Adventures in Quilting

In the two months that I have been without work I have tackled most of the miscellaneous projects around our home that never seemed to get done.  That's the beauty about having all this "free" time - you don't have any excuse to put them off anymore.

So I've gotten the hall closet in a more manageable state.

Painted baseboards, door jams, and various touch-ups.

And I've also become a lot more adventurous in the kitchen - or at least cooking less frozen meals.  (that counts right?)

Lemon Cheese Bars from my Cake Mix Bible

Yep, that's rabbit

Octoberfest rub from Harry & David.  Try it - you won't be disappointed!

But my latest project takes the cake.  I have decided to make a quilt out of my sorority t-shirts.  

If you were Greek in college, you know that this collection can add up really quickly.  And while I wore them a year or so after I graduated, I eventually knew that the jig was up and I could not longer pass for a traditional college student.  So in a box they went.  I kept seeing friends have quilts made, but I was NOT about to fork over over $500 for a blanket.  So I started doing some research, added some great ideas and tutorials to my Pinterest board and decided to pull the trigger.

This brought my lovely MIL and I to JoAnn's while we were window shopping one weekend.  And that's when I met Barb - quite possibly the most helpful and knowledgeable staff member I've met anywhere.  She not only helped me pick out what sort of stabilizer I would need but also told me that they were putting together a Quilting 202 class, where she would be happy to walk me through making my quilt even though it didn't fit into the lesson plan.

A few weeks later I got the call from JoAnn's that the class had made and they were honoring the 50% off coupon for the class fee!

She's still a work in progress, but let's walk through what I've done so far:

Cut off sleeves, collar area and the majority of the spare part of the t-shirt.

I knew I wanted the backs to be a similar size (12x12) but I wanted the stabilizer to be from end to end, so I cut the squares 14x14, put on stabilizer and then cut my final squares.

Lay shirt design side down, top with stabilizer, then hold hot iron for 5 seconds, or until those little dots disappear.

Then its time to find a layout you like

That gray piece of scrapbook paper is a placeholder for the square of pocket squares below:

These are the pocket squares of some of the shirts as well as the back of my jersey.
They are attached to a piece of muslin to make it easier to sew in with the rest of the blocks.

And here's what I was able to get accomplished during class time.  One solid piece of shirt - harder than it looks!

When I got home, I was able to attach all the sashing and a row of blocks on the top and bottom.

So that's my progress thus far in my latest "domestic adventure".

Once I'm finished, I'll give a cost breakdown and my final thoughts on the "worth it" factor of it all.

What about you?  What are you working on?