Loretta’s boxer quilts … a labor of love!

October 17, 2017 / lifesloosethreads / 7 Comments

Freshly washed and dried boxers waiting to be a quilt

Beloved boxer that did not make the quilt

Taking boxers from functional to ready to sew

Knew when I heard about the two generously-sized twin quilts my friend, the lovely Loretta, was making for her boys, it would be the perfect subject for this blog. I mean … who doesn’t want to read about quilts made from cotton boxer shorts? It was clear to me it was a labor of love. I had to know more.

But before we get to the boxer quilts … a little background. I met Loretta when we were in a Quilt Bee together for a bunch of happy years. This lady has some serious quilting skills. Sadly for me … two years ago she moved to the Texas Panhandle. At least we have been able to tag up once a year in the fall during the International Quilt Festival in Houston. I savor my “Loretta” face time!

So recently I did a little phone interview for this blog and also some catching up with the awesome Loretta. I learned that Loretta’s grandmother was a serious scrap quilter. When Loretta was a teenager, her grandmother asked Loretta’s mother, and four sisters, for scraps to make quilts for all her grandchildren. One of the 15 lucky recipients, Loretta’s quilt was made with soft colors and triangles and also handquilted. What a treasure to own such a quilt by a beloved family member.

Loretta has sewn since she was a teenager but didn’t learn to quilt until her first-born, Bethany, was 9 months old. That was when she took a 12-week beginning quilting class on Monday nights. Loretta cherished those Monday nights which fed her creativity and started a lifetime love of quilting. Each student made a sampler quilt with 36 blocks. Loretta used fabric colors popular in the 80’s … blues and pinks. The teacher taught such skills as rotary cutting, template making and applique. Loretta still has the quilt.

Fast forward a bunch of years and the addition of two sons! The concept of the boxer quilts got to be a joke with her boys. Loretta’s husband, Jim, used to tease the boys that their boxer shorts were on loan to them. They would someday see them in their mother’s fabric stash.

I loved the boxer quilt concept and the story behind the quilt! For quilters … inspiration can come from lots of places. I’ve seen quilts made from all kinds of things. Why not cotton boxer shorts?

Tyler and Matthew received colorful cotton boxers each Christmas from the time the boys started middle school. Both are now graduates from The University of Texas at Austin so that accounts for the plentiful supply! After the cotton boxers were replaced with new ones, Loretta cut the elastic off the top and took them apart making manageable blocks. Did you know you can get two nice sized pieces of fabric out of one pair of boxer shorts? After cleaning, starching and ironing, the soft cotton fabric called a very large plastic bin home for a number of years.

One of Matthew’s college friends even got into the act. Patrick donated a pair of St. Patrick’s Day boxer shorts when he heard about the project. See if you can pick out the clovers in the quilt photographs!

Tyler’s quilt was made into the “T” block pattern and measures 72 inches by 102 inches. Each block is 6 inches square. I LOVE this quilt! Oh … and did you notice a big friendly dog in some of the photos? That is Colt. Not sure … but I believe it is Tyler’s dog. Colt is often Loretta’s happy companion in her sewing room.

“He does like to spend time with me in my sewing room. I’m sure he would be a quilter … if he only had thumbs,” Loretta told me.

Matthew’s quilt is the traditional Monkey Wrench pattern, but it is also called Hole in the Barn Door. It also measures 72 inches by 102 inches. There are 36 twelve-inch blocks and 60 six-inch blocks in Matthew’s quilt. I love how Loretta made the block sizes on Matthew’s quilt two different sizes. She thought the block pattern needed the size variation. So visually appealing with all the scrappy boxer fabric!

Oh … so Loretta told me this funny story. Tyler had a pair of “good luck” boxers. They were green with white pokadots. He always wore them, even when they got a tad tight, on the first day of school. It was his insurance policy so he would get good teachers!

The two finished quilts were professionally quilted by my favorite longarm lady, Kim Norton. She used a burnt orange thread and longarm quilt pattern. Perfect for these UT graduates!

