January Quilting

Many months ago Melissa asked me to make a T-shirt quilt for her husband, Jeff. Her vision was that one side would be North Carolina State (where Jeff did his undergraduate work) and the other side would be Duke University (where he went to medical school). She gave me one T-shirt from each school and I made up the difference in other fabrics (a heavy sweat-shirt material and woven plaid). I painstakingly tried to make one side just a little bigger than the other side so it would be easy to quilt. BUT! When I got to the quilter she informed me that a two-sided T-shirt quilt is a no-go. Needles break, fabric gets ripped. Ah! So, I blew Melissa's budget completely and had Wendy make two quilts, each with cozy minky on the back. For those cold nights in Phoenix, eh? :)

While I'm working on a T-shirt quilt I always vow I'll never make another one, but then I see the finished product and I always like it. They're fun. I can't get around it. I've already hatched a plan to make another one.

My other project was a baby blanket using small pumpkin seeds. Last year I found the most delicious fabric at a store that is way too far away from my house to go there unless I'm on my way home from my quilt retreat. It's a Japanese fabric and it was too expensive to get more than a quarter of a yard. I had to make it count.

Tiny castles, carriages, crowns, SPARKLES. (Also, why can I never get all the little floaty threads off the quilt before I take a photo?) I couldn't find a suitable fabric for the background until last month when The Quiltmakers introduced me to peppered cotton.

I have nine different colors of that solid peppered cotton now and I'm making something AWESOME. Something awesome that is ruining my iron, but whatever. Hey, I was pretty productive in January. Funny, because I'm usually burned out after December. Cheers!