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Saturday, August 1, 2015

Scrappy Nines - Finally!

A few weeks ago, Pat Wys and Nancy Mahoney were the keynote speakers/teachers at our bi-annual TVQA Spring Seminar.  The first night, Pat sat right next to me at our table, and I was totally starstruck!!!


I've been following Pat's blog, Silver Thimble Talk, for years, and when she released her book Spotlight on Neutrals - Quilts and More for Any Decor in 2011, I had to have it!


I know - you all think I only care about playing with those bright, bold colors, right?  Well, yes, that's true usually.  But the visual impact of Scrappy Nines, the cover quilt on this book, sucked me right in - I just love that intense contrast in design.  I bought it almost before it came off the presses!


Yep, a first edition :)

Pat told us in class that this book sold out of the first publication almost immediately and went into the second printing quickly.  The first edition can be identified by a typo on page 23 - squares that are supposed to be cut 7-1/4" are given as 5-1/4" - yikes!  That's a BIG difference!!!


So a word to the wise .... if you have this book,
go check it now to be sure you have the right measurements in there :*)

This is one of those projects that I fell in love with and couldn't wait to start .... and then I never started it.  Four. Years. Ago.  Ever happen to you?  Yeh, I thought I was the only one. *wink*  It actually took Pat coming to teach classes for me to get fired up and start pulling it together.

I do remember that one of the problems I had with starting was that I had decided to use only recycled men's shirts.  I actually have quite a few shirts that I've picked up at thrift stores and Goodwill already stashed for quilts, but it took a while to gather enough to have a good variety of neutral fabrics. This is one box of recycled shirts that I have disassembled and stored, ready for use....


.... there are a few recycled dresses in there as well :)  A few of these shirts made it into my version of Scrappy Nines.


Neatly cut up into squares and rectangles.  And before you begin to think, "well, how cool is that?", I just want to let you know that this took FOREVER!!!!

Cutting precise pieces out of such irregular sections of fabric was difficult and time consuming...


I was constantly trying to maneuver to make sure I made the best use of whatever size section I had to work with.  Some shirts were Xtra Lge, long-sleeved and provided plenty of fabric, but others were smaller or short-sleeved, so I had to really work to get all the pieces needed out of them.


First I had to cut strips from each shirt for making the nine-patches - I used my Sizzix cutting  machine for the strips and that part went very quickly.  Here they are all bagged up and ready for class ....



I need 168 nine-patches for the quilt - 


It's a start, right?

Actually, I now have 120 of them made :*)  I went on a retreat the week after class and spent two days sewing strips together, cutting them into little tiny sections, and then sewing them back together into adorable little nine-patches!  It's a tough job, you know, but someone's got to do it.....



So, here are the two blocks I managed to get done in class ....


Don't you just love this???
By the way, I did try to keep lines straight but sometimes it was just impossible.


And here is how they look together ....



Now that I've finally started on this quilt, I'm determined to work on it until it is done!  I set up a work station in my studio totally dedicated to Scrappy Nines alone, and I can sit down to sew on it for a few stolen minutes here and there, or for an entire afternoon - whatever I have available each day.  Hopefully, I'll have a finished top to show you before too much longer :*)

I'm linking up with Sharon over at Vrooman's Quilts this month for Let's Book It! - so happy to finally have the opportunity to join up in this fun linky party!!!  And interestingly enough, Sharon pulled the same book from her shelf to work on this month.... they say great minds think alike, don't they?

Hugs & Blessings!
Teresa
=^..^=


31 comments:

  1. Love all the directional fabrics. You sure are brave....:)

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  2. Hey, Teresa, I have some of the brothers to the shirts you have! As I was scrolling through your photos I recognized several of the fabrics from my own collections of thrift-store shirts. How fun.

    Thanks for mentioning Pat's book. It is new to me. I should have it in my hands in a few days, courtesy of our local library. Can't wait to take a look.

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  3. Teresa, it's going to be stunning! Can't wait to watch it grow! XO

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  4. Yes, I totally love your blocks! Amazing!

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  5. WOW. This is going to be a gorgeous quilt. I love your fabric choices. Can't wait to see more.

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  6. Did you starch your shirt fabrics? They look so square and neat.

