle longer than Sophie was and b) it's winter, and thus cold. I don't feel there is much else to say, and given that this is yet another sewing post (which I'm sure is what makes people come back to this blog day after day) I don't want to go on too long anyway.

I used up some scrap squares from the 2013 Block of the Month Quilt that I had left over (even some horrible Spring Bloom blocks :P) and backed it with some fun animal print fabric I picked up at Spotlight ages ago for $4.00/m. I bound it with left over scraps from the backing of the Log Cabins Quilt. Good to use up stuff.

Also took the opportunity to practice some quilting techniques (of course) nice and easy on the smallness of each one (there are 3, each 50cm by 20cm). The triangle piece has just straight lines, the one to the left (which you can't see) has some flowers and then some free motion to fill in the gaps, and the last one was just free motioned all the way. Got to love that Free Motion Quilting. Overall, I'm well pleased with the result.

Sleeping Bag: Quilting Practice

I mentioned a few days ago that one of the things I had ticked off my to-do list had involved quilting. While I know that this made some people cringe, and others wonder if I had truly lost my mind, I have not actually begun another quilt. Breath a sigh of relief people. What I have done is made a sleeping bag for Sophie.

Coming into winter, I'm noticing that my a-bit-over-one-year-old cannot stay under blankets very well at night. On the advice of other parents with similar problems, I thought I'd make a sleeping bag for her to keep her all nice and warm, with the added bonus of me not having to get up and check that she is indeed still tucked in. Given that it was specifically for the winter season I wanted to make sure it was as warm as could be, so I not only chose flannel material for the lining, but also decided I'd put some wadding in. This also gave me the opportunity to practice some quilting on a much smaller scale, so bonus!

I used a pattern from sewmamasew for the base and just made it a little longer and bigger so that it will fit her all though the coming growth spurts. I had the cute turtle fabric in the stash, I think I got it sometime last year for $4 a meter (bargin!) and the yellow flannel on the inside was a hand on from some Church thing. I think I spent $5 on the zip, so all in all, this sleeping bag cost about $10 in materials. Of course, it cost a lot more in time, but we won't go there.

On to the quilting! I thought I needed to practice just straight quilting, so I did the back in this (fairly boring) cross hash quilting kind of way. It was good to practice moving all the layers together, following the lines and trying to get even spacing between each row, but all in all, pretty boring sewing.

I feel it also made me a bit angry, because I just wanted to get it done, and going straight across the material from point A to point B was so easy I would just push/pull it through the machine as fast as possible. Despite my intentions to try to keep a calm even pace. :P Maybe that's why I put off doing the front for a while. Who knows. Anyway, when I did sit down to do the front on Sunday, I had the sudden thought that I'd try some Free Motion Quilting.

You just put the material in, and start sewing. Squiggles, curves, waves, anything goes. My goodness it was delightful. I actually sewed at a reasonable pace, and, like driving, slowed down for the corners! It was like sewing a boardem drawing. I loved every minute of it and felt amazing when it was done.

As always, there are difficulties. When doing Free Motion Quilting, you have to watch out for either over-doing the sewing, or not doing enough and ending up with "white space". I suppose with a boardem drawing, I'd just go back and fill in those bits, but it's harder on a machine, so some planning (or maybe just more practice) is required.

I bound the arm and neck holes with the flannel from the inside and even managed to put the zip in myself (thanks to the confidence I gained from the Travel Backpack). It's not perfect, but I'm getting better and I love it. Sophie is going to be so snug and warm. I can't imagine Free Motion Quilting on anything bigger (like an actual quilt) but it was a fabulous experience that I would love to repeat!

Log Cabin Quilt Part 4 - The Finished Product

I finished it last week, and let me tell you, that binding hides a multitude of sins, as well as highlighting some of them. Tell you what though, I love that it's made from scraps. I love that I used up material and in the process, discovered just how much I have. I love that it's warm and snuggly. I love that it perfectly fits a king single bed (tested by Steve's mum last week).

I know the people who will use it won't be looking at the stitching and commenting about how the stitch lengths are uneven, or the lines wobble. I know that the bright colors and backing fabric will make me want to look at it for a long time and feel good. I know that despite it's mistakes and inaccuracies, I've made a quilt that I love and I learnt a lot doing it. Yay!

Click for Part 1, Part 2, an Interlude and Reflections on the journey that was making this quilt. 

Quilting: The Real Story

While it appears that I have taken the brave plunge into the world of quilting over the last year and come up swimming like a pro, I have a confession to make. I'm not that good. Turns out, that quilting is actually far more complicated than I had first anticipated and though I've tried to hide it, I'd just like to let everyone know it's true, I'm not that good.