Loretta hasn’t officially let loose of the boxer quilts. We quilters bond with our quilts. Sometimes it takes a while to separate from our babies! They are currently laying across twin beds in her guest room.

“The quilts have to live with me for awhile,” she told me.

I can totally relate!

Quilting projects finished in 2016!

January 6, 2017 / lifesloosethreads / 2 Comments

So taking a look back on 2016, when the year began I would have never guessed the subject of cancer would have overtaken this blog, and our life. But it did. Hubby is doing great. But he is just halfway through treatment.

So despite how the year unfolded, I still found time to finish five quilting projects. A few of the quilt projects had been started in 2015. For me … the creative outlet of cutting big colorful pieces of fabric into little pieces, and then sewing them back together, is a huge stress reliever. Sounds crazy … I know. But quilters totally get it!

The projects finished include an I Spy quilt for St. Martha’s Catholic School fundraiser. I used a jar quilt pattern purchased from Missouri Star Quilt Company, along with a layer cake of novelty fabric also purchased from MSQC. Kim Norton used the digital pantograph called “Graffiti.” Personalize It Kingwood embroidered the label!

I also made my grandson, Jacob, an I Spy quilt using the same pattern and novelty fabric. I altered some of the “jars” to include a few special pieces of fabric. I named it “I Spy Jacob.” Jake picked out the binding fabric. Kim Norton machine-quilted using a multi-colored thread called Cleopatra. The digital pantograph is called “Circle Swirls.” Again, Personalize It Kingwood embroidered the label.

The Christmas table runner was made out of extra squares placed on point from my “Santa Baby” quilt for my little sister, Gretchen. My adorable sister picked up two 2016 Row-By-Row patterns/fabric for me in her part of Texas. Making her a Christmas table runner was the least I could do! I gave it to her at Christmas. Unfortunately, the photograph of her with the table runner turned out too dark. The lighting in my family room sucks! The table runner was machine-quilted by the amazing Kim Norton of A Busy Bobbin with Raspberry Ripple colored-thread using a digital pantograph called “Star Dance.”

I also finished a 2015 Mystery Quilt for my lovely sister-in-law Bonnie. The block-of-the-month was purchased through The Fat Quarter Shop, one of my go-to online shops for quilting fabric and projects. Bonnie, who lives in faraway Oklahoma, received the quilt in time for Christmas. This quilt was so fun to make and was my very first mystery quilt. Each block was designed by a different quilt designer. I named it “Town Square.” The quilt was machine-quilted by Kim Norton, of A Busy Bobbin, with Canaan-colored thread using a digital pantograph called “Creeping Fig.” The quilt label was embroidered by Personalize It in Kingwood.

My last finished project was for my brand new grandson, Baby Ben. He is a doll! Ben turned two-months-old this week and now he has his monkey quilt just in time for “tummy time.” The quilt pattern is by The Teacher’s Pet in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. After piecing the wide fabrics, the monkey and Ben’s name were fused, zig-zagging around the fused edges. A couple of years ago I made Jacob a baby quilt using their giraffe pattern. So cute. They also have a flamingo and alligator version. Kim machine-quilted Ben’s baby quilt with Limestone-colored thread using a digital pantograph called “Whole Lotta Bubbles.” Personalize It Kingwood embroidered the quilt label.

I spy Jacob!

October 4, 2016 / lifesloosethreads / 6 Comments

Our grandson, Jacob, loves to poke around my sewing room. I make it a point before he is due to arrive to lock up anything remotely interesting and dangerous to a two-year-old like pins, rotary cutters and scissors. Earlier this year he got a peek at the “I Spy” quilt I made for a charity event. Little did Jacob know I was working on one for him also!

The pattern is again from Missouri Star Quilt Company and so is the novelty layer cake fabric of ten-inch squares. With Jacob’s quilt, I added a couple of his favorite Minion fabric “jars.” I also used a mottled black fabric for the background which I love over the flat-looking black fabric on the charity quilt.

