BAG FROM REPURPOSED SHIRTS

From this snap front Gap shirt I found at Salvation Army, I made a bag utilizing the snap opening as a pocket on the front of the bag. I used another SA shirt for the lining.
The outside shirt fabric has Pellon Thermolan Plus fleece fused to it to strengthen the bag and to protect the contents. I used one of the cuffs to make a snap closure at the top for a little bit of security.

The inside has a long pocket on one of the gusset sides, a zippered pocket on one side, and a small pocket on the other side at the bottom. The outside back has two small pockets at the bottom, and the front, along with the pocket made with the snapped placket, has four small divisions/pockets, with two on top of each other at the ends making six pockets.

I embroidered a floral motif on the back in orange thread. The handles used the button plackets of the floral shirts backed with the other shirt's fabric. The Gap label is sewn onto one of the straps.

Red and White Quilt from Kansas City Star

The Kansas City Star published patterns, a block a month, in 2013 for this quilt called "Rubies, Diamonds, and Garnets, Too..." designed by Bernadette Kent of Calgary, Alberta.  This is my second attempt at piecing, so I am happy with the outcome. Those 36 sashing strips took me weeks to do as there are 864 half triangle pieces to cut, sew two together, trim, and then sew in a strip. If I had known at the outset how time consuming those would be, I probably would not have started it. But they do add a lot to the overall look. The blocks were pretty quick to piece together; even the center star was not too bad.

Almost all of the white fabrics are from blouses from Salvation Army on their 49 cent day. The red checks and plaids are from shirts. The polka dot was a skirt. The rest of the fabrics had to be bought at a fabric store since it was hard to find red on red and red on white prints. This block to the right was from a bought fabric that had the illustrated sewing stitches fussy cut (cutting out a motif to be centered).

The center block was not what was originally published in the paper. They had to print a retraction for some reason and offered a download for this star.

If anyone wants these instructions I cut from The Star, I will be happy to mail it all to the first person I hear from.

Now I have to figure out how to quilt this 68" square. This will be my first quilting attempt, and I don't want to do it by hand. Perhaps I will practice free motion quilting and try doing that.  Those four white corners of the center block should get a special treatment. Any ideas?

Decorative Backing for old TV Armoire

 This beautiful armoire had a gaping hole in the back to accommodate the old huge TV we used to have.  I pieced together a bunch of squares made from a skirt and a jumper found at the Salvation Army, and laid that and some batting on top of a big piece of foam core. Remember to add a couple of inches to the overall fabric piece so it will lap around the board on all sides.

To attach it to the foam core, I used office clips to hold the batting and "quilt" at the edges and took yarn threaded onto a needle and sewed back and forth across the back, catching the top and bottom edges first, then the side edges. After that was completed, I added button "tufting" at each corner of each piece, bringing the thread through the foam core and tying off the ends.

close up of fabric quilt for back of armoire