T Shirt Quilt

Hey all…  So one of my first projects was this t shirt quilt for Jenna.

This is just one side.  See, I was checking out all things creative on Pinterest and in turn became a creative monster…  Truly, she loves this quilt.  But,  I was a little  ambitious.  Jenna is my emotional hoarder.  Which was (is?) great because she had a gagillion t-shirts.  Well, I decided to make this a double sided quilt!  Like I said, a little ambitious. This first side is everything school.  Sports shirts, class t-shirts, shirts from girl scouts, a t shirt from a concert we went to, a shirt she tye dyed plus a few others.  Here is the opposite side.

This side is all things volleyball.  Jenna played club volleyball for about 4 years.  After two knee surgeries, she gave it up.  More on that later as we are now gearing up for a third.  Anyhoo, for a first quilt, I bit off a great big ole bite.  Like I said, she loves the quilt and so do I.  Thank goodness that she thinks all of the flaws ( there are many!) add character.  Here is a close up of a couple of blocks….

You can see (even without looking closely) that my seams do not line up.  Ok.  Right.  I know what I did wrong (lots) and am going to tell you what NOT to do.  I am posting a tutorial on the quilt I am making for Savanna.  You can check there for what TO do.

 

The first thing I did was follow all directions!  Sounds like a good start, right?  Not so much.  My first mistake in following the directions of the poster  (this would be the person posting the tutorial, not a big thing on the wall), was to cut the shirts.  Now of course, you do have to cut the shirts.  The directions told me to cut off the neck, then cut off the sleeves, then cut the shoulder seams and last down the sides.  The purpose being to have a “flat” piece of fabric to work with.   Well when I was cutting up one of the last shirts, I smacked myself in the head.  Duh, my fingers are falling off, I have blisters from hours of cutting and all I needed to really cut was the shoulder seams (through the neck) and up the sides (including the sleeves).  I would have saved myself tons of time and probably a few blisters.

 

Don’t you just love my photo skills!!  Anyway, follow the arrows.  It really is easy.

 

My second mistake was to cut the 12″ squares of fabric from the shirts.  This is what my tutorial told me was the next step followed by ironing on fusible interfacing.  What should have happened was iron on the interfacing and THEN cut the squares.  Since the shirts are made out of all different types of cotton and some of other materials, when I ironed on the interfacing, the stretched differently.  That is why my seams are messed up.

 

Oh well,  all is well that ends well, right?  Jenna loves the quilt.  Savanna also loves the quilt and went on a quest to find t-shirts for the one she wants.  Take a peek at my project page for the tutorial.  I will put up the steps as I go, catching you up to where I am currently and then it’s onward together.

 

If you are anxious to get started, your first step is to wash all of the t-shirts without  fabric softener.  Good Luck!

It’s Challenging

Well,  it’s hard to find the time to do or complete anything these days.  This includes blogging.  During my laid off life (which is now over), I was panicking about money but now that it is over, I wish I was still laid off…..sigh.  I was starting to get my creative groove on and now I am making some money and lacking creative time.  I was getting creative in my cooking and posted a recipe for my Aunt Anna Margarets Bread.  Check my Recipes tab for some others that I tried and went over very well with the fam.  Since then, my daughter Savanna was diagnosed with Ciliac disease.  So, now I have to find a way to make yummy things with no gluten.  (Another sigh)  I will post recipes that I make that work out well on taste for the gluten free crowd.  Stay tuned for projects that I did complete while l was laid off, a to do list for stuff that I may never get to ( I am sighing a lot today) and like I said, recipes of gluten free gladness.  ( I am convinced that they do exist!)

Hello world!

So, as you may know, I have recently been laid off. My Laid off Life started on a bit of a sad note.  My aunt Anna Margaret died.  She was an amazing woman.  When I was a kid, I would go stay with her for a few days every summer.  My favorite memories of her are baking bread.  She baked bread every single day!  She taught me how and wrote down the recipe for me.   –> 

 

I (obviously) scanned it and sent it to her daughters and sisters.  I hadn’t made the bread since I was around 12 or so, so a long long long time (LOL – this one means laugh out loud)

Anyway, my first post is a tribute to one of the most amazing women I have ever known.

  Fresh from the oven!

 

Recipe is as follows:

Bread

 

Scald 2 cups milk

Add enough water to make 4 ½ cups (2 ½ cups)

Liquid should be warm

Add to Liquid:

2 T salt

6T sugar

2T yeast

4T shortening

Mix together

Mix in 6 cups of flour (all purpose)

Then add 4 cups flour

After this, add flour gradually mixing with hands until dough is of right consistency

Knead dough until smooth (about 10 minutes)

Place dough in greased bowl

Turn over so greased side is up

Let rise until double in bulk

Punch down and turn over

Let rise until almost double

Shape into loaves and rolls

Bake loaves 30-35 minutes at 375 degrees

Bake rolls 15 minutes at 375 degrees

This is country girl bread.  Very dense and very delicious!  If you are feeling particularly decadent or are PMSing, you can try this little trick:

When fresh from the oven, use the handle of a long wooden spoon and put a hole in the end of the bread and insert an entire (yes truly) stick of butter.  Turn the bread a few times while the butter is melting to make sure you achieve maximum butter disbursement.  Then just pull it apart and eat!  I did this for my kids and was called a genius.  You don’t hear THAT every day!

 

Here’s to you Anna Margaret LOL (Life of (a) Legend)