After finally getting the quilt top finished, I asked Jacob to pick a binding fabric. The charity quilt binding was black and totally worked but I wanted to try something different. Jacob’s choices were ladybugs or zebra print. Obviously, ladybugs won! The ladybug fabric is by Charley Harper.

The awesome Kim Norton, at A Busy Bobbin, quilted with an all-over digital pantograph design called Circle Swirls using a multi-colored King Tut thread (921 Cleopatra). I absolutely love collaborating with Kim! The adorable Tracy at Personalize It embroidered the quilt label for the back.

I spy charity quilt finished!

July 7, 2016July 8, 2016 / lifesloosethreads / 6 Comments

At the beginning of the year, I made a list of all the quilts I was going to complete this year. The list reads: two I Spy Jar quilts (one for charity and one for grandson Jake), 2015 Texas Row-by-Row, an adorable mystery quilt from Fat Quarter Shop … and then there is a baby quilt for a new grandbaby that will make his debut in November. I really gotta get started on that last one. Yup … Jake is going to be a big brother! We are like the cow in the nursery rhyme … over the moon!

When I made the list, I thought five quilts seemed reasonable. Then cancer knocked on our front door and I took up knitting in hospital and clinic waiting rooms. The scarf … it is about five miles long now.

In April, I did manage to finish an I Spy quilt I had promised to St. Martha’s School in Kingwood for one of their charity events. Hope it made a bunch of money for the school!

I have several other quilts in various stages of progress. Whenever I have a spare thirty seconds, I’m in my sewing room working on one. It keeps me sane.

But back to the I Spy Jar quilt. The pattern is by Missouri Star Quilt Co., one of my favorite online places for patterns and fabric. Store owner, Jenny, has great online quilt tutorials. The pattern comes with directions for either pint or quart-size jars. My quilt has pint jars. At the time I purchased the fabric, MSQC also offered an adorable fabric pack of ten-inch squares with novelty prints that were perfect for this quilt. Made it so easy and with the 10″ squares I have enough to make four quilt tops in anticipation of future grand babes! I added a couple of novelty Minion fabrics that will appear in Jake’s quilt.

I used the fabulous Kim Norton of A Busy Bobbin to longarm quilt the layers and Personalize It for the quilt label. Oh … did I mention the cute lady bug fabric outlining the quilt label? It is a Charlie Harper fabric. I have provided the link (search for “Charlie Harper”) as they have some pretty cool fabric you might just need to have for your very own!

Village Learning Center’s gala quilt is ready!

November 4, 2015November 5, 2015 / lifesloosethreads / Leave a comment

Cut 1 inch left, right, turn and cut again

This weekend is the big gala for The Village Learning & Achievement Center, the awesome day center Mimi, my sweet special needs daughter, attends. The theme this year is a Texas-themed “Rhinestones and Ropers.”

Every year I donate a quilt to their silent auction. This year I came up with a quilt that has the best of both worlds … cowboy fabric with lots of Texas wildflowers thrown in. I hope it makes a bunch of money!

I used the Disappearing Four Patch pattern out of a magazine from a few years ago that contained 20 projects by Jenny Doan of Missouri Star Quilt Co. It is a great quilt for charm packs. For this quilt, I dove into my stash of fat quarters, rotary cut a bunch of five-inch squares and sewed them together. I also purchased a great “lasso” fabric to really make the cowboy and wildflower fabrics pop.

If you are going to make this quilt, now is the time to invest in a rotating cutting mat. Made my life so much easier! After the four patch is assembled, place your ruler one inch to the right of the seam line and cut. Repeat one inch to the left of the seam line. Then just rotate the mat and repeat. It makes cutting the four patch so much easier. You will wind up with nine blocks of assorted sizes. Next just swap the large squares at the top. Repeat the swap on the bottom. Then take the small center block and rotate one quarter turn. Join the cut pieces into rows and then sew the rows together. Now just repeat this process until you have 42 squares. Trimming the blocks makes it so much easier to sew the quilt into rows. I also used 2-1/2 inch strips for top and bottom borders.

