Pillowcases for the Orphans

Pillowcases, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

So I just hired a gal with the agreement that we'll giver her a few months off to go to Kenya to take care of orphans every couple of months. She gave a lovely presentation at lunch one day to give everyone an idea of why she's called to do this. It inspired us to turn the lunch room into a sweat shop* for pillowcases for the kids at the home. So I brought in a bunch of fabric (lots from Annette, thank you!!!!!!!) and an extra sewing machine, rotary cutter, mats, pins, etc. We started a regular little assembly line and completed 28 pillowcases in time for her next trip. We got in a new influx of fabric for the last week but were slowed down a bit by the supervisor's table. Lots got really involved although some of the guys wanted to be clear they were not sewing so referred to whomever was rotary cutting the fabric as "The Architect".

We'll put together a few more to send with another staff member who is going for a short volunteer stint in a few months.


* The sweat shop did not use forced labor (much) and was freezing most days due to a huge HVAC project that's going on in the building.


**  I'll try to put up a replacement picture when they are delivered.

Rolls of Strips

3 inch strips, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

I'm using up some extra strips of fabric on a little (well, that depends on how many squares this ends up making) project. I'm still binding away on my grandpa's quilt this weekend as well.

According to my handy dandy Excel tracking sheet, I will need to finish a quilt every 5 days in order to finish all the quilts I have planned before the end of the year. Not holding my breath on that one. Some are presents though so I'll finish out the year with pictures of previously done quilts mostly. Or you know, pictures of my shelves of pretty folded fabric.

Before and After

Before, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

I don't know if it's been obvious but I do get sidetracked easily. Last night I ran across this blog, Sew Fantastic, which has a great idea for storing my shelves of teetering fabric (let's be clear that it's the fabric that teeters, not the shelves which are bolted to the wall (thanks Chuck!)). Warning though, it's one of those sites that plays music so you have to scroll down to the bottom of the page to turn it off . . . every page. At any rate, the idea for using comic book boards is delightful and I happen to have a store that carries them just a few miles away (and a friend willing to move her car on Street Fair weekend) so we came home with two sizes.

And voila, my new, non tumbling, non hiding other fabric, blue shelf. Added bonus, all my blues will now fit on the same shelf.

After, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

I just need to get the smaller bits to wrap the fat quarters around. Oh and a zillion more boards but at least they are inexpensive.

After Blue, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

I also finished the quilting on both the new project and grandpa's quilt. Hands, get ready for some binding!

PS If anyone needs any of that blue dragonfly fabric, just let me know. I'm a sharer.

New project

New project, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

While waiting for the thread to finish my grandpa's quilt, I sorted a bit of stuff in the sewing room and started donating stuff. And hey, while I'm at it, why not start something new? I started loading this project before work, pieced together the batting and was ready to start quilting tonight. So wouldn't you know it, the thread showed up at my door this afternoon. Thanks FedEx but could you have put that on your website maybe?

Anyway, the backing is fantastic and perfect for the intended recipient of this little project. It's a great pantograph of New Orleans which I ran across not long after going to Jazz Fest there. I'm just hoping that you don't have to know exactly what it is before you can see the pictures.

Inspiration

Starting with this picture and a vague plan. . .

photo.JPG, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

We got to this little tiny quilt. . .

photo.JPG, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

With little tiny (1/2 inch by 1/2 inch) raw edge labels on each drawer.

photo.JPG, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

It was delivered this morning to my co-worker who has taken over the filing system with pizazz. She promptly hung it up and will now just point to the drawer that people need papers from. Ahhh, silliness pays off :)


In keeping with my new plan to record things about things, this quiltlet finished up at 11 x 17 and the binding matches the backing.

Grandpa's Crackle

Grandpa's Crackle, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

Some of my progress this weekend. And yes, I was thinking about finishing the quilting on a twin size quilt the same day I started so that I could drive it up to my mom before she left for her drive to Utah. And yes, that would have meant leaving at 5 am this morning to get it up there in time.

I would have done it too, if it weren't for those pesky kids, errr, lack of thread. Turns out that 1,200 yards is NOT enough for swirling all over this big quilt. So the order is in and I'll wait patiently for my thread order and finish this puppy.

Here's a few more pictures from the front where the quilting looks a little less random.

Grandpa's Crackle, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

Grandpa's Crackle, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

Oh, and yummmmmm, I'm back to these now -

Grandpa's Crackle, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

All the extras

All the extras, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

I've got the whole center piece together now and hope to add borders tonight so I can hopefully quilt it over the weekend. But as I was putting the blocks together, I realized that everything still on my wall was how much I added to the original kit. It's going to be big!

I also have a couple of small projects to work on/finish for gifts so hope to have that done this weekend too.

Sorry Buckminster Fuller

photo.JPG, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

I'm just not a fan of triangles these days. There's an awful lot of matching, measuring, resewing, measuring, trimming and deciding that it doesn't matter in these triangles once I got done with the laser cut pieces.

I've finished all the mega blocks though (although there will not be holes like this picture shows).

A Traveler

A Traveler, originally uploaded by shanleytulip.

Not the usual thing I picture when I refer to a traveler but this will have to do for my next adventure since open containers are frowned upon at the airports in this state.

So I shall tuck my scissors in my checked luggage and stitch away on the plane while I plot how to get out of a bridal fair extravaganza that my lawyer, er, sister wants me to attend.

Bundle a Little Love

http://ibol.wordpress.com/I'll be taking advantage of some Labor Day sales this weekend to add needles, etc to a couple of bundles to send out on this project - Iraqi Bundles of Love (IBOL II). It's the second round for this project.

IBOL Website