Brrrrrr!!!

The temperature until 8:30 this morning was -8 degrees.  YES!!! That would be NEGATIVE EIGHT! Real temperature, not windchill.  I don't even want to know what that was! It is warming up quickly though, currently it is zero degrees. Still really cold but the trend is UP!!! Woo hoo!

Rachel, hand sewing the binding

The girls have so many t-shirts that we have talked about making quilts out of them. There are lots of books and much advice on the internet. The local quilt shops have classes as well. Of course, we thought why pay $20 - $50 to learn to do something so simple. One thing we didn't love was how stiff the t shirts are when using even the lightest weight fusable interfacing. Plus, over time, that interfacing will separate from the shirt, and who wants that? We all like our t shirts well worn and super comfy, right? So why make them stiff? I know, to make it easier to sew. After a really long time discussing this, we found a great book, Too Cool T-Shirt Quilts by Andrea T Funk and Sarah Bendure. Michala and her friend Rachel, without telling me of course, stopped at a local fabric shop and figured out how much material they would need to make a quilt. You see, Rachel was leaving for Dallas soon to work for the 2011 Super Bowl and would need something to remind her of home. (Not to mention keep her warm, tee hee!) As they come in with bags of material and several t-shirts, I quickly learn that I am the one to teach Rachel to sew so she could make this quilt herself! Now I have to tell you that Rachel is the most positive, fun, loving, energetic young women I know. However, she has no patience and thought it would be a short afternoon thing. Remember, this was my first too! We started by discussing the shirts and what they meant to her. Even though Rachel is a recent college grad, she is still wearing a lot of those shirts so there will be another quilt in her future! The theme that popped out was high school and volleyball. The sewing part went smoothly and Rachel and I got to spend some awesome time together. I realized we were really short on time, she was moving in about a week so I backed it with fleece and knowing she was planning to come one more time decided to stitch the binding on. She was relieved when she saw how far the quilt had come. Then, I told her about the binding, giving her an option of just sewing it down or hand stitching, really pushing the hand sewing. I just think it looks much better! She chose hand stitching and you can imagine her face when she realized it doesn't just happen! After a couple of hours, we finished and Rachel has a beautiful quilt that she can be proud of. 

Pillow from scraps

Never ever throw a scrap away, it could be useful someday. Ok, not entirely true, keep it if you will use it but if you get to the point you can't find anything, you might be a hoarder and need help!

Back of the pillow, with part of a shirt we couldn't work into the quilt.