Just Let Me Quilt: February 2020

Friday, February 28, 2020

Words To Grow By Block Of The Month March

It's March 1st somewhere, so that means it's new blocks for the

Sew Incredibly Crazy "Words To Grow By" block of the month.

Surprise! There's two blocks this month...FAITH and PEACE.

PEACE
"World peace begins with inner peace" ~ Dalai Lama

You can find PEACE HERE...it's free during March.

FAITH
"Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies" ~ Mother Teresa

You can find FAITH HERE...it's free during March.

Our Words To Grow By BOM blocks are free during the month they are released.

After that, the blocks can be purchased from the designer for a small fee.

Sunday, February 23, 2020

How To Make A Baby T-Shirt Quilt

Do you want to make a big or baby t-shirt quilt using those treasured t-shirts with memories
of baby, sports, theater, or other events? It's easier than you think it might be!
The hardest part is deciding to cut into those memories...the sewing is the easy part.

I'm on ThermOWeb's blog with this t-shirt quilt!

It measures 46" x 46" when finished and uses cotton fabric for the borders and alternate blocks.

T-shirt fabric is incredibly stretchy, so before sewing those sweet memory blocks into a quilt

they need to be stabilized. Stabilizer keeps the t-shirts from stretching out of shape when sewing.

I made this quilt for my husband. It's been washed several times and is still soft and cozy.

The quilt hung out at a quilt show recently along with a new product by Therm O Web.

EZ-Tee Woven Fusible Stabilizer is made just for t-shirt projects. The black and white
stabilizers come in two sizes: 60"x 72" and 14" x 25 ft...perfect for making the blocks!
*Affiliate links

I'm pretty excited about this new product and equally excited that a photo of
my t-shirt quilt was used on the packaging. How fun is that! Pretty fun to me!

I made this baby t-shirt quilt using the new stabilizer...love it!

Let’s get started making those t-shirts into a sweet baby quilt!
If you don't have any baby t-shirts, you can still make a t-shirt quilt.
Fun t-shirts can be picked up at department stores or discount clothing stores.

What you’ll need:

Heat N Bond EZ-Tee Stabilizer

10½” x 10½” square ruler and rotary cutter

Seven special t-shirts (washed) in size 4T - 5T

(Check your t-shirt's logo/decal to make sure a 10” finished block is big enough)

Batting

The directions are for finished 10” x 10” blocks.)

Cut 5 - 10 ½” x 10 ½” t-shirt *fussy cut squares from front of shirts

Cut 4 – 5 ½” x 5 ½” t-shirt squares from back of shirts (alternate blocks)

Cut 8 – 3” x 5 ½” red cotton fabric (left and right of alternate blocks)

Cut 8 – 3” x 10 ½” red cotton fabric (top and bottom of alternate blocks)

Cut 2 – 3 ½” x 30 ½” black cotton fabric (left and right Border A)

Cut 2 – 3 ½” x 36 ½” black cotton fabric (top and bottom Border A)

Cut 2 – 5 ½” x 36 ½” red cotton fabric (left and right Border B)

Cut 2 – 5 ½” x 46 ½” red cotton fabric (top and bottom Border B)

Cut 1 – 50” x 50” quilt backing fabric (allow extra for quilting)

Cut 1 – 50” x 50” batting (allow extra for quilting)

Cut 5 - 2 ½” x 42” strips for binding

Cut 5 – 10 ½” x 10 ½” squares of Heat N Bond EZ-Tee Stabilizer

Cut 4 – 5 ½” x 5 ½” squares of Heat N Bond EZ-Tee Stabilizer

*Fussy Cut means you cut a specific area of fabric to target a design instead of random cutting. Fussy cut the front of t-shirts using a clear 10 ½” x 10 ½” square ruler. Allow a 1/4" seam allowance around the logo/decal if possible.

Instructions: Seams are sewn at 1/4"

Step 1: T-Shirt Blocks – Cut the front section along the sides to separate from the back. You’ll use the back of the t-shirts for the alternate blocks.

Step 2: Fussy cut the squares using the square ruler. It’s okay if you overlap into the sleeve or neck area.

Step 3: Following the Heat N Bond Fusible EZ-Tee Stabilizer directions, iron the adhesive side of the fusible interfacing (it’s a little rougher feeling on the adhesive side) to the wrong side of the t-shirt blocks using a protective cloth. Be careful not to touch your iron to the right side of the logo/decal or it might melt. Let them sit until cool to the touch.

Step 4: Measure the blocks again to ensure they are 10½” x 10½”; trim if necessary.

