Quirky Quilts

Got carried away doing craft stuff this weekend.  I made my Christmas cards (inspired by my friend Meg at https://ourhousequilts.wordpress.com)

I made Kimekomi balls (inspired by my friend Phil at http://pippaquilt.blogspot.com.au/?wref=bif )

Whilst away, I received numerous enquiries about T-shirt quilts and quilts made from clothes.  I think people believe that, because they are made from recycled materials, they will be cheap.  Unfortunately this is not the case.  The ‘free’ material is more than outweighed by man-hours required to make up the quilt.  The logo has to be ‘fussy cut’ (which often generates different sized pieces) and then since T-shirt material is stretchy, each patch has to be stabilised by backing it with interfacing.  Only then can the quilt be assembled, sandwiched, quilted and bound.  A T-shirt quilt, using 16 T-shirts from which 12″ patches can be cut, and measuring 125cm x 125cm would cost approximately $300 + P&P. Beware, T-shirt quilts end up quite heavy so big ones can become very unwieldy!  The example shown below was nearly 3 times that cost since it was big with different sized patches!

If you want a cost estimate for your T-shirt quilt, please contact me with required size and number of T-shirts to be included.

If you have a bag of sentimental pieces of washable clothing (excluding wooly jumpers which unravel!), an alternative approach is to include appliqué pieces into a ‘Tree of Life’ quilt. A small sample is shown below.  If such a quilt is of interest to you, please contact me for a cost estimate, again giving the required size and numbers of clothing pieces you wish to include.

Back home after a 10 week holiday and time to get back to sewing.  Thanks for all the enquiries that I have had for quilts whilst I have been away – please contact me again if you are interested in following things up.

Elizabeth Sutherland – I have been trying to contact you about your enquiry but my email bounces – please can you contact me again.

With Christmas coming up, I am going to make an effort to put all the quilts that I have for sale in my ‘Quilts for Sale’ gallery.  I have just uploaded a number of children’s quilts which would make ideal presents.  Remember, I can always appliqué a name onto a quilt that I have already made to personalise it.

Just spent 4 days enjoying the art in Washington which is so freely shared without any crowds.  Apart from the many stunning masterpieces in the National Gallery of Art, there were some interesting pieces in the small contemporary Renwick Gallery.

Travel project prepared and ready to go………..

I have made this wall-hanging for a friend in the UK as a flat warming present.  It is a modern flat and I know she has a new red settee.  But I am not sure which red – so my design includes a few!  The design is based on a hanging which my friend, Meg (ourhousequilts.wordpress.com), recently made.  Hope the foil survives the trip to the UK!