Men's tee shirt transformed!

 I finally put a little thought into this (and research) and got a great result on my third shirt!! I can't wait to wear it!

I took in the sides, and also modified the neckline and the sleeves.

I had cut off the bottom when I bought it, since at the time I tucked it in, without making any other modifications, and so it stayed in the drawer and was never worn.  

After the modifications I decided it was too short to wear outside of my jeans, so I added the fringe. I like the way it looks on this Paris Harley tee shirt! Ooh la la!!

Tee shirt neckline

To modify the neckline, I cut off 1/2 of the knitted band, starched the neckline, and then turned it under 1/2", right on the line where the band attaches to the body of the shirt.  Then I pinned it in place and sewed it down using a decorative stitch on my machine, from the outside.  The stitch is stretchy and also keeps the turned-under raw edge from unraveling!    

I used the same decorative stitch on the sleeves after shortening them.

I will post photos of another, of a lighter color, so it will be more visible.

Tee shirt back

Quilt-Along # 36: Trapped Paisley

Here is a test piece I did for my one block wonder. I ended up using Goldilocks because the border is only 3" wide and the paisley was too dense. I do love this design however.

Back of OBW

OBW is finished !

I finished the binding this evening. I just have to make the label for it. The name of this quilt is Lucy in the Sky.

Quilt Along #35 - Goldilocks

I have finished doing the FMQ on the center of my OBW  (One Block Wonder quilt), as well as the 1" inner border.  As I was watching this week's Goldilocks video, I was thinking this might be an excellent choice for my 3" border. The photo below shows a sample of Goldilocks stitched on the actual border fabric of the quilt, with turquoise Isacord thread, as there is a lot of turquoise in the body of the quilt.

You can see the pieced top here and some of the quilting here.

Wednesday night I got brave and started stitching this design on the real border.  I finished binding it last night, and it just needs a label.  It was not easy to do in a 3" border, as the stippling is very small; it's harder to wiggle smoothly!

First Attempts at FMQ

Just to put things into perspective, here are a few photos of my first attempts, in September of 2010.  I started watching Leah's videos, drawing the designs in my notebook, and making practice squares.  

I remember being pretty discouraged at the beginning, but with practice it got easier and easier.

I wish I had made my practice squares larger with nicer fabric, so I could have made a quilt from them.  Many of the later ones are very pretty, but plain, on muslin.

Quilt Along # 34 - Flowing Lines

I have been learning and using Leah's designs for several years, but this is the first time I've participated in the QuiltAlong.  I am happy to be here!


These are photos from Peter's Tee Shirt Quilt, where I used Flowing Lines.  The block became Pebbles in a Stream.  At the time I did not know about adding the Pebbles as I went.  This quilt was my first FMQ project and a wonderful learning experience.

First use of stencil

I printed out a quilting stencil from Quilt Pro onto some foundation paper, and taped it over my quilt.  I followed the lines and then removed the paper.  

Quilting is progressing nicely on OBW

I cut out these triangles in May of 2011 while I was in France taking care of my mom who was very ill.  I came back and put the triangle sets in a drawer.

I pulled them out last month, designed and pieced the quilt, and now I am quilting it.

Most of the center is done and it is going quickly. It's so busy that I'm not afraid to make a mistake. I've also experimented with a stencil which I've never done before.

Quilting of One Block Wonder

I started quilting the purple OBW last night.  My first idea was to do SITD (stitch in the ditch) around each hexagon and leave it at that.  I didn't want to put on the SITD foot, as I would have to turn the quilt six times for each hexagon.  So I started doing it with my FMQ foot.  It was not easy going in a straight line.  After about six blocks I said to heck with it and started to FMQ. 

I am pretty much doing a different FMQ design in each hexagon.  I hope it won't all get lost in this busy quilt but, for me, FMQ is much easier and more fun than SITD.   Here are a few examples.

Virtual Offset Pineapple in Earth Tones

Here is the Offset Pineapples in Earth Tones.  This is more subdued, and I think these colors would be better suited for a gift I have in mind.  My friend is very much into everything "South West."  I may modify it, as I intended the whites to be more tans and the golds more intense.  Of course the colors depicted are from the fabric library in the software.  I can control the actual results from the fabrics I use.  And I am sure I have enough scraps to pull this off!

Virtual Offset Pineapple Wallhanging

I saw a photo of a gorgeous Offset Pineapple quilt made by Dee on Quilting.about.com and fell in love with the pattern and brilliant colors.   With a little help from a friend, I was able to recreate the quilt in Quilt Pro for Mac.  The original .pdf  is from Mary Ann Beattie.

I may also experiment with some more neutral colors...  but I love this one.