I’ve lost my Blogging Mojo

Placemats sent to Megan

For some reason, now that I have material to blog, I just don’t feel like blogging.  Boo.  How does this happen?  It seems to take a special moment to get photo and words to marry into an interesting blog post.  Maybe I’ve been too busy.

June was for swapping placemats. Can you believe it’s already July 1st?  These were sent to Megan.  They were made from leftover scraps – all of it – the whole enchilada.  The squares in the middle are from the Old Red Barn Quilt-Along. The linen around the edge is from a vest that a friend asked me to make for his dad. The backing is from another quilt back. And the binding is from the backing of the Old Red Barn quilt.  Even better…  I had enough leftover scraps to make two more for myself!  Wheeee.  I’m dreaming of a whole table of mismatched placemats for a dinner party one day.

I was also going to tell you about our biking on Saturday.  But I’ve lost the words for that too.  You can see pictures of us biking, the trail, and my bike basket over on Flickr.  We stopped at the Farmer’s Market and the grocery store for some ingredients to make a salad based on Dr. Seuss’ Green Eggs & Ham. It was for our supper club and the theme was recipes inspired or taken from books.  Everybody else’s dishes came from much more grown-up books. I couldn’t help myself. I love Dr. Seuss!  We ate dinner in the garden and hung out around the fire pit after dark. Alas, no photos of that either.

Now that I’ve thoroughly bored you… I hope the eye-candy above makes up for it.  And I hope the blogging Mojo finds it’s way back to my house again.  Have a fun and safe Independence Day!

More Quilt-Along Goodness

Photo courtesy of Mijn Quilthoekje

The fabulous Lil pointed me to another quilt-along that has just recently started.  Did you see this quilt in the No. 70 issue of QuiltMania?  Well, Guute over at Mijn Quilthoekje is hosting a quilt-along through the Antique Quilt Club Yahoo group.  She spent a little time drawing up a pattern in Electric Quilt and is inviting folks to sew along with her in making this quilt.  Her blog is in Dutch, but she also includes an English translation at the end of each post.  Or you can translate it through Google Translate. Request to join the group if you are ready for another medallion quilt!

Photo courtesy of Mijn Quilthoekje

There was also a picture of a basket medallion quilt in the same issue of QuiltMania.  I just picked issue No. 71 recently and am happy to say that the pattern for the basket quilt is in that issue.  So much Medallion goodness and not enough time!  Sigh.

UPDATE: The pattern for this basket medallion is actually in three parts, Issue #69, #70, and #71.  I just discovered that I’m missing issue #69. Back issues can be ordered from Stonehouse Publications.

Recycled Clothing Quilt-Along

Recycle and make a quilt!

UPDATE: I’ve created a Flickr group if you want to start sharing what you are recycling.

All cut up and ready to go!  The city has been repaving the road in front of our house this morning and we couldn’t leave for a couple of hours.  So I set my mind to cutting these shirts apart and getting them ready to go.  I even had to get out my dollar granny cheater glasses to be able to see the thread to cut the buttons off of the shirts.

Some of you mentioned an interest in recycling shirts (or other clothing) and making them into a quilt. So… I’m thinking… maybe we could have an informal, low-key, quilt-along during the month of August?  Wanna join me and make a quilt from some old clothing?  That would give you some time to collect some old shirts or skirts or pants or whatever. And it would give me some time to finish up a few of my many projects.

Think about quilting along with me and I’ll come back to this thought in about a month. Okay? Now, go and enjoy your day!  It’s not even noon yet here and I’m already needing another pot of coffee!

I’m Dreaming of a Beach Quilt

Thrifted Shirts

A long while ago, I washed one of my husband’s shirts with something that bled pink all over it.   It’s been hanging on the door of my sewing room for some time now.  Even after several washings, there are still faint tell-tale signs of pink. I finally decided that the only way to redeem myself was to make it into a quilt.

How many do you think I'll need?

A beach or picnic quilt to be exact. A quilt that we can throw in the car and not care about what happens to it. I picked up a few more shirts at the Goodwill while we have been out of town the last couple of weekends. Believe me, thrifted clothing in this area is not exactly cheap.  Cheaper than new, yes.  But not “cheap”.

My husband’s niece asked me what I was going to do with the shirts and was aghast that I am planning on cutting them up and sewing them into a quilt!

The one I ruined

So… I wonder how many shirts I might need? Is it worth it to unpick the seams, or just cut the shirts apart?  I haven’t decided if I want to make striped boxes, or handkerchief corners, or what.  Kaffe Fassett has a shirting stripe quilt in his book Passionate Patchwork.  Ann of Mason Dixon Knitting talked about this a few years ago.  And… here are a few inspirations from Flickr.  As always, click on the image to go to the Flickr sources.

Inspiration from Flickr

Ladies & Gentlemen of the Jury

Jury Socks

How much knitting can be done while serving on Jury Duty?  About 90% of one sock* if you are on a case that takes LOTS of breaks.  And a small, quick-read book can be read as well.  I’m so glad THAT is over.  Clearly, I could never be a lawyer and I’m glad to know that about myself.  And hopefully I won’t be called for jury duty again for a long, long time.

A friend of mine requested brown socks. This is the first pair of socks that I’ve knit for someone else where I am having a hard time giving them up. I might have to knit another pair for myself.  The pattern is Seduction Socks by Interweave Knits and free on their web site.

I’m off to visit in-laws for the weekend.  Perhaps sock number two will be knit and I will have a pair come Monday. Or least later in the week.

Happy Weekend!

*Another woman on the jury had her socks on addi turbo circular needles. They passed security on the first day, but were confiscated on the second day.  It’s interesting how safe or dangerous  knitting needles can be on any given day.