Quilts in Progress

Oh boy, I lost track of time and here I am cramming today post. LOL. I was going to post about something else, but it needs additional research, so thought I'd just share what I'm currently working on.

I've made progress with my Pokemon Pikachu quilt project. Since it's much bigger than I intended, I'm going to make it into a wall hanging. I have that on my quilt wish list. I always wanted to make art for our home and the size of this quilt is perfect. I just sandwiched it with batting today and I plan to hand quilt it. Ah, that's probably where I'll take time again. (Update: here's how I made the Pikachu Quilt)

My other project is a runner for my piano. I've been meaning to make one for it for a few months now. It's a peppermint inspired Christmas quilt. I'm having fun making it since I like making pinwheels.

Yay!

#BeKind #StaySafe

Creative Happy Tuesdays: T-Shirt Memory Quilt Blanket is Done!

Woohoo! I finally finished my t-shirt memory quilt blanket! I started working on this on May 11, 2019! I worked on it on and off because the materials were in Manila. I eventually brought it to Singapore in January 2020. Thought I'd finish it there, but I didn't since I got busy with work and then was in and out of the hospital. 

Told myself I'll finish it this year. My deadline kept moving mainly because of my health. I just worked on it whenever I felt well. Worked on it slowly, but surely. I made bite-sized targets until I finally added the binding last weekend. The last stitch was added on August 20, 2022 (3 years 3 months and 9 days/831 days). 

Here's a tutorial on how I made it:

I also have a step by step guide here in case you want to try making one.

#BeKind #StaySafe

The Journey of Making a Memory Quilt Blanket

I collected a massive amount of shirts since I joined Google in 2006. Through the years though my shirt size grew from extra small to never mind. Chalk it up to achieving the Google 10 (now 15) a few times. I joined during the time the company used to give a lot of shirts for employees. I kept all the shirts because I thought I'd eventually lose weight and be able to wear the old ones. Of course, that did not happen. 

I took a break back in 2019 and cleaned out my closet. Found my collection of t-shirts and thought it was a good time to start making a t-shirt memory quilt. Cutting the shirts was a painful process. T-shirt fabric isn't the same as the cotton fabric normally used for quilting. I gave the leftover parts of the shirt to my Mom for her rug project, so nothing went to waste. I didn't finish cutting the shirts so I brought it back to SG with me. 

Did some research to understand the process of making t-shirt quilt better. Got the fusible interfacing and other fabric I needed online. I managed to finish cutting the shirts while in Singapore and intended to fuse the interfacing with the shirts while in quarantine. Ended up sleeping through quarantine hahaha. Only got to work on it again early this year when the boys set-up my sewing area in the living room. 

I've been toiling on it for many months now. I spending two to three hours about four times a week. It is tiring and progress is dependent on my health too. My doctor asked me if I get tired working on it. I said no since it's fun for me. I also used a sewing machine to work on it, but I did hand stitching to piece the fabric together. It's hard to align pieces via a machine and I wanted the lines to be more precise. That's what I wanted to improve from the last pieces of blankets I made. 

I think I'm 80% done with the blanket now. I pieced two sets of two rows together. I'm now in the wrestling match phase of quilt blanket making, hahaha. I call it a wrestling match because it's hard to manuever heavy pieces of fabric that's been sandwiched with wadding. Good thing I got lighter wadding from Spotlight. I think I'll finish merging all seven rows this week. I'll add the backing next week and then make the binding. I should hopefully finish before end of the month! Yay! 

#BeKind #StaySafe

I Wish

I wish I could attend the rally tomorrow! I've been following the plans of the contingent of Scholasticans attending the rally. Aside from planning where to meet, they have also been sharing tips on how to survive the rally. I'll just join online and hope the internet will be stable. 

I've been spending more time offline this month. I've been doing things that make me happy so I could recover faster from the booster shot I got. Yes, recovery has been very slow. I've been doing activities to push myself and develop more stamina. On Monday I puttered around my tiny garden. The lettuce I planted in January hasn't really grown (both in soil and the hydroponics set-up). I'm not entirely sure why, so I decided to plant a new batch. Surprisingly, the seeds sprouted just after two days. Here's how it looks today -

Hope this would be a better batch.

On Tuesday, I worked on my memory quilt. Slowly piecing it together. I decided to take a photo of each shirt I used. I realized each one holds so many memories. It's something I could probably blog about since I never really wrote about what I experienced within 15 years. I did start writing a book about it. Still thinking whether I should continue it. Anyway, I hope to finish the quilt blanket this quarter. 

Wednesday was a busy day. We had to do adulting tasks for our three homes. It's hard and I realized managing an "ancestral house" (that's what the engineer called Mom's house since it's over 50 years old). Learning a lot though and I told Miggy to move us to a smaller home when we get older. If you are a homeowner and want to keep your home, make sure to have a budget to fix things at set times. 

I had to rest on Thursday because I had too much activity on Wednesday. Spent most of my time sewing and just sprayed neem oil on my plants. Also decided to proceed with our investment to use solar energy. It will save us a lot of money in the long run and it's one of the items that has a clear option to reduce cost. 

We were supposed to do some adulting stuff again today, but I feel I need to rest. Miggy and I have been watching "Our Great National Parks" on Netflix. It's the show former President Obama is narrating. It's interesting to watch because it shows how nature can recover if it's given space. They also show some never before seen animals. It's just 7 episodes and we're almost done. I plan to watch "Is it Cake?" next. 

For the weekend, will plan some family time and plan to watch the rally online. I wish though they'll also stream it on YouTube since it's more stable than watching livesteams on FB, plus it's easier to cast on TV.