Step 5: Alternate Blocks – Following the Heat N Bond Fusible EZ-Tee Stabilizer directions, iron the adhesive side of the fusible interfacing to the wrong side of the 5 ½” x 5 ½” t-shirt squares from the back of shirts using a protective cloth.

Step 6: With right sides together, sew 3” x 5 ½” orange fabric to left and right of 5 ½” x 5 ½” t-shirt squares from the back of shirts. Press seams towards sides. With right sides together, sew 3” x 10 ½” orange fabric to top and bottom of block. Press seams down.

Step 7: Center Block Assembly – With right sides together, sew rows as shown below; press seams in opposite directions to allow nesting of seams.

Step 8: With right sides together, sew rows together matching seams; press seams down.

Step 9: Border A – With right sides together, sew 3 ½” x 30 ½” black strips to left and right of Center Blocks. Press seams towards border. With right sides together, sew 3 ½” x 36 ½” black strips to top and bottom of Center Blocks. Press seams down.

Step 10: Border B – With right sides together, sew 5 ½” x 36 ½” red strips to left and right of Border A. Press seams towards border. With right sides together, sew 5 ½” x 46 ½” red strips to top and bottom of Border A. Press seams down.

Step 11: Finish quilt using your favorite method of quilting and binding.

Optional quilting method: Quilt assembly with batting and Spray n Bond Basting Adhesive: Protect the area where you will be working by placing an old sheet or paper under and around the area you’ll be spraying. Place the batting on work area, smoothing to remove wrinkles.

Place the quilt backing, wrong side down, on top of batting. Smooth to remove wrinkles. Having the batting a bit larger than the backing is suggested. Roll back about six inches of the quilt back to expose some of the batting. Using the basting spray, spray batting from one edge to the other. Carefully lay the wrong side of quilt backing over the sprayed surface of batting. Smooth fabric to ensure it adheres to the sprayed fabric and remove any wrinkles.

Roll back the rest of the quilt back to continue spraying and smoothing about six inches at a time until you reach the bottom of the quilt back. Check for creases or folds you might have missed. Turn backing and batting over to have batting facing up. Lay quilt front, wrong side down, on batting. Make sure quilt front is lined up correctly; smooth out wrinkles. Use the same spray and smooth method as the backing. Trim edges and square-up quilt. Quilt as desired and add binding.

Friday, February 21, 2020

Color It Red Blog Hop - My Day Too

Once again it's sad to see the last day of a blog hop arrive, but it's been an incredible

week of Color It Red. I'm glad I don't have to pick a favorite red project because that

would be impossible. Everything has been so amazing!

It's my day to share something red and it was fun to go through my stash looking for anything red.
I realized I have a lot of red fabric and I was busy using some of it this month.

I'm so lucky to get to design for Crafter's Edge and play with their fabric dies!
I needed a red project for Color It Red and a Crafter's Edge elephant project, so I'm
combining the two to lessen my load while I'm packing to move.

The Mama and Baby Elephant fabric dies were perfect for this easy quilt-as-you-go red project.

Elephant Stroll
42" x 46"

Supplies:

Heat n Bond Lite Iron-on Adhesive

Spray n Bond Basting Adhesive

Batting at least 45” x 49”

Crafter’s Edge Mama and Baby Elephant Fabric Die

Fabric needed:

White – 1/4 yard

Blue polka dot – 1/2 yard

Orange polka dot – 1/2 yard

Red polka dot -1/2 yard

Green striped binding – 1/2 yard

Quilt back – 1 2/3 yard

Cutting instructions: *WOF – fabric cut from one selvedge edge to the other

Cut 1 – 8 ½” x WOF strips (elephant white background fabric)

Cut 19 – 2 ½” x WOF strips (in seven orange, six red, six blue)

Cut 1 – 45” x 51” (quilt back)

Cut 7 – 2 ½” x 42” (binding)

Sewing/Applique Instructions: Seams are sewn 1/4” wide. A walking foot is recommended.

Step 1: Applique Elephants- Iron adhesive to wrong side of fabrics following package directions.

Cut out elephants with adhesive paper right side up. *They have an adapter so Crafter's Edge dies can be used with other cutting machines.

The edges aren't sharp, but can cut up to six layers.

Peel off paper liner from the backs of elephants. Place applique, adhesive side down, on right side of fabric. Press according to package directions until entire piece is bonded. Let cool. Sew around edges of applique using a straight, zig-zag, or blanket stitch.

Step 2: Quilt backing with batting and basting spray - Protect the area where you will be working by placing an old sheet or paper under and around the area you’ll be spraying. Place the batting on work area, smoothing to remove wrinkles (iron if needed.) Place the quilt backing, wrong side down, on top of batting. Smooth to remove wrinkles. Having the batting a bit larger than the backing is suggested.

