Church Ladies

A few months ago I met the quilt group ladies at our church.   Our church is large enough to have a dedicated room just for the sewing girls!   There are machines of all varieties which have been donated by church members over the years and the walls are lined with shelving that has all the cotton fabric folded and neatly separated by color family.  

We make quilts for various charities in the community and there is a never ending list of those in need who would like some of our quilts.   Since we make quilts from whatever fabric is given to us, we must get creative pulling the colors together to make the quilts pleasant.   One day when I first came to group, one of the ladies was commenting about how difficult it was to blend anything with a piece of fabric laying on the table.   Well, I just love a challenge!   After picking thru the shelves for a while, I felt that I had a large enough stack of fabrics that would work with the "offensive" material so I headed for home to play.

Here's what I put together:

All the fabrics were first cut into 2-1/2" & 3" strips of varying lengths.The 2-1/2" strips were sewn randomly together to create one mega-long strip and then I repeated with the 3" strips.   Next, they were all cut into 54" long strips and placed side by side, sometimes inserting a narrower strip in between the wider 3" strips so that there were varying widths and colors.  When I was pleased with the arrangement all the strips were then joined one to another until the quilt top was all together.   Add batting, backing, machine quilt it and put on the binding and you're done.  Pretty easy!  
Give it a try it sometime?
Debbie

Finished Product

Yes, I know, I keep forgetting to put the "after" pics on the blog.   So, here is the pic of the basket I made when Susan Marie was up at the river with me.   I was pretty excited about how it turned out.  Pretty cool making something functional out of things found in the woods.  Making this basket gave me a new appreciation for how much time and effort goes into making baskets with a really tight weave, since this one took me two days labor.   Susan helped me so much or I wouldn't have finished it by myself.

Fumble Thumbs,
Debbie

Flippie Time

A friend of ours up at the river did me a favor and painted some lettering on a sign and we decided to barter our talents.   In exchange for her painting I embroidered some flip flops on a pair of her shorts and matching jacket.   This is what they look like.   It was a fun project for me and I hope she likes them.

I put small flips on the left side of her lapel and a clothesline of flips on each jacket cuff.

And to tie it all together, the shorts now have flips on each leg at the side vent.  

As I was embroidering the cuffs, I realized that because of the curve of the design, it would lend itself to being sewn on a visor.   Hmmmmm......maybe next time.   If you'd like to see the designs up close just "double click" with your mouse.

Flipping "Out",
Debbie

Ostrich, anyone?

I know, it's been a while since I've posted.....we always seem to have something going on here at our house.   My husband had a close medical scare and that has thrown our lives into a different (healthier? tee-hee) direction.   Maybe now we can get our lives back to normal, whatever that is.

Recently, our oldest son, Jarrad, bought a '78 Volkswagon van and is in the middle of restoring it.  The engine/mechanical work is pretty much finished, and now he gets to play with the cosmetic work.   That's where I came in......well, that's where I got dragged in....you could say.   He asked if I could help him reupholster the car seats.   Ummmmm......I guess so.....ummmm, never did that before but we can try.

Off we go to Joann's Fabrics where he had seen this...
Yup, fake ostrich.   Pretty convincing, too!   So he picked out a companion fabric and we estimated our yardage, had it cut and drove home.   Yikes!  Now I have to DO something with this fabric.  Ok, breathe.  

He had already torn apart the seat covers so I could use them as a pattern.   Man, were they ever disgustingly filthy dirty.   I had grit all over my kitchen and dining room, but they worked pretty well as a pattern for the new covers.  

With just a little trial and error the new covers came together fairly easily.....surprisingly......amazingly....guess that wasn't so bad after all....  And, of course, thank goodness that Jarrad can take anything apart and put it back together again like he was simply making a piece of toast.  He man-handled the metal attachments for the seats and before I knew it, they were transformed into something pretty darned nice!

And here are the front seats installed.  Not too shabby, even if I do say so myself.   Now, if he could just put in some door side panels.  Giggle....

The kids even like riding back here.....they seem to have already claimed their space in the van.

Pretty danged fancy, if you ask me.....just another weekend at the Roberts' house.   Oh, well, Jarrad is really "stoked" as he likes to say. As every mom knows, when your kids are happy, mama is happy, right?

The End,
Mama

Basket Making 101

 Soooooooooo, I went to the river this past weekend and took my friend, Susan Marie with me.   She wanted to teach me how to make baskets.  Ok...........so she and Billy, the helper dude, trudged off and easily found grapevine growing in a palm tree, cut a huge swath of it off and dragged it back to our deck.   Then, he went off and came back with what looked like a 50 gallon trough that had been used to feed goats and we proceeded to soak the vines after we cleaned all the leaves off of them.

 Susan twisted the largest sections into circles to serve as the handles and the perimeter for our baskets.   She brought handspun yarns, raffia and tools to use so our hands wouldn't get so tired.   Check out the baskets in the background that she made in the past using the same techniques she was teaching me.  

 Here she is hard at work trying to get finished before we had to leave Monday.    It surprised me how many hours go into making something that looks so simple and primitive.   I kept picturing women over the millenia using indiginous materials to make these highly functional items for their homes.   What a cool skill to learn!

Whew!   Susan finished hers and helped me to get mine completed just before we had to pack up and leave.    Thanks, Susan, for another fun, crafty, girls weekend at the river.    Oh, yeah, and we ate really well, too!    Lots of grilling, baking, and creating went on in the kitchen......3 meals a day!

Ready to make another one,
Debbie

Check out "Home"

I've added a new website to my blog list on the right hand side of my blog and thought you might like to check it out.   My oldest son, Jarrad, has started to pursue his love of woodworking in earnest and you can view samples of his work on his site.  Or you can log onto http://sullivanandsonswoodworking.com/ and view his website.   He can build anything.........seriously......he's amazing.   The clock above is just one sample of the gorgeous projects he crafts.  He made this detailed clock for my husband and I for Christmas and we love it!

Hope you enjoy his work,
Debbie

More T-shirt Quilts

 Quilts, quilts and more quilts!   I love making quilts, or have you already figured that out?  This one is for a sweet little girl whose parents participate in marathons.  I tried to incorporate as much pink in it as I could.

 So, I used pink quilting thread and sewed varying wiggly lines for the quilting lines and embroidered her name on the front in pink.  

Every once in a while I included a little flower in the stitching.   Isn't the binding fun?   Black, white, lime, pink, chartreuse and soft teal stripes helped to pull all the colors of the t-shirts together.   This quilt was a pleasure to make and the shy smile on the little girl's face when I placed it in her arms made all the work worthwhile.

Have t-shirts, will quilt,
Debbie