Kim Norton of A Busy Bobbin is my go-to longarm extraordinaire lady. She had a great all-over machine quilting pattern that was cowboy-themed. See if you can pick out the boots and stars machine quilting. I also use Personalize It Kingwood to stitch up my quilt labels. And yes … I know … as the quilt name suggests … two-stepping through the bluebonnets would probably get you arrested if you did that in an actual field of bluebonnets, the state flower of Texas. But you have to admit it fits the quilt!

A quilt for Emma

October 19, 2015 / lifesloosethreads / 1 Comment

This is a story about Emma’s Autism quilt. If you look close, you will notice there are only two kinds of fabric in the quilt top. The one fabric brightly-colored with a puzzle piece design, the symbol for Autism. The other fabric, a solid, used to quiet the other. Emma is like the solid fabric in her quilt … quiet and encouraging. She has always offered practical ways to apply behavioral and social training encouraging those with Autism to thrive and belong.

It was earlier this year when Mary came to me with the idea for making Emma a quilt and two yards of the puzzle fabric. She wanted to in some small way thank Emma for years of encouragement, friendship, and her willingness to share her expertise while working her daughter, Michelle. Actually, Emma has over the years touched many lives in our community. How do you thank someone like that?

While my own daughter, Mimi, doesn’t have Autism, we have our own happy memories with Emma. Years ago Emma came to our home to care for Mimi so my husband and I could go on a date. Emma gave Mimi the nickname of “Meemers,” which is what many at the day center still call her.

Of course I was “all in” on the project! It took me a while to figure out a quilt block to complement the busy Autism fabric. I figured whatever quilt block we used, the black fabric would make it pop. The churn dash quilt block was simple enough and worked well with the busy Autism fabric.

Mary and I even scheduled some time together so I could show her how to piece a few of the blocks. Once the quilt top was finished we went to a local quilt shop, Quilts & Creations, and picked out a backing. The bright green worked perfect! Next we met with Kim Norton, of A Busy Bobbin, to pick out a machine quilting pattern. We all loved the variegated thread and swirly quilt pattern. Personalize It Kingwood made the quilt label and we were finally ready to give Emma the quilt.

After bouncing lots of options off each other, Mary came up with the perfect name for the quilt. “Emma’s Gift of Hope” was our way to say thanks to a very special lady who has spent a lifetime giving to people with Autism.

2014 Texas Row By Row Quilt complete

May 28, 2015May 28, 2015 / lifesloosethreads / 2 Comments

I finally finished my 2014 Texas Row by Row quilt and just had to share! Now just so you know, an official Row By Row quilt has eight rows. But for my purposes, the quilt would have been way too long to hang in my sewing room. So I decided to place five rows on the front and three on the back. I always like it when I flip a quilt over and there is a surprise … don’t you?

The fabulous Kim Norton of A Busy Bobbin suggested the bluebonnet quilting pattern. The thread choice is a light blue and really looks striking against the Texas flags row.

Did I mention that I use Personalize It to make my quilt labels? They are also great to work with and seem to know when I walk in the door that I have finished another quilt! By the way, they have a lovely shop! I bought Jake’s monkey blankie there and they had his name on it the next day. It is great being a grandma!

So the 2015 Texas Row By Row is starting up in a couple of weeks. Basically, it is a shop hop that lasts all summer and into the fall. It starts June 21, and lasts until September 18. Each participating shop offers a free row pattern they have designed with a fabric kit for sale. I have provided the link above if you are interested in participating!

I have been keeping track of what quilt shops are coming up with this year as the website rolls out the rows to see which ones I might want to visit … or “pretty please” a friend, or family member, to visit for me if the shops are too far away. This year the theme is “water.” Sounded like a challenging theme when I am craving cowboy boots and more Texas flags but I remain optimistic!

Quilts … a look back at 2014

January 10, 2015 / lifesloosethreads / 10 Comments

Four entire quilts were cranked out in 2014! Pretty good year for me. Two were gifts … one donated to charity and I’m keeping one. Not sure what 2015 will hold!