Roll back about six inches of the quilt back to expose some of the batting. Using the basting spray, spray batting from one edge to the other. Carefully lay the wrong side of quilt backing over the sprayed surface of batting. Smooth fabric to ensure it adheres to the sprayed fabric and remove any wrinkles. Roll back the rest of the quilt back to continue spraying and smoothing about six inches at a time until you reach the bottom of the quilt back. Check for creases or folds you might have missed.

Step 3: With a washable pen, mark batting 42” across and 46” down as shown in illustration. These lines will help keep your rows straight.

Step 4: Quilt-as-you-go front – Turn backing and batting over to have batting facing up. Using Spray N Bond Adhesive, spray wrong side of top 2½” strip. Place strip right side up across top of batting on top line (it will overlap the side lines…that’s okay.) Smooth to make sure it is straight and goes from one side to the other on the top line.

Step 5: Applique elephants 8 ½” x WOF strip - Place 8½” x WOF appliqued elephant strip right side down on right side of top strip. Make sure it will be going the right direction once it is flipped back down. Sew 1/4” seam across bottom of strips. Open and press seam flat.

Step 6: Continue sewing strips across quilt batting by placing right sides of strips together, sewing with a 1/4” seam, flipping open, and pressing.

NOTE: Don’t sew all the rows the same direction or they may start curving. Sew from right side and then switch to left side with each of the rows. Be sure to measure after adding a few rows to make sure you are keeping the strips straight. It’s easier to make a slight adjustment as you go along rather than finding you are way off when you reach the bottom.

Step 7: After all strips have been added, trim away any excess fabric and batting from top, bottom, and sides of quilt along lines. Sometimes there is a little less or extra at the bottom of the quilt depending on seam sizes.

Step 8: Add binding using your favorite method.

I also made this using Crafter's Edge Nested Hearts which you can find instructions HERE.

I made this table runner with red fabric for a Valentine project at Therm O Web.

This was my original Color It Red project, but...

This quilt is child size, but it didn't start out that way. It originally had two more borders on it

so it would have been good for a bigger child. BUT, for whatever reason, those two borders

would not cooperate and seemed to enjoy being ripped out TWICE rather than fit properly.

When I explained the problem to my husband, he asked me what I did with it. I told

him I ~~wadded~~ folded it up and ~~threw it~~ placed it aside for later. Not wanting to totally

throw in the towel on this, I trimmed away the two borders and added binding.

I have no idea what the problem was as I measured once, twice, and three times

yet it still was off somehow. It wasn't my fault, of course. LOL

I hope you got a chance to visit all these blogs that showed their red:

February 17^th

Creatin' in the Sticks

Kathy's Kwilts and More

February 18^th

Cynthia's Creating Ark

February 19^th

Everyone Deserves a Quilt

February 20^th

Life in the Scrapatch

Songbird Designs

High Road Quilter

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

Patchwork Breeze

Lynn's Blog

DesertSky Quilting

Seams To Be Sew

February 21^st

Becky’s Adventures in Quilting and Travel

There's a Pinterest page for all the Color It Red projects HERE.

Thanks for stopping by!

Thursday, February 20, 2020

Day Four Of The Color It Red Blog Hop

It's been four days of red in quilts, bags, mug rugs, and more...I'm loving it!
Only one more day of red inspiration after today!

The rules of the blog hop were simple:

The color red had to be somewhere in their project...that's it!

Look who's using their red this week:

February 17^th

Creatin' in the Sticks

Kathy's Kwilts and More

February 18^th

Cynthia's Creating Ark

February 19^th

Everyone Deserves a Quilt

TODAY - February 20^th

Life in the Scrapatch

Songbird Designs

High Road Quilter

Elizabeth Coughlin Designs

February 21^st

Becky’s Adventures in Quilting and Travel

I hope you enjoy all the redness that's happening this week.

We all love to hear from you, so it would be very sweet if you'd leave a comment.

You can find the Pinterest page for Color It Red HERE.

Wednesday, February 19, 2020

Day Three Of The Color It Red Blog Hop

It's day three of the "Color It Red" blog hop and I'm so impressed by all the inspiration
that's happening. Be sure to visit all the blogs...it's an amazing adventure in red!

The rules of the blog hop were simple:

The color red had to be somewhere in their project...that's it!

Look who's using their red this week:

February 17^th

Creatin' in the Sticks

Kathy's Kwilts and More

Samelia's Mum

February 18^th