Ghastlies Finally

So after pushing through an exhausting morning, I finally finished quilting my Ghastlies quilt!
I never intended for the quilt to be this big, I just happened to find a sheet at Walmart in the discount section and then the blocks just started happening (seriously, by themselves!)
I had help with basting it and discovered I was probably a bit to small on the backing side and was wondering how to deal with it.. then I thought, why not just use the excess from the front as the binding?

So I folded it over carefully, ironing it like it was a binding and then sewed the whole binding by hand, front and back. This looks crooked but it's just the fabric angling back.
I used a different batting in this one. It was lighter and "fluffy" and shed all.over.the.fabric. Very annoying and I kept having to delint every time I started a new section. In fact, pulling the needle through would often bring tufts of cotton up (notice in the top right of the above photo)
I still need to go back and trim threads and see if I can get rid of these tufts!

But the final product!

Somebody was glad that I was finally done quilting the blanket, because he desperately wanted to lay on it!

Photo Transfer Paper

So after working my butt off and making what I think is the best quilt I've made so far - I'm left feeling very disappointed in the TAPS photo transfer paper. I did everything as instructed and after quilting the top, decided to wash it - twice - to make sure the photos didn't fade.
Yep. Faded. To the point I felt I could not use the quilt.

I left it sitting for a few days, pondering just replacing the photos with fabric (ugh!) and decided to try t-shirt transfer paper. I got the Staples brand and printed them out. The photo quality was amazing! Clear and bright colors. I ironed them on as instructed, and then washed them and they turned out okay.

On the left is the TAP product, the right is Staples t-shirt transfer. The difference at this point was amazing, and I had high hopes (apple pie in the sky hopes as it turned out!)

Then Later after I finished quilting everything I decided to wash it one more time and this time.. cracking.. and some of the detail washed away.
So depressing. In the meantime I have already contacted my friends sister about mailing the quilt down (I just KNEW I should have waited) and now it's back to a crappy looking quilt again.

Here is the Staples product after washing a second time. On both of these I used 100% cotton and followed the directions exactly.

So last ditch effort. I will invest in some bubble jet set and print directly onto fabric. Very frustrating and I think I might write each of these companies and complain. I've wasted a lot of money and time working on these photos!

Stay tuned for my final attempt at a photo memory quilt!

Spider Web Quilting

I had to pause quilting my large garden quilt as I ran out of trace paper.. and it's impossible to find in this small town! I ordered some online but in the meantime I started quilting my Ghastlies Quilt!

Memory Quilt

A friend of ours passed away from pancreatic cancer last month. He had many friends, and was a generous and kind soul. I can't think of anyone who didn't like him. Often we would go for lunch as he worked nearby to my office and when he phoned me last summer to let me know I was shocked.
He was married for twenty-three years and had a young son. I can't even imagine how difficult this has been for them. Unable to travel down to see him before he died, or go to his celebration of life this weekend, I was inspired to make a quilt for his son.

I ordered some photo transfer paper - TAPS by Lesley Riley
Lesley's Website

It was a fairly easy process printing out the photos. Through trial and error I learned that if you're ironing more then one thing at a time, wait for the ironing board to cool down. Also, I had way more luck when I let the iron rest lightly on the transfer and kept it moving all the time until the paper peeled itself off.

I've got some stuff to help set photos and fabric, I'm really hoping that the photos come through the wash cycle in good shape (don't ask what I'll do it they don't!)

My choice of fabric had to do with my friends love of sock monkeys!

I will machine quilt in the ditch with some cyan colored thread, the back with be the brown fabric and I will bind it with the same brown 'sock' material. I kind of think of this as a memory blanket his son can sleep with - like sleeping with his dad!

Goodbye my friend...