A little quilt-y keychain

Every now and then, I realize I could use a little more quilt-i-ness in my life. (Haha! But, seriously!)

I like to keep a little latchable something on my keys (so I can attach them to my purse and not lose my mind), and the plain loop thing I had on my key ring got worn out. The keys go on the ring end, of course, and it's long enough that I can clip it to the ring on my purse, but still tuck the mess of keys into the pocket of my purse.

So, quilty scraps got made into this! I made a quilt-y "tube" out of scraps, and added the the nylon webbing-strap through the "tube" (the full length of it, folding it around the key ring on one end, and around the clasp-thing on the other end). The ends of the nylon strap got tucked back into the "tube", and the ends got stitched securely.

 

This is the first time I've made something like this, and I had my doubts about how durable it would be. But it's lasted over a year now, and it's still going strong. It's a fun use for the funny little purse-clasp and nylon strap that I saved from some other random thing.

(Honestly, though, I wasn't too concerned: if I had to make another one, it's not like I've got a shortage of materials!)

Little Crumb Quilts

I have two little crumb quilts about halfway done ... Lots of fabric crumbs give these a fun look!

Last week, I mentioned some background work on these ...

Here's the front of one; the other front is in the works.

Since I didn't have yardage in the right colors for backing, I found some fun fabrics -- already cut -- in my fabric collection. So I'm putting together some pieced backings. 

These triangles were cut ages ago, and they've just been waiting for the right project. I love how the colors work together, and they're going to make a cute quilt back!

This patchwork quilt back will be almost as fun as the quilt front! These  4½" squares were cut quite a while ago. Some of the squares were cut from sheets -- the adorable cars and trucks were a Pottery Barn sheet! Other stripes, prints, and solids were cut from shirts. I love the organized variety!

As always, a lot happens in bits and pieces, sometimes in short spurts -- it's good to see progress!

Pink T-Shirt Squares

Started stitching these last week: a couple hundred pink and white T-shirt squares.

Planning for this to be a fun, customized cozy quilt!

More details later!

Joanna's Nautical Quilt

I recently finished this nautical-themed quilt as a custom order for my friend Joanna.

This was a fun design challenge, and a special project to work on.

A couple of months ago, Joanna sent me a message, asking if I could work on a quilt for her family. A dear relative of theirs was cleaning out his closet, and had given them a stack of shirts. Not being able to use the shirts, but not wanting to give them away, Joanna had the inspiration to ask about turning the shirts into a quilt.

A nautical theme was chosen, which is a perfect fit - many of the shirts were nautical prints and colors, and this relative loves all things nautical.

I started out with these stacks of shirts, and a list of nautical quilt-block ideas ...

 After some design work, I sent Joanna this drawing as the plan ...

And then, there was a lot of cutting and measuring and figuring and stitching and quilting!

I may have mentioned before on this blog that my favorite "quilt fabric designers" involve shirt fabrics! I've made quite a few quilts out of men's dress shirts (see the label in my blog sidebar "Dress Shirt Quilts"), and this one was a lot of fun.

Here are a few close-ups, in various stages of assembly ...

Mariner's compasses, and life preservers ...

Lighthouses, of course! Just pieced, before quilting in the details ... 

  

Nautical knot and rowboat  ...

  

Ship's wheel getting some "wood grain" quilting ...

An assortment of blocks in progress ...

Sailboats!

Lake Houses and a sunset ...

Sea gulls, made from a fleece shirt ...

With plenty of shirts (about 2 dozen), I made the borders and backing out of shirt fabric, too!

Here are borders in progress ...

The back includes big shirt pieces, small shirt pieces, and quite a few shirt tags!

Here's the entire quilt back.

I decided to use a quilt-as-you-go assembly method (like I used for this quilt and one of these ones), to give each block its own custom technique. This was helpful, since I had a variety of pieced and appliqué blocks that need a variety of quilting techniques. Each block (or border row) was put together: front, batting, and backing, and it was quilted all by itself before being put together with the other parts of the quilt.

One of the fun things about this quilt is that all of the fabric in it came from that stack of shirts, except for the tiny gray borders between each block and row, and the solid white fabric. 