Let me clarify some things for you faithful readers out there (and if you are not interested in sewing in the slightest, feel free to stop reading now, because that is what this post is all about). Firstly, making a quilt is actually something more like a three step process. Firstly, you need to piece the cover of your quilt. The bit that has the different fabrics and patterns and fancy stuff. The part that will be on display. Doing that is called "Piecing".

I'd say that in the last year, I've gotten much better at piecing. From my first attempts at getting things straight with corners matching up and what not, to my most recent experiences, the piecing is the most satisfying part of making a quilt. I like using up the scrappy bits of fabric, starting with small sections that eventually come together to make something fabulous. Piecing. That's where it's at.

The next step of making a quilt is actually sewing your lovely quilt top, the wadding and the backing fabric together. This is the part that is called "Quilting"; where you sandwich all those layers together with lots of stitches to hold everything in place. To me, this is the most difficult part. It's not the most time consuming (nope, that's piecing, because you've got all the cutting and pressing as well as the sewing), but it's certainly the trickiest.

All those layers need to be stuck together, either with pins, basting stitches or basting glue and then the entire thing has to be put through your sewing machine. It's difficult to juggle a 1.5m by 2m quilt through that little space on your sewing machine. Actually, the word difficult doesn't really seem to cover or explain just what it's like. This is where (for me at least) things go wrong. The bottom fabric pulls in ways you can't see, the wadding is so thick that it's taking forever for each needle strike to actually get through all the layers, the top fabric, despite all the basting and pins is shifting as you try to pull it through.

Maybe I'm doing it wrong, maybe I'm not going slow enough (actually, that could be part of it :P), but at the end of the day, I've got puckers and pulls and nothing is sitting quite as squarely as it was when I first put all the layers together. It happened on the Block of the Month Quilt of 2013 and it happened again last week when I quilted the Log Cabin Quilt.

I have to admit, I was quite depressed to see what happened after I pulled it through mum's sewing machine (Harriet the Husqvana) that one last time.  Especially given that I'd spent and hour doing it with just this much of a Mary Poppins Song in my head:

"Jelly isn't jelly 'till you set it, anything can happen if you let it!"

Talk about irritating. I did wonder for a while about how to get better, but aside from practicing (which btw, seems like a very expensive way to make a lot of rubbish before you making anything good), I've got nothing.

Anyway, the final part of making a quilt involves putting a edge on your quilted sandwich of fabrics and wadding. This is called "Binding". This part is all I have left to do with the Log Cabin Quilt. Maybe I'll do it today, maybe I'll do it tomorrow. One things for sure, the sooner I do it, the sooner Sophie will be unable to come along and pull out bits of wadding from my lovely quilt sandwich. That'd be nice.

In summary, making a quilt on the whole, is something I can do, and enjoy doing, especially the piecing. Actual quilting, is not.

Days like Today...

I feel like I've had a super productive week. The top-secret Birthday Present for my Dad is complete, the house has been vacuumed (twice!), I'm currently on book four of five in the David Eddings Mallorean Series, I've gone through the stash of material that was stored in the end room, culled and organised it and I've also quilted the Log Cabin Quilt (click for part 1 and part 2 of the journey).

I did have a huge post stored up in my head about the quilting of said Log Cabin Quilt, but today, after a terrible nights sleep, I've a headache, I'm fatigued by the heat and all I want to do is lie down.

So that's what I'm going to do.

Birthday Project - Top Secret!

Sudden inspiration for a birthday gift for my Dad lead to me spending about five or six hours on Friday at Sally the sewing machine. Maybe I should name my rotary cutter, since he played a large role in what occurred too.... Anyway, in the spirit of keeping things secret, I can't tell you what it is, and you will have to wait until October to find out. Heh. I am pretty proud of what I got done though (the whole present is probably about a third finished, but I did get the most fiddly things out of the way) so here is a sneak peek for you all. :)

Enjoy.

Work In Progress

Much of my spare time recently has been spent doing smaller things that can be easily finished and also reading. It's such a great feeling to cross lots of little things off the to-do list. I read somewhere that when you sew a lot, it's really good to have one big project on the go, as well as a smaller one. That way, when the big project gets too much, you can take a break, finish a smaller one and feel productive enough to get back to the big thing.

So while the Log Cabin Quilt has been sitting on the shelf for a while, I've been doing some other things. Things like making great breakfasts for my one year old (and my husband and myself too!). 

Writing Thank-you, Thinking-of-you, and other encouraging cards for friends. Putting together invitations for fun events coming up. Meeting up with friends to talk about how they are going and what God is doing in their lives. Reading books, specifically some of David Eddings' epic sagas. Also, doing a little sewing, but that's a post for tomorrow (a super exciting, stay tuned or you'll miss it kind of post!).

