Saturday, April 17, 2010

That "H" Sold!

I'm proud to say that "Give Me an 'H'" sold at the school's auction for $450.  To put that in perspective, the fox terrier sold for $2,300, and the year-long guaranteed parking spot at the high school campus sold for $200.  Of course, $450 is nothing compared to the parent who paid for a new school bus....


The t-shirts in the quilt, 14 in all, are from various Hill High School events from 2007 to 2009.  The t-shirt-cutting gods were with me when I brought the shirts home.  Magically, I used all 14 shirts, and they fit together without my needing to add in additional fabric -- and the color balance worked out!


Here's another poor shot of the back.


Fortunately, last weekend, I took a photography class with Franklin Habit.  Now I have a better idea of how to make a shot like this work out.  Next quilt, perhaps?

Here are some close-ups of the t-shirts, post quilting:





Go Hawks!!!

Sunday, April 4, 2010

Give Me an H! Part One

Three weeks ago, on a whim, I decided to make a T-shirt quilt to donate to the school's auction, which is this Friday evening.  Zoom, zoom, zoom...and now I am out of gas.  I've worked on it off and on, just a few days worth of work, and I have about an hour's worth of quilting left.  Perhaps I can find someone to bribe me with chocolate or a $500 shopping spree.  Or, an iPad.  That would work, too.



I used some leftover Aurafil thread to piece the quilt--Aurafil hit quilting shops a few years ago, and many people love it.  It's fabulous for hand applique, but I will never again use it to quilt something.  It's too fine a thread; it occasionally breaks and frays when I'm ripping back a few stitches.  From time-to-time, the top thread doesn't catch as I am quilting, and I end up with a long stitch -- probably just over an 1/8th of an inch long.  I've just started sewing over those stitches, which is not a best practice, but that's okay for today.

I think the back looks quite striking in person, but I haven't been able to photograph it well.  In the photos, the backing fabric is quite distracting.





Only twenty minutes left in my break.  More later....

Saturday, April 3, 2010

It's Actually Finished (Really)

...er, except that I forgot to make a label to put on the back.  So, it's 99.9% finished, but my sister has it in her possession now, which is what is most important.



Actually, make that 99.7%.  G. has to use a damp cloth to wipe off some of the white chalk I used to mark the border quilting.  I have to have another quilt finished by Friday, and she graciously said she didn't mind doing the clean-up on her own gift.