Even though I don't usually, I decided to take this quilt outside and lay it on a sheet for a whole-quilt photo. That seemed like the best place to get a full view of the quilt.

I know how much my family enjoys having quilts around to keep cozy, and I hope Joanna's family will get just as much enjoyment out of theirs!



One of my favorite quilt blogs, which is full of lots of quilt-y inspiration, has a weekly link party for finished quilt projects. I'll be linking this post to this week's Finish It Up Friday at CrazyMomQuilts, and I'm looking forward to seeing what other quilters have been working on and finishing up this week.

Orange UFO ...

A long time ago, I posted about playing with orange fabric ...

Much of that fabric is still partly-assembled ... Orange sheet fabric, and solid, striped, and plaid shirt fabric.

So, the other day, I used the orange Un-Finished Object to test my "new" sewing machine. I assembled more triangles that were already cut out, and I developed a layout for the pieces I have.

I got a great deal on the sewing machine at my favorite thrift store, and it runs well. Even though I have multiple sewing machines, I like them all for different reasons. And since sometimes I'm not the only one sewing, it makes sense to have a collection of reliable machines!

I only occasionally find myself sewing these days, but I'm always impressed at how much progress can be made in little bits of time.

I'm linking this post to this week's UFO Challenge at Jo's Country Junction. What Jo said in her post makes sense to me - a regular Wednesday UFO post is motivation to get "just a little more" done!

UFOs on Thursday ...

I've gotten some more UFO work done ... largely thanks to Jo's UFO Challenge a few weeks ago, reminding me to at least get SOMEthing done.

This Lego Heads quilt was supposed to be a Christmas present this past Christmas. I got it nearly done, and then it sat ... oops!

As of my UFO List a few weeks ago, this one just needed quilting and binding.

As of now, it's DONE, and in a box, ready to mail to a little guy who'll get a bit of Christmas in June!

This is another made-of-T-shirts and backed-with-fleece quilt. Super cozy!

I was inspired by ideas from Pinterest (like this one), but I designed this quilt myself, to work with the T-Shirt fabrics I had. This twin-sized quilt was a lot of fun & I hope it'll be enjoyed for a long time!

In other UFO news, I have a few of my Hopscotch Butterscotch quilt blocks done: 7 down, 13 to go!

I'm linking this post to Jo's UFO Challenge, and when Friday comes, I'll be linking it to this week's Finish It Up Friday at CrazyMomQuilts.

This week's finish ...

I love the effectiveness that a little "nudge" can give when I'm at that "almost done" stage of a project. This week, that motivation comes from Jo's UFO Challenge and CrazyMomQuilts' Finish It Up Friday link party.

A couple weeks ago, I mentioned this project in my list of Un-Finished (quilt-y) Objects.

It's a baby quilt ... Flannel (with elephants!) And soft T-Shirt fabric squares. Fleece on the back. 

 

This week, in addition to some other UFO progress, as well as the beginning of a new project, I got this one quilted up and finished.

The quilting was simple ... straight diagonals on the squares, meandering curves on the flannel.

I'm linking this post to this week's Finish It Up Friday at CrazyMomQuilts.

Finish It Up Friday

This week, I've posted about a few recent Quilt finishes.

It's exciting to get some things accomplished, and fun to blog about them, too!

This Hello Kitty Quilt was a fun one to work on. The raw-edge applique (with added details) was time consuming, but so worth it! I blogged about it in more detail in this past Wednesday's post.

 

On Tuesday, I blogged about the recent QR Code quilt I finished for my brother -- Black & white squares on the front, cozy fleece on the back.

Super-cute baby quilts for my newest (twin!) niece and nephew were the subject of this past Monday's post.

 

Incidentally, all of these quilts were made in one of my recent favorite styles: Cotton Jersey-Knit T-Shirt fabric on the front, fleece on the back. This combo makes an irresistibly cozy quilt. From time to time, I sell T-Shirt Quilts on eBay & on Etsy, so check the links at the top or in the sidebar for details.

I'm linking this post to one of my favorite quilt blogs -- Here's the link for this week's Finish It Up Friday at CrazyMomQuilts ... a fun place to see what other quilters have been finishing up this week!