And after two weeks of doing this, I have crossed off enough small things on the to-do list to make me think of the Log Cabin Quilt. This morning, I sewed the boarder back onto the slightly smaller backing sheet and now, the front and back are the same size. This is a good feeling. It's a work in progress, but it is progressing. :)  

Completed: Block of the Month Quilt

I know this isn't photos of Steve as Aladdin, but knowing that you've waited all year for this, I'm sure it will be just as well received. That's right folks, the migraine that has been plaguing me since Monday arvo yesterday inspired me to do something productive despite it's crippling effects and thus I have finished the Block of the Month Quilt for 2013.

Here it is at Sally getting ready to sew that final strip of binding in place. Talk about hard to maneuver, and it's only a small quilt! Maybe I'll stick to baby-sized quilts in the future. Still, Sally did a remarkable job. I've discovered I'm not that great at actual quilting (which is sewing all three layers together (top, batting and backing)). Mostly, I think, because you have to go slowly, which I'm not good at. Also, I don't like shopping, so when I'm in Spotlight looking for that spray-on-adhesive stuff that you can use to help hold the layers in place and I don't find it in the first five or ten minutes, I'm much more likely just to give up and go without it (which is exactly what I did).

I did want to do more of the quilting, but it was hot and difficult and hard to get a lot done when you only have those precious nap-time moments to sew in. Oh well. I bound the quilt in some cute floral material that I picked up in a "Stash Starter" bin at Spotlight (thinking; "I've been here for too long and this will do"). It makes me feel rather accomplished to know it's done. 

Block of the Month Quilt Top

Well internet, you have waited a long time for this. Today, I finally managed to put the finished top of the Block of the Month Quilt onto the backing and wadding. It looks nearly finished to the casual viewer, though when I look at it, although I feel a good sense of satisfaction, I have a little sigh inside because I know that doing the actual quilting and finishing the binding is still a huge task right ahead of me.

Because this quilt is so big now (nearly 1.5m by 2m) it is considerably hard to photograph well. Sorry kids. Anyway, I don't usually do this, but what do you think? I know it is so different to how it began but I like it. :)

Quilting Update

Thank the Lord it is Friday. Things really get crazy when your kid gets sick. :( That said, as always, I'm still ticking things off the to-do list. It's a nice feeling, when things get gone. :) I think, aside from two presents (one which we will buy and the other that will take a half hour to knock up on Sally), the Christmas presents are done.

I ironed this bad boy this morning and by 10:30, every present was wrapped and tagged. I feel it will be a glorious day when I can finally reveal in full detail the wonders that have been so time consuming over the last few weeks. Until then, be satisfied, oh internet people, with glimpses in black and white. 

This is a shot I took earlier in the week of the Block of the Month Quilt coming together. Actually, I ended up cutting the final boarder strips and sewing it together that night. Somethings have moved since then too. Those triangles at the bottom have changed (I think considerably), and I accidentally sew the flowers on the wrong side and couldn't be bothered unpicking it, but it's looking rather nice. Sadly, I haven't taken any photos of it all stuck together. I'm still taking my time admiring it (and considering how on earth the top half managed to be a whole inch and a half longer than it should have been). 

I wonder how many people out there click on this blog wanting something slightly more substantial than my mere ramblings about sewing and occasionally life. Last week I actually consciously thought to myself: "What is the point of life?" And I suppose that much like the writer of Ecclesiastes, I don't really have an answer. We are here today, gone tomorrow, what more is there but to eat, drink and be merry? Well, also fear God and keep his commandments (thanks Ecclesiastes 12:13). 

So I'd best get to it. 

Big Squares

So I am nearly finished the things I have to do before finishing the Block a Month Quilt, but I did take a venture into quilting land this weekend to put the boarders on the big blocks for the quilt. I thought: "This will be quick and easy and give me a wonderful sense of getting things done that will subsequently give me the final inspiration to finish off those other things." I was a little bit wrong.

I had measured and re-measured the squares, done the math about three times before cutting the boarder material for each square. What I forgot was that when you have a 16 inch block that needs to become 20 inches, even though you do need 4 inches to get it there, as a boarder, that's not 4 inches on each side, but rather 2 inches on each side. Alas. On the plus side, I only had to trim down two of the squares and unpick and resew one.

This is the one that I got right the first time. :)

Side note - that cube one (before the boarder) is supposed to be slightly rectangular (17 inches by 18 inches), but for some reason, it's actually very square. No idea how I managed that, but it sure made putting the boarder on easier.