Week 4: T-Shirt Quilt

Monday, November 14:

I pieced the backing.  Not too much effort or time, but wanted to make sure that was ready to go for Tuesday when I am planning to do all the quilting.  Spent about 25 minutes on the 2 seams just because of the length and the less than perfect working space.

The backing is very directional, so I had to rip out one partial seam and flip the fabric.  Not a big deal, but was surprised I had not noticed before.

Tuesday, November 15:

It is just about 8:00 AM.  I have the full day slated for quilting the quilt.  I will load it in a few minutes and then take a photo or two before I start meandering with an off-white thread.  This is my second favorite part.  I actually like doing the binding best of all, and than should be something I work on most of Wednesday.  If all goes according to my plan, I should be finished with everything before Thanksgiving, even with the time taken to do a four day woodworking shop.  Anticipation!

Been working on setting up the quilt.  Started at 9:15 by repressing parts, marking the middle of the back and the top.  Hung the batting over the rail earlier to help relax the wrinkles.   Next I pinned the back to the zippers and put it on.  Rolling the fabric straight with out wrinkles is the goal.  Takes a little while but all the pre-marking and checking makes everything go better 

Next I wound the bobbins.  At one point it was the scariest part of getting up and running.  My first winder did not have a variable speed switch and so the winder moved at top speed from start to finish.  always worried that the bobbin would fly off and hit me.  (It never did but it was a task that I always offered to let Kevin help do.  Today it took about 10 minutes to set up and wind 5 bobbins. 

I changed the needle and cleaned/oiled the machine.  Next I sewed on the batting, pinned the top to the zippers, and attached it.  I followed that with 2 passes of meandering.  I noted that on the t-shirt fabric some of my quilting stitches seemed to "disappear", but on checking, they are there just more embedded in the fabric.  So glad I did not have to go back and RIP out stitches. 

At 11:45 I stopped what I was doing to have lunch and do a couple of chores.  Decided to make some notes before going back in and completing the quilting.  I have about 4 hours before I have to get ready to go to carving class, and I think I can finish by then.

At 12:45 I started meandering the quilt again.  I finished at 2:50. I used 2 1/2 bobbins, so I have only a few threads to tuck.  When Kevin comes home, I am going to have him help me to quickly trim the quilt so that I can attach the binding tomorrow morning before I do anything else.  I am now in the home stretch.

With the rearranging of the table, finding the right ruler, and changing the rotary cutter blade, it took us about 15 minutes to trim the quilt.  It always amazes me how much quicker it is to trim a large quilt with someone else's turning help.  Tomorrow I will attach the binding and start the hand stitching. 

Sent a quick peek to Ronda and here is her response:
It is looking soooo good!  I'm so excited and I know Sarah is going to love it!  I hope you are inspiring other quilters with your play by play.


Wednesday: November 16:

I spent about 30 minutes attaching the binding.  The set up I created with our small kitchen table, a small folding table, and the sewing table seemed to work just fine.  Sometimes it is more challenging, but this time it was so quick because everything moved smoothly.  I spent a good chunk of the day working on sewing down the binding by hand.  Turned on a few Netflix movies and just hunkered down.  I have only 1  1/4 sides left to finish, and then it will be ready to mail.  I really am liking how it is turning out.

Tonight I finished the hand sewing, and I really like the way the stripe looks as a binding. All I have left is to make the actual pillow case to hold the quilt when not in use.  I will do that on Monday morning

Friday, November 18:

Took the finished quilt for a little show and tell before sending it off.  There were lots of ohs and ahs, but there was one sad comment.  One of the younger guys in Kevin's school said, "I have a t-shirt quilt.  It is in a bag.  My mom promised to finish it one day.  Hate being the youngest kid.  Everyone else has theirs!"  One of the guys in my furniture making workshop immediately pulled out his camera and snapped a photo saying his fiancee would love to have a good idea for her t-shirts and she does know how to quilt.

I will try to get one more photo of the quilt when I make the pillow case.  It is really a pretty quilt.  The green walls in my living room are not helping to show that fact.