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  7. That was the only class at Spring Seminar that interested me. I decided to just order the book, instead, but it was temporarily out of print. Wonder why? The stark contrast of your neutrals and blacks is what works in your quilt. I'm proud of you for stepping out of the bright color box!

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  8. This is going to be a gorgeous quilt. I love the mens shirts in this design. It's very difficult to keep the lines straight when using the shirts, but yours look great. Looking forward to watching your progress.

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  9. Your shirting blocks look so nice. I bet that will be a warm and cozy quilt!

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  10. Whether brights or neutrals, your quilts are lovely!! Thanks so much for your inspiration!

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  11. Love the shirt fabrics. I have a few that I have found on the 1/2 price days at Goodwill and use them too. The hardest thing is to find 100% cotton.

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  12. Getting the best cuts from a shirt is a work out for sure, but you did a great job. Oh, your blocks are looking fabulous! Take your time with this one.

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  13. I have always wanted to make a neutral quilt. You are off to a beautiful start.

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  14. And to think that I bought a whole bunch of second hand men's plaid shirts the other day for my man to wear to work. His specific request was for ply cotton dress shirts with a pocket. As a farmer, he appreciates that cow hair does not cling to poly and he needs the pocket for paper towels. wonder what I should do with all his worn out shirts?

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  15. Absolutely fabulous!!! And good for you to meet such a wonderful new friend!!! Can't wait to see the finished project!

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  16. I love your new project! I guess I will be making stop by Amazon later. You do come up with a lot of odd pieces when cutting up shirts, mine go in my string tub.

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  17. I have this book, so THANK YOU for the correction ! Your blocks are wonderful XXX

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  18. Wow--you are good. My thrift store shirts only get disassembled as I need them.
    It is tricky to get all of the pieces you need from the odd-shaped shirt parts, but I love the outcome! This looks so good. And somewhere along the way you just have to let go of the need to have all of the stripes and plaids perfectly aligned, don't you? : )

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  19. Beautiful! Hopefully, now that the shirts are cut up the rest will go quickly.

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  20. I'd not heard of this book, but definitely sounds like I need to look for one. Your scrappy nines is going to be fabulous! Since the modern plaids are stripes are most times printed off-grain, hard to expect thrift store shirts to be any better after lots of washing and ironing. I think we quilters just call it whimsy!

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  21. Wow ... I love your Scrappy Nines. Now THAT's a neutral quilt that I have to add to my to-do list. So many of the neutral quilts that I've seen are rather "bland", but yours has the contrast need to make it simply fabulous! I am collecting plaids for a plaid quilt ... we only have one thrift shop and every time I've stopped in, the shirts have all been poly-cotton blends, no 100% cotton. It's ok ... while I'm waiting, I have plenty of other projects to work on. ;-)

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  22. It will be an amazing quilt for sure! I find it best to have a sewing centre devoted to a project like this that you can drop by and sew a bit whenever you get the chance. Love the photo of all the pieces cut out and ready to sew!

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  23. Love this!! I have thought of collecting shirts, but I am out of space and have no time! Lol! But, that hasn't stopped me from collecting homespuns! One of these days I would love to make a quilt with just those fabrics. Can't wait to see more of yours!

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  24. Yikes that is a lot of cutting! But the blocks look awesome.

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  25. Cutting is always the 'unfun' part, especially if you are using odd size pieces. But, now that the cutting is done, you are making pretty blocks! Neutrals are not your 'go to' colors (mine either).

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  26. Teresa, that is a fabulous quilt and I love your first 2 blocks. You pick the best patterns to make! Wish I were 20 years younger and knew what I know now. I'd make all new quilts with today's books and patterns!. Scrappy Nines is going to look awesome when you get finished. Bonnie would be so proud of you with those recycled shirts too.!

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  27. It's going to be gorgeous Teresa! I've been collecting mens shirts too and have had a project in mind for a while. You doing this makes me want to get to it!

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  28. That's going to be a great quilt! Bet you're busy with your GD and hope you're having fun!

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  29. What a WONDERFUL post, and you KNOW I am salivating! DEEEEEEEEEEEEEEElicious! This quilt is going to be for me..............right? Thanks for the heads up for the typo!

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  30. Pat is teaching at our guild next month! Love how you used shirting for this quilt...

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