Quilting 101

Each time I begin to blog, I start out with an apology as to why I haven't touched the keyboard in a while. Hmm.....I think it's called groceries, committee meetings, editing, planning graduation parties, planning birthday parties, church, substituting, running.... life in general! Sorry--once again! I have finally decided to just forgive myself and hope you do the same! You can catch up with my "exciting" life on facebook if I haven't blogged in a month or so!

One thing that I have been working on is a quilt for child #1' s graduation. Back in the dark ages, when I taught school 180 days out of the year, a wonderful parent volunteer made a quilt for my classroom. It was precious! She had each of the children paint their hand prints on squares, and she sewed them together for a lovely wall hanging. I believe in "paying it forward", so I too made small quilts for the boys' teachers when they were little. I loved doing this.

I have a tendency to save things. Maybe it's the teacher in me--who knows! But, I saved special t-shirts that the boys had worn from the age of 4 until now. I thought in the back of my head, "one day I'll make them a quilt!" Well, stacks of t-shirts moved with us for three house moves! My hubby kept asking if I really was going to use them!

In January, I pulled them out. I had thought about using the old-fashioned poster board template--like the ones I had used for the teacher quilts. But....these shirts were pretty big! I broke down and went to Wal-mart and purchased real, live quilting templates and a rotary cutter! That cutter is amazing!!!!! One cold  afternoon, I sat down in front of the tv and began cutting. And, cutting, and cutting. Two hours later, I had a stack of 36 t-shirt squares. I was a little impressed that they really were all symmetrical! Having the right tools does help the process!

I began piecing them together--the dining room table makes a great workstation! The pieces got bigger and bigger. I finally pieced them together and added the batting and the back. Whew! Now, in the middle of the project, my handy dandy 20 year old sewing machine died. It really did. It's in the trash dump! So, I borrowed a sweet friend's machine and completed the project. I finished the hand sewing before lunch today. So, yes, even Runnermom can complete a project that's been in the recesses of her mind for many years. That in itself is an amazing feat! And, I get to do it again in 3 years when child #2 graduates! Mercy!!

What projects do you have going on now? Or, what do you want to learn to do? Summer is the perfect time to start a new project. You may not finish it bythe time school starts in August, but that's ok. Just learn to forgive yourself!

Sweet Blessings,