Mini Skirt Tutu

My sister is going to Dragon*Con and asked me to make a skirt for her. She showed me a drawing of what she wanted. I thought it looked like a mini skirt with tulle. She thought I was making her a tutu. Instead she got the mini-skirt tutu.

 

 

Here she is in her costume. A preview to the final costume.The skirt was well received.

Because she thought it was a tutu, she has a pair of shorts on under that, thankfully. She is the adventurous one in our family or maybe I am just getting old.

 

Here is the skirt freshly made. I was very happy how it turned out and with the material for the skirt. I got it at Walmart and may go back and get some more of it. I was so soft and stretched just right. I know because I tried it on. Maybe not so old after all.

 

By the way, this is post 100. Wow!

 

T-shirt Memory Quilt

I finished the T-shirt quilt! I had so much fun piecing and machine quilting it.

On the border pieces I tried to change the quilting from each block and to do something special (I did not always succeed; some are the same quilting pattern). These blocks did not have a print on them, so the quilting was a little more noticeable and there was more room to be creative. Let the creative juice/ fun flow!

Does anyone else see the cat in the picture? He was such a ham!

Then this guy had to come over to see what all the excitement was about. See how the cat is all like "Nothing to see here!"

Maybe you can see the back. I just love how the thread pops! So much fun!

With all of the Alabama T-shirts, I felt that an Alabama themed binding was in order. It looks really good on this quilt!

I want to thank my mother-in-law for being my wonderful quilt model. She did a great job. Even when I was like "One more. One more. Just one more...." I think we will have to do this again. She is that good.

This quilt measured 79"x64" not a bad size at all.
Other posts are here, here, here, here, and here. Wow, I did not realize how many times I have blogged about this quilt!

Vintage Sheets

I won this stack of fat quarter vintage bedsheets.

I rarely win anything, but I won this. I was so super excited to win, and so happy when I got the package in the mail.

Look, I got a smily face!

I pulled it out of the package, and it just looks so good.

It even smells good. I wish you could send smells through the internet.

I think I will make this quilt with the bundle. Don't you think it will look nice?
I got this in mid-February, but I am so slow in doing anything. This year has been one of the hardest to do much of anything.

T-shirt quilt update

The new tactic for quilting the T-shirt quilt is going MUCH better!

Just look as some of the quilting. This is free motion quilting. I just embraced and went with it. There is some straight line quilting, mostly to outline the blocks.

I was not enjoying free motion quilting when I started. I was pushing the pedal to the floor and trying to keep up with my hands.Then I read somewhere that there is no need to hit the pedal at full speed. We are not in a race. Sewing machines, much like a cars, have different speeds that we control through the pedal.

I had not thought about that, and it changed how I was sewing. 

"You are here" in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Echo quilting and a little water like quilting.

Reminds me of water flowing.

I don't know how this happened. I just started sewing and my hands just moved to create it. I think it is very cute.

My husband said this looks like electric guitars. Which is what I thought. It is the same as the water above, just positioned differently.

Scallops/ shells

back of the scallops/ shells

This is what the back looks like. I would not have chosen white for the back, but I am very fond of it. It does show my mistakes, but it also shows the designs. Very dramatic.

This quilt is not far from being finished. Just a little more quilting, burying the rest of the threads, and the binding. I hope to have this finished in the next two weeks. I better get busy.

Quilting Some

I have started quilting on the most recent T-shirt quilt.

I don't know what I am doing wrong, but this quilt is being difficult. It is not difficult to quilt it; it is difficult to keep the backing tight. I am picking out two of the three straight stiching lines that I quilted and will quilt it a different way. Maybe this tactic will work better.

Canning

I have a garden that is bursting with tomatoes.

So, I have spent some time this summer canning them.

Canning is not something I remember my mother doing. I am sure that my grandparents canned, but since we never lived near, within driving distance, or even in the same state as them, I was unable to be a part of their canning ventures.

One thing I learned from my mother was that being prepared to feed your family is important. She did this by compiling a large pantry of food, almost to the point of hoarding.

With that in mind, I put away what I can from my garden. I use to only freeze my vegetables, but last summer I learned how to can pickles and tomatoes. My husband LOVES the pickle,s and I really enjoyed not having to purchase canned tomatoes. Opening a jar of tomatoes that I canned was bliss this past winter, especially with the limited budget we were on during my student internship.

So, while I have not been sewing or making things, this is what I have been doing: picking, rinsing, and canning.

Boiling water to loosen the skin

Cool down

peeled and put in jars

thinking of winter already with that towel

water bath

my canning products that have not already been eaten or given away

salsa, pickles, tomatoes, and jalapenos

Are you canning anything this summer?

Loss

The sadness that I alluded to in this post has manifested into loss.
On June 7 we lost my father-in-law.
He began battling pancreatic cancer in 2009 and seemed to be doing very well after surgery and chemotherapy.
Last summer, he developed liver cancer.
On March 7 his doctor told him that he had three to six months without chemotherapy and six to nine months with chemotherapy.
With this knowledge he decided to stop chemotherapy.
It was very hard for the family to watch him in pain, slowly slipping away.
It seems surreal knowing that he is gone.
There is so much that he will miss, and we will miss he so much.
Even with all of this, we know that he will never feel pain again, and that gives us comfort.

New Iron

Five years ago I broke my iron. So that I could finish the baby quilt I was working on for the arrival my nephew, I "borrowed" an iron from my mother-in-law (this was her second grand baby). She told me at that time to not worry about it because she had bought a new one anyways. (Thank you Lisa for loaning me the iron.)
Well, it never made its way back. I have used it well making many quilts in these past five years.

I do not know its age exactly, but I think that it is over ten years old. It has my sister-in-law's (the one who had the baby) name on it from when she took it to Atlanta when she was a senior in high school. That was about ten years ago.

It is not fancy. It does not have a timer to shut off, a sprayer on the front, or anything else fancy like that, but it has worked great. Just right for pressing quilt pieces.

This past winter my husband and I were watching "Quilty" on PBS. Mary Fons was using an iron that would lift up on its own. Right away my husband said that I should get an iron like that.

I am one of those people who doesn't replace something that isn't broken. My "borrowed" iron worked just fine, thank you. Still we looked a little for irons, but I was just not going to get an iron while I still had a working one.

Well, about three weeks ago my "borrowed" iron began to leak. It was leaking brownish water on my fabric. Let me tell you it was a sad day.

I went on-line and found the iron and in just a little while it arrived on my porch.

So far I have been enjoying it. It doesn't leak on my fabric, so that is a plus.

Check out Quilty's homepage. I find it helpful and fun.

Computer Results

So, I what I thought was Ms. Computer having an attitude turned out to be old age. She is about six-years-old. She was in need of a new fan and a new modem for starters. I was told that it would cost about as much to fix her as to replace her.

I am not giving up on her though. I am going to take her to a family member who, hopefully, can help her a little.

As for now, I have already made arrangements to replace her.

So, if we can get her to work a little longer then she will be appreciated, so that we will not have to divide time with her anymore (between my husband and me).

It seems that electronics just do not last!

Ms. Computer

The computer is in the shop. Hope to be back by the 4th.