Show and tell

It's like Christmas - there's show and tell all around. I still have a couple of days worth of class show and tell and I hope to get through it all in the next couple of days. My goal is to edit each day's photos the day I take them. Put the pictures in folders and then they won't get forgotten which is what often happens!

A super crazy day yesterday, and I swear I was on the computer ALL day which I was, but I got that project done. Yeah! This morning, I made a list of all the paperwork and a few errands to be done today? Oh - what a dreamer! There are two pages of stuff that's been neglected over the last couple of weeks. I swear - I had a thing going - half a day of paperwork in the morning and then sewing in the afternoon. Somewhere along the lines, I got derailed!

But it's time to get back on track. I did tidy the desk up a wee bit so I'd have a few inches of space to work and my long list is waiting. I'm lucky if I get past the first two items as they involve the embroidery machine and might take a while to set up. But I must move forward because there are deadlines and stuff NEEDS to be done.

Besides, there are only four weeks left in my lull and then it's going to get crazy again. I'd better make sure that I'm using every minute to its fullest advantage. And I must NOT forget the office needs to be cleaned up!

So what do I have for Show and Tell this morning?


This is from Saturday's class at The Hobby Horse. Tomorrow, I'll share the North Star quilts with you. Today it's about a couple of other projects that were brought in.

This is a scrappy Christmas quilt by Sophie. That's gorgeous and a good example of how value is so important with scrappy. Those prints are super busy, yet the pattern still shows up.

Scrappy Christmas by Sophie

Here's the back of the quilt. I was a bit confused when I opened up this quilt as I thought THIS was the front. It's a great backing!!  Nicely done!

The back of the scrappy Christmas quilt

This is another Christmas quilt made by Sophie. Do you think she likes Christmas???  I love the lens on my Samsung Galaxy s10 phone as it allows me to get a shot of the entire quilt (somewhat skewed - but that's OK). I couldn't do that before. This has some gorgeous quilting on it done by her long arm quilter (not me). I didn't manage to get any close-ups of the quilting. It's hard when you're also the holder!

Sophie's Christmas quilt

The backing fabric was gorgeous. It was a Christmas in Paris fabric. Seriously???  Never seen that before. A very unique print.

The backing of Sophie's Christmas quilt

Last week, I taught a class on T-shirt quilts. What an interesting class. I only do one session for the T-shirt quilt class and it's mostly about getting the students started on their quilt. What to do with the T-shirts, how to stabilize them, help design the quilt, etc.

So I had an experienced quilter who started to draw out her pattern after taking inventory of her quilts. She had a grand time, cutting out the bits and pieces that she wanted to keep. Her T-shirts belonged to her husband and she was making this for her daughter. She's going to add a few pictures to it and I think it'll be great fun!

Making a pattern for the T-shirt quilt

I had a second student who had only brought a few T-shirts to get started, but after I explained how they could incorporate anything into the quilt, she ran home to get more and was quite happy to start cutting up the T-shirts. This T-shirt quilt was all about sports. Cycling, skiing, running - it had a wee bit of everything in it and the maker will become the owner as it was her clothing she was cutting up. Lots of great memories are going to be in that quilt from the different events.

Cutting up the T-shirts

OK - so there were five people in the class. But only three quilts being made. I have to tell this story because it's so weird. The maker was the daughter who didn't know how to sew. The Mom (who wasn't a quilter, but I think was somewhat of a sewist and at least had a rotary cutter at home- I bet it was a small one that doesn't work well). The third person was a friend/relative? Not sure how she worked in the mix.

They had a few of the husband's (the daughter's husband) soccer jerseys. These are not cheap jerseys. She wanted to cut them up (he did not) to make a quilt for their son's bed. She has two years to make the quilt as I believe he's still in a crib.

So normally that wouldn't be a huge task. BUT, she wanted the T-shirts cut on the diagonal in strips. The only sacred thing was that logo in the top right of the T-shirt. That remained intact, but everything else got cut. I think they had four T-shirts and a pair of pants or shorts or perhaps both.

T-shirt about to be cut

At first, the pieces were going to be appliqued onto a background, but it was decided to piece them in to make it easier. OH god - the "strips" are going on the diagonal in the quilt and how the heck do you design that? Why or why is it the totally inexperienced person who wants to do something so off the wall? Let's just say that I'm very happy there is NO second part of this class. I can't imagine how that's all going to go together. It'll work - don't get me wrong - it'll work, but for someone who has never touched a sewing machine to make this happen? We just won't go there. I think there's way more to this story than was revealed in class, but not going there.

Shoot - I wish I had of taken a picture once the T-shirt was cut up. It was interesting, to say the least. Because they are going to piece it, some of that big logo will now be lost in the seams. Not my T-shirts, not my quilt. But I can see why the husband would be upset. The integrity of the T-shirt and the design is gone. Not my T-shirts - not my quilt!

I have TWO things for you to remember to do today. It's Day ONE of the Bob Ross exhibit in Seaforth, Ontario. The Cherrywood Challenge exhibit is being hosted by The Cotton Harvest Quilt Shop. A good portion of the Bob Ross exhibit is on display. The last day is Saturday (that's when I'm going). These quilts are STUNNING and you should go and see them. We NEED to be supporting our Canadian initiatives for this kind of thing instead of lamenting that nothing good ever happens in Canada. If you don't go - you are NOT allowed to complain.

There are nine quilts in the show from Canadians and all nine of these quilts will be in Seaforth. One is mine and one belongs to Tish. I'm not sure who the others are. You can also pick up the bundle for next year's challenge. The theme is Diana  (as in Lady Di) and the color is PINK!! I can see Shelly running out to buy that. Matter of fact, I swear she just texted me to say she was going to buy the kit.

The second thing is the QUILTsocial blog post today. You MUST read this. This new technology will just blow you away. I've used it for several weeks now and I'm still in awe. I want to do so much and there's so little time! But I have four weeks - use it wisely!!

On that note, it's time to get the day started!

Have a great day!!!!!


Ciao!!!