Seen at my local Thrift Store

I thought this was neat. Not neat enough to pay money for (since I've always got that that feeling of "Oh, I could make that so easily!"), but interesting nevertheless. 

It's a pillow, embellished with T-Shirt Yarn. What a great idea! Simple concept; striking result.

Nifty, and so simple to construct ... there's a line of stitching holding the T-Shirt Yarn embellishments in place. I like it.

So, I didn't make this, and didn't buy it, but wanted some pics for future reference ... I may try this idea sometime!

Another Progress Milestone

I recently arrived at another patchwork milestone ... 

All the "melon" pieces for my Double Wedding Ring Quilt are assembled.

My layout says I need 84 of these "melons" ... each one is made from two batik arches and two batik squares, and one navy-blue center piece.

So, it's been a lot of piecing ... I started this project about a year ago (see the first post about it here), and it has involved a lot of bits and pieces (see another post here).

I LOVE this fabric! The colors are great, and I think the bright colors look great against the navy blue.

So, now, the thing to do is to start assembling rows ... I'm excited about the progress!

A Blue T-Shirt Baby Quilt

Here's a just-finished baby quilt ... made from super-soft T-Shirts, and backed with cozy fleece.

Since a friend of mine recently had her fourth child -- and first boy -- I wanted the quilt to be extra boy-ish. So, I went with all-blue, and I wanted even the quilting to be distinctively "boy". 

Free-motion quilting footballs, baseballs, & basketballs all over seemed like the thing to do.

It's sort of a new take on the quilting I did on my older son's NFL Quilt, and the quilting I did on my younger son's T-Shirt Sports Quilt. 

Even though the quilt doesn't technically have borders, I quilted the outside row of squares with wiggly lines, to give a little bit of an "edge" to the quilt.

Even on the fleece, the quilting shows up well on the back of the quilt, which is neat.

I'm told that baby quilts made of T-Shirts are among the softest ones out there, and I'm hoping this one will be used and enjoyed.

I'm always glad when I 'm able to give something tangible to congratulate a friend and welcome a new baby.

Today's a great day to blog a finished quilt, because Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts has a Finish It Up Friday weekly link on her blog. I'll be linking this post there when her link-party is ready.

Leaders and Enders Milestone

This week, I reached a milestone on an ongoing project that I started a few years ago ...

In between, and among, other projects, I've been sewing together blue and white squares and rectangles ... (More pictures in previous posts here and here.) 

The milestone: I've got as many squares as I need!

A long time ago (in this post), I mentioned the inspiration and explanation for my Leaders and Enders project ... here's what I said (way back in 2011):

"A few weeks ago, I came across a neat concept at a blog called Jo's Country Junction ~ Her post about Leaders and Enders caught my eye ... and she linked her post to her inspiration at Quiltville ... fascinating stuff.

"Both of the links above have great, lengthy explanations ... but the short version is, if you sew together a couple of tiny squares, in between each seam of what you're really working on, the tiny squares keep you from having all those long threads at each end of what you're really working on. You sew straight from one piece onto another, then afterward, you snip the tiny thread between ... So, what you're really working on gets sewn, and the little squares you're sewing together for something else also get done."

So, my little hand-drawn chart says I need something like 260 blocks ... and this week, I counted them up, and I've got them!

The next step? Trim them all square, and then they'll be ready to assemble! 

I have no idea what I'll do with this quilt when it's done, but it'll end up being about twin-sized, which is a very versatile size, so I'm happy about that.