Don’t forget your joy

My life has become as busy as a new mom with a baby. I do get some “free” time, but I use it to try to keep up with housework, animal chores, and yard work. I can’t go far, or if I do I must use the indoor cameras to know when my husband is awake. He is nearing the final stage of Alzheimer’s Disease.

I’d had a few days of so much frustration that I had a short temper. I didn’t like myself much. One morning I woke earlier than normal and used the extra time for my joy – sewing. I finished the t-shirt quilt for my husband in two early mornings and one afternoon.

The process for the later rows was different than for the first. I had to sew the blocks of a row together, then pin, stitch, and flip the row. My blocks were surprisingly uniform and I only had to trim once, and add a small bit of sashing twice. Hm. Could this be what is meant by “measure twice”?

When all the rows were stitched to the fleece backing, I measured 3 inches all around for the binding. I turned the fleece over the quilt top for a 1.75″ border. I used a blind hem stitch to topstitch. It’s the only time I use the blind hem stitch these days. Since the quilt had horizontal stitching between the rows, I stitched the vertical sashing.

Hubby doesn’t rave about my sewing anymore, but his mild, “I like that!” was high praise for this stage. I texted a photo to a few favorite people, and got rave reviews. It could have been easier with a larger throat on the sewing machine, but I managed.

Lesson learned. I will use my quiet time for small sewing projects just to get a few minutes of joy.

Progress on t-shirt quilt

I found more time to work on the quilt. I had listed the dimensions I wanted for each patch and started cutting the stabilizer. I added 1/2 in to each dimension so that I had a 1/4 inch seam allowance on all sides. As I had each one cut, I noted the dimensions on a slip of paper and pinned it to the pieces. I had the width noted first so I would know how to orient the stabilizer before fusing.

I came to the shirt that said American Classic, and decided I didn’t want it included. Same for Salmon Unlimited. We worked for a salmon lure manufacturer, but had only a distant connection to that tournament. I had two other shirts I was happy to include, and the dimensions worked great. I did goof up a little on the DW symbols. The 3×4 worked better as a 4×3 so it will be in the quilt turned to the side, which will just look artistic I think. All the fusing is complete.

Now I have to decide on and buy the sashing and the fleece backing.