common

When I wasn't feeling well, my friend Barbara told me to haul out my quilt magazines and find an "old favorite" pattern that I've always wanted to do but just never got to.
I've always liked the Boston Commons. (I love the idea that this park and city center is named for the common pasture. My home town's common pasture became the park behind my grandparents house when they retired from the farm.)
My construction of the pattern is a bit different from the traditional. Made with shirt parts, it is indeed common. It was a contemplative piece in that I had to use pins on for each patch to ensure the staggered bricks came out correctly. (I rarely use pins other than for borders.)
I will keep it common by not adding a border, just a dark binding.

Bricks finish 2" by 4", except for occasional 2 by 2 and 2 by 6 inch pieces needed to make the design. I cut the edge triangles from quartered 4 1/2 inch squares. It floats it a bit.

more plaids

The complex beauty of plaids makes them ideal for simple patterns. I adapted a Moda pattern I saw on the net to make this top. The large blocks are cut 6 1/2 by 4 1/2, the red plaids are cut 2 1/2 inch square, the little neutrals 1 1/2" by 2 1/2".

When shopping the thrifts, I get most of my shirts in the men's aisles because of the large amount of usable fabric. But, I do a quick trip down the women's and children's areas to get the most unusual plaids that are well worth the small yield of fabric.

I photographed it in front of the only place in my garden without weeds. Ok, I had to pull about 6 before taking the picture.

plaid scraps

I've been playing with leftover trimmings of the Bordello/Bargello quilt of a few months ago. I had 1/3 yard of a great red Kona Cotton that worked well for internal frames. Bonnie's recent quilting into the night was an influence, as were my friend Mary's wonderful improvisational quilts.
It is sitting at this stage for a while until I decide if it needs to be bigger.

fishing

Andy and Seth went fishing this morning, giving me time to finish this crumb pieced top. The blocks are shirt parts and the sashings and borders are from stash. The blocks are four 6 1/2 inch squares put together into 12 inch finished blocks.
I anticipated their catch and bought some ringer rainbow trout.


They did catch and release two 4-inch bluegills.

snow day bargello

I had a snow day Friday and used it to work on my bargello.
Like Bonnie, I am a thrift store plaid shirt fan, and a popular class here is when I have a simple pattern and a plaid exchange. People come with at least 4 whole shirts, I have a table for each shade and have my plaids scattered. People mix and match and come out with a wonderful assortment. I am always amazed at the variety and wonder where those shirts were when I was at the thrift.
My strips were up on the board and l liked how it looked with one set uncut so I left it that way--added an asymmetry to the whole thing.
I am not going to put on borders--"engaging the edge" (a phrase from Weeks Ringle).

fish border

I had this as a stack of blocks for a while, then as the center for another long time until I found this fabulous fish fabric for the border.

delectable mountains

My parents are here for Christmas. My mother and I love to do handwork together, so I have 9 (!) quilts at the handwork stage for binding. Some are Christmas presents, so they may be given with pins in them. My kids, seeing a quilt on the davenport, always ask if there are pins before they sit down. Experience does teach them something.
I worked on the binding of this delectable mountains variation of the buzz saw this week. Another plaid shirt quilt, great use of lights and darks.

machine quilting

I am a very basic machine quilter--I cannot free motion. My handwriting is awful, so I blame a neurological connection for this problem. About 2 decades ago I came up with an idea for a stitch regulator--should have patented it!
I can use the walking foot well, and have adapted its use to do some quilting styles that work for me.
This one is quilted in channels, method similar to the one a few posts ago of an advent quilt.
I use the wavy line pattern on my Bernina 1530, lengthen it to a 5, narrow it to about a 3, and quilt in channels, sometimes the width of the walking foot, sometimes another marker. Works well on primitive looking quilts.
This is one of my dragon teeth quilts, the backgrounds are all shirts.

loaves and fishes

And all ate and were filled. Matthew 14:20

This quilt is for the Good News Community Kitchen benefit. I hope they make a lot with it. The Kitchen serves meals every day of the year.
http://www.gnck.org/

I showed the top several months ago. It is made of shirt parts--from the collars and cuffs and pockets. The logs are spliced to use up every bit of fabric.
I like to have a few tops ready for donation to a good cause that comes up. My quilter, Suzette Fisher, turned this around to me in just a week. She is wonderful.

more plaids

I just got these back from my quilter, Suzette. The County Lines pattern is a wonderful way to use a theme of fabrics. I have previous posts with using the pattern with turquoise and red, and batiks with black. This one with brown and plaids I really like. Very Japanese looking. http://www.mountainpeekcreations.com/patterns.html
The squares were made as a class sample for my Flower Garden class, to show you could use the idea with something other than large florals. I love the border fabric.
Both of these quilts use very humble fabrics for the interior, then fabulously rich fabric for the borders.

spliced log cabin

Mary and Eleonore, in my small group, have been making spliced log cabins--where you splice together the fabrics, pay no attention to keeping one side light and one side dark, and just keep sewing.
I like the subtle internal diagonals the splices give the quilt.
I used a basket full of plaid (of course) scraps and really like the results. My logs are cut 1 1/2 inches, finished blocks are 8 inches.

more crumbs

Another crumb quilt--someone asked why I call my plaid quilts cowboy quilts--I like cowboy fabric and find they work well with plaids. I love the little boy quality of these quilts, very playful. I may be projecting my life with this playful 9 year old boy!

monocromatic crayon box

I finished my version of Bonnie's Crayon Box. I have been trying to get a handle on the plaid shirt problem in my sewing space. I tackled the small parts in the blue pile and cut them into pieces for this--put together with no concern for value of light, medium, and dark. I did not use the sashing, butting 20 blocks together, spining alternate ones. This puts in a subtle secondary pattern of a woven cross at the intersections.
Thanks Bonnie!

another cowboy quilt

I finished this quilt last year--another cowboy quilt made from thrifted plaid shirts.

crumbs from shirts

I have been making crumb blocks from plaid shirts I have taken apart--the great stripe for the border has been on my shelves so long I have no memory of buying it. The blocks were trimmed to 6 1/2 inches.
Yes, those are Christmas lights still up on March 6th.

buzz saw mountains

One irritation with the new blogger is it rotates my photos. I will take time later to fix this, but has anyone else been having this problem? (((FIXED!!)))
Here is a delectable mountains variation of the buzz saw pattern--made with plaid shirts from the thrift stores.

more dragon teeth

Here is my little dragon teeth quilt, finishes about 20" by 25".


Maggie's teeth in progress.


Patricia and her daughter with a fabulous teeth made from plaid shirts. Note the little teeth on the side borders.

dragon teeth

Karla Alexander's second book, Stack a New Deck, is excellent for giving me ideas.

I made this quilt with humble materials, lots of thrift store shirts, with a few fabulous florals added.
Very primative looking. Kind of in the ugly quilt category, but I love it.

cowboy quilts

I buy plaid cotton shirts at the thrift stores--here in Chicago the big chains are Unique Thrift (half price on Mondays!) and Village Discount. I take them home, launder them to get rid of that "thrift store smell" and take apart the shirts.
I'm always looking for good cowboy prints to use for these quilts.
My neighbor and friend, Sharon, is a quilter and a thrift store treasure seeker too, and we have a deal where we give each other a sleeve off each shirt we buy.
Lately, I have been finding lots of yellow and orange shirts--must have been a fashion trend a year ago that passed me by.