A very good friend of ours asked me to make a tee shirt quilt for him. I said okay, and he dropped off a large bag of shirts and a tattered flag. The flag had 48 stars, and was damaged from wind and sun and water. It belonged to his father, and had sentimental value. He wanted some of it incorporated in the quilt. My DH, -who is not a quilter, nor artistically inclined, as he will tell you – told him it would look bad, and how could he even think the two things could be mixed. As I was trying to calm him down, I told our friend I would be happy to work it in.
I started cutting the logos and prints out of the shirts and stabilizing them with Pellon sf101. I took a few hours, but I got them done. Then I looked at the flag, its cotton, I think, and the fabric was woven, almost like canvas weight, so I dry ironed it, and cut it into some squares and rectangles. I started to worry about the “legality” or the proper handling of the symbol of our country. In a way I could rationalize that I was preserving it, but still, I thought maybe I should be burning it in a ceremony or something. I am thinking of returning the scraps, and telling our friend to do the right thing with them. Anyway, once I got them cut, the stabilizer really helped the fabric to feel useable.
It was going along smoothly, until I realized that since I wasn’t doing a traditional layout, I would have to lay out the top on the floor. With three doggie helpers, this is a challenge, as soon as I started, they all came in and sat on the blocks. The floor in the sewing room wasn’t large enough, so I moved some furniture and spread it out in another room. The next problem was how to keep the dogs off and go back and forth between the rooms to sew it together. I figured I could get it sewn together when my DD came home from work, she could keep the dogs occupied. In the end I got it set up, but no sewing was done. I took a bunch of photos that I can use for placement, and picked it up before going to bed.
I got the first quarter or so put together and took a break. Sunday I didn’t even turn on my machine, I spent a little time in the sewing room though. I got a new ironing board cover and put it on my board. Its a miracle cover, made from fire proof fiberglass. My old one was fraying at the edges and when I took it off, I realized that the wool batting I use for padding was stiff with starch. Kinda gross, I must remember to wash the new one every few months. I also got a felted wool pressing pad last month that I have been using with good results. I really think it makes a difference with pressing blocks and units. My Grassy creek blocks were definitely flatter and a bit easier to put together.
Yesterday was also a no-sew day. Errands were run, I went to the grocery store near the bank I had to visit. I haven’t been in it in almost a year. It was a strange feeling, but everything was where it was supposed to be. I was out of there in about thirty minutes. Once home, I worked on my cross stitch, “Pet All the Dogs”. The house is coming along, I may get to the next floor today, but this is only the right half, middle floor.
Knitting has resumed on the wedding shawl, only 3 ½ more months till that needs to be done. I started section “C”, it’s easier, lots of mindless knitting rows and one that requires counting. The puppy stole the ball of yarn the other day and ran through the house with it. I was so angry, and I think his little doggie senses have figured out that messing with my yarn is not a good thing. Lucky for him, the circular needles were long and there were no stitches lost. The yarn didn’t break either, I just had to wind the 10 yards back up.
Another rainy day today, I am going to try to finish the tee shirt top.
Be Kind.
Touch of Grey 