T Heaven

(affiliate links to my designs)

Hard to believe it was just six years ago I begged for no more T-shirts. Now that I've been wearing T-shirts nearly every day for the better part of three years, many from my collection have seen their better days.

Others have become SO boring.

Some just don't fit anymore.

And some of the remaining most beloved have been put away to prevent them from fraying, staining, stretching, fading, cracking...

I think a long-deserved T-shirt quilt is coming in my near future.

I raided my basement T-shirt stash, which was supposed to be set aside for future quilt projects, early last year because I needed newer-looking T-shirts I can wear while working from home and subject to unscheduled Zoom conference calls. I don't want them to wear out, too!!! I began looking for new T-shirts every time I go anywhere, which still isn't often, but so out of character for me. I bought a T-shirt at a gas station while on the way to stay with my mother-in-law in May.

I looked for T-shirts in South Dakota when I visited a handful of my grands last summer. I found several I loved, and a few would even be conference call appropriate. But I couldn't afford them!!! I told Lizard I would make a T-shirt of my own when I got home. I fully intended to craft one of the two way-oversized pocketed Carhartt T-shirts I picked up during a garden shopping trip into my own version of Bear Country's winter bear T-shirt. The bear was embellished with snowflakes. Right up my alley, right?

Before I could whip up enough snowflakes to applique onto the shirt in the shape of a bear silhouette, Zazzle put its T-shirts on sale. So I created a few new designs, and oh, do I love my newest T-shirts!!!

Now I'm thinking it might be nice to have a couple more new (long-sleeved) T-shirts, or maybe even a hoodie. So I played in AI until I got just the right bear silhouette, and I created a new design featuring a few months of my digital 2021 temperature quilt! Now I want to do some other animal silhouettes, too!

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Pending Mending

(affiliate links to my fabric designs)

I was hoping to finish Take Me to the Other Side by the end of August. Now I'm not even sure I can finish it by the end of September. Nevertheless, I'm having fun re-learning all the precision piecing lessons Moda Blockheads taught me. I think I'm going to add another couple of rows of on-point blocks, one on the top and one between my Spoonflower panel and the completed blocks to make the finished quilt a bit bigger. And I'm trying to figure out what to do for the quilt back. I'd like to make more sampler-type blocks, but I'm torn between time constraints and the desire to really make this project sing...

One of the many time constraints is the slowly shrinking mending pile. I think I'm two-thirds through my mending! If I can keep up my current pace, I won't have a mending pile by the end of the year! Happy day!!!

Back in 2018, I bought a package of long-sleeved tees to dye. I hadn't been able to find turtlenecks in the colors I needed to coordinate with my wardrobe, so I decided to create my own. The cheap tees, however, didn't make it through the first wash before seams began deteriorating. Initially, I thought perhaps the dye might have chewed up the thread. But upon closer inspection, the third, still undyed, shirt was coming apart at the seams, too.

These tees have been on my mending pile since December 2018. Now, I'll finally get to wear them this winter!

I dyed some krinkly yarn to match the purple shirt but never even wound it into a ball after I discovered the shoddy workmanship of the long-sleeved tees. In 2020, I attempted to dye a skirt that would match the then still-unmended purple tee. I might finally get to wear this ensemble this winter!!!

Back in 2020, Lizard was forced to convert from button-fly Levis to elastic and tie wastebands because he no longer has the finger dexterity for buttons, some snaps and zippers. I found out really quick I needed to sew ties to the back of the waistbands to prevent the ties from finding their way out of their casings in the washing machine. That was a quick mending fix back then, but I'd forgotten Lizard had one brand new pair of drawstring flannel pants with a broken tie until I found the project in the mending pile last weekend.

I did everything I could to dig out the broken tie end so I could make it longer and even ended up cutting a couple of holes into the casing to try to access that broken tie end. In the end, I wound up removing the tie altogether and sewing a new elastic waistband onto the inside of the casing. This fix won't win any sewing awards, but the pants are wearable again, and cooler flannel weather MIGHT be just around the corner... Hopefully!

Next came one of my favorite pairs of cargo shorts. This one had been on the mending pile so long, I actually forgot I owned them.

I found a fabric scrap that is close to the same color as the shorts. I had no luck trying to pin the patch in place, so I ended up smoothly attaching it with masking tape, and it worked just fine!

Another pair of shorts had more recently made its way into the pile, and it wasn't the first time. I made these shorts from batik scraps from my leftovers back and 2018 and literally have worn them out more than once now! The lavender batik in particular is just really flimsy. I extended its life just a bit with more batik scraps.

One more pair of holy cargo shorts awaited. Another favorite pair for travels because of big, roomy pockets. The masking tape method had worked so well on the first pair of cargo shorts, I decided to use the technique once again. I pulled some fun autumn scraps from my leftover scraps, and after just a few minutes, I was yet another pair of shorts richer!

I wanted to finish a new quilt for this month's Project Linus, but there just wasn't enough time. So I donated a quilt I thought I'd never give away. Scrap Gobbler was really difficult to part with, but some little kid somewhere now has really beautiful warmth, and that makes me feel warm, fuzzy and all kinds of happy inside. This gives me a great excuse to make a Scrap Gobbler sequel one day soon, which will use up lots of scraps, which is always a bonus!

Linking up with Alycia Quilts and Confessions of a Fabric Addict... Welcome back!!! We have so missed you!!!

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Avalanche of Memories

Last Thursday was the first time I missed a championship parade since I moved to Colorado. No complaints, really. Lizard would not have been able to handle the crowds, and I would not have made a wise choice if I'd left him alone the duration of the event.

I worked from home, and Lizard watched the parade on television. We wore the shirts I bought the last time the Avalanche brought home the Stanley Cup, back in 2001, but not in time for that year's parade. I waited all summer for the prices to go down. Ha ha! And the shirts have lasted all this time!

So many memories from 21 years ago. My kids were young then. They got such a kick out of all the championship parades. They loved making posters and standing on the street corner to garner honks and cheers from passing automobiles. I remember working the concession stand during Avalanche games to earn money for my daughter's band trips. I never got to watch a game until I began dating Lizard, and we watched a playoff game while at Zax in Moab. The Avs didn't win that year, but watching a playoff game over one of the best pizzas in the world, in my opinion, sort of became a tradition. We'd plan our Moab trips around the playoffs when the Avs were in the hunt.

One of the most bittersweet memories is the tie I embroidered by hand, with my own chalked-on design of the Avs logo after the first Avs championship in 1996. I totally gave it to the wrong person. I hadn't met Lizard at that point. He's a much better recipient. I guess I'll have to make another Colorado Avalanche tie one day. I need to get a photo of it this time!

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White Friday

No snow again last day after Thanksgiving, but that doesn't mean I went black.


The mountains had snow.


High-altitude lakes were frozen.


Which allowed me to shoot my November Reign sunrise over icy white Echo Lake.


The clouds were white once the sun climbed higher in the sky.


The milkweed seed... oh, my!!!


My white picotee amaryllis didn't bloom until the end of January, but I captured a special white sky photo with the twin blossoms when they did open, just for today's blog post.


My white project for the day was the snowflake rug made from white (and all shades of off-white) T-shirts. The quilt is forthcoming, but it won't be ALL white.










The Epsom salts soak with lavender oil, spearmint oil and rosemary oil to finish off the day... Aaaaaah!

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