Dragonball Z

 My youngest son loved Dragon Ball Z when he was younger.  In fact, he still likes Anime cartoons.  He has a collection of figurines, shirts and t-shirts from Dragon Ball Z.   Back a least ten years ago he asked if I would make him a t-shirt quilt with his Dragon Ball Z shirts.   Of course I made him one.  

It was my first t-shirt quilt that I made.  Although it was pretty simple to make there was a lot of extra calculating since I used different size blocks.  I found some appropriate cotton fabrics to border the t-shirt cut outs.  It came out perfect.  My son was excited when I gave it to him.

Today I went to his house to feed his cat and saw his Dragon Ball Z quilt on his couch.  He still has it and uses it to cuddle up with.  It's held up great.  I couldn't resist to take a picture so I could share it on this blog.

For the t-shirt blocks I not only used the fronts of the shirts, but also cut-outs from the backs.  I quilted it on my regular sewing machine  (I didn't won a longer quilter at the time).  I like the black and red Ninja fabric that I bordered it with and used for the backing.

I would like to make another t-shirt quilt with a different theme. I'll have to dig through my closets.

Do you want to know a secret?

 Do da dooo

I grew up with the songs of the Beatles.  I love them.   It was so devastating when the band broke up, but they left me with wonderful memories.   I sing their songs all the time.  In fact, my sister was born shortly after their song "Michelle" came out.  I asked my dad if we could name our new baby Michelle  if it was a girl.  As you see my parents thought it was a great name!  We had a new baby sister - Michelle.

This past Christmas my daughter bought me the book "Lyrics" by Paul McCartney.  What a wonderful book.  It's been so nice to know more about the person, the method and inspiration behind their songs.  One of Paul's songs,  "Do It Now", was inspired from his youth.  His father would make Paul and his brother go down the street and shovel horse shit into a bucket and bring it home for the garden. The boys hated it and would try to put the chore off.  But their dad was stern and would say DO IT NOW.  The boys coined it as DIN!  To this day Paul practices DIN and has even instilled it into his children.

Part of the lyrics that inspire me are: Do it now, do it now.  While the vision is clear.  Do it now.  While the feeling is here.  If you leave it too late.  It could all disappear.  Do it now.  While your vision is clear.

I've been thinking about DIN for a few days.  I think it's a great habit to get into.  So instead of making a bunch of "to do lists" I'm in DIN mode.  Pretty simple, right?

Now with this new mind set I've been accomplishing some UFOs.   The first accomplishment is a secret.  Ssshh, don't tell my sister.  With the left over blocks and fabric from the quilt we made for my sister, Michelle (see post It's a family affair) I constructed a throw for her new grey couch.  Her boyfriend asked if I would whip something up and right away I had a plan.  Now remember  this is the secret - my sister doesn't know anything about this plan.

I got right to work and within a couple days I pieced and quilted a knock-off of her bed quilt.  

I love the check pattern - it is similar to a buffalo check and will look great with her Modern Farmhouse decor. 

This past week I went down to Detroit for a Detroit Tigers game and met up with my sister.  Boy was she surprised when I handed her a bag and she pulled out this throw.  Have lots of cuddles Sis.

Being in  DIN mode I've been on a roll.  Besides making this throw, I replaced my outdoor chair seats and quilted a raffle quilt for the Ausable Quilt Guild quilt show which will be held at the end of September. Let's see if I can keep the ball rolling.  DIN!

Smitten on mittens

The AuSable Quilt Guild I belong to is having a quilt show in September.  As part of the show we will be raffling three quilts and selling items we've made for a boutique.  The monies raised will help fund the expenses of this event.  We will also be donating some money to the Crawford County Commission on Aging.

As part of my contribution I've helped with the quilts to be raffled and volunteered to make mittens to sell in the boutique.  As of this post I have made a dozen pairs of mittens.  Each pair uniquely different.

Here is a group picture of the mittens I've completed.  If you look closely you'll see there are 12 different styles.

You could say I'm smitten on mittens lately.  Well, smitten or not,  I've had fun making them.  There could be a couple more pair before our quilt show.

There's more projects to tackle so I better get sewing.

Styling

 I usually don't sew much in the summer, too busy outside.  But my little grandson continues to grow and I've had a couple summer shirts cut out to sew him.  Cool nights and mornings has made it easy to spend some time behind the sewing machine.

My grandson is a big fan of Mickey Mouse.  He watches the Mickey Mouse club show when he's at my house.  He loves dancing around and singing to the Mickey Mouse hot dog dance. When I saw Mickey Mouse cotton material I knew I had to make him a shirt.  Since he loves the hot dog dance I'd love to find a hot dog printed cotton.  No luck yet, but I'll be on the watch.

The second shirt I made is with blue with white arrows fabric.  The blue will bring out his blue eyes.  He'll be styling in his new shirts.

With him growing so fast I hope he'll be ale to wear these two shirts for the next couple months this summer.  It's time for me to buy toddler size patterns for the future.

The shirts fit - at least for a couple months.

I'm feeling accomplished with a few projects completed.  Still I have a stack of UFOs to tackle - one at a time :)