The first quilt was for our first grandbaby, Jake. I finished it before he was born and named, so it doesn’t have his name on it. I bought the pattern and kit at the International Quilt Festival in 2013. It was so fun to make and with Kim Norton of A Busy Bobbin to quilt it, I loved how it turned out. The pattern also includes a quilt with a flamingo, monkey and, I think, a frog. A future grandbaby?

The next quilt was donated to the Village Learning Center for their annual gala. I like to make something totally different for them every year. It was the first time I’d worked with so much black fabric. Made me a little nervous. It was sold in the silent auction to a very nice lady who was so worried she didn’t get the high bid at the end of the night!

Santa Baby was the most challenging quilt I’ve made to date! I chalk it all up to not reading the directions carefully. A valuable lesson was learned … and still the quilt turned out great. This is the only quilt this year that was custom quilted and I love the feathers quilted by Kim Norton. I dub her the Queen of Quilted Feathers!

The last official quilt completed in 2014 was the contemporary one for my adorable daughter, Katie! We collaborated on design, size, fabric choices and quilt name. It was an awesome experience! She has the perfect spot in their house to hang it.

I started my 2014 Texas Row-By-Row quilt in 2014. During the summer, quilters were able to stop by participating quilt shops all over the United States and pick up a free row pattern, and purchase a fabric kit, designed by their shop. It takes 8 rows to make a quilt. My sister, Gretchen, picked up a row pattern and kit for me in Victoria, and my friend, Sally, picked up one or two from her Texas travels. The finished jar row is called “Harvest Time” and is from BJ’s Quilt Shop in Bay City, Texas. The quilt shop even had all fabric pieces cut so all I had to do was sew. Don’t you just love the bug jar?

I’m putting together the sailboats now. The block is called “Regatta!” from Quilter’s Emporium shop in Stafford. By the way … they have an awesome quilt shop! This row is a little challenging with the bias edges, but I’m making it work! Only six more rows to go!

Contemporary quilt for Katie

January 5, 2015 / lifesloosethreads / 9 Comments

When my oldest daughter mentioned she would love a quilt to hang on a particular wall in their new home, I jumped at the chance. The last quilt I made for her was for our little grandson, Jake. After I learned she wanted something contemporary, I went to Pinterest and created a board for her to peruse. This would be my first time to enter the scary world of contemporary quilts. I was a little worried. Me … piece a quilt with solid colored fabrics? That has never happened before.

Katie choose a quilt pattern on the Pinterest board called Midcentury from Vintage Modern Quilts Pattern Co. It was probably the most modern and geometric on the board. The quilt was designed for Bella Solids by Moda Fabrics. It was easy to go to their website, and for a reasonable fee, download the pattern. My engineering husband helped with downsizing the pattern from 63″ by 74″ to fit their wall.

As the pattern suggested, I used Kona cotton in White and Zen Gray and matched the color of the “window pane” center of the quilt with one of the pillows in Katie and Chad’s living room. I purchased several fat quarters, one solid and the others a pattern that read solid. Could I tempt my daughter to think outside-the-box? Of course Katie picked a true solid fabric for the center.

After the top was finished, I had the most fun collaborating with Kim Norton, the awesome long-arm lady of A Busy Bobbin. Laying the finished quilt top across one of her machines, Kim picked out a thread color and three quilting patterns she thought would complement the quilt top. I took photos of the three and let Katie choose her favorite design … Denise’s spirals.

Katie named her quilt Mid-Century Maze. It was the last quilt I finished in 2014!

Santa Baby quilt

December 4, 2014December 5, 2014 / lifesloosethreads / 24 Comments

I finally finished my “Santa Baby” quilt!!! I purchased the book and kit during the 2013 Quilt Festival from The Buggy Barn. Their book is entitled “Positively Crazy.” The kit made up 16 Santa blocks. When all was said and done, I choose nine for a smaller wall hanging. The original quilt with all 16 blocks is 84″ X 84″ and just too large for my purposes. I still have three finished blocks that will eventually be turned into a table runner. Three of the blocks turned out mediocre so you can imagine where they are now residing.

I have to say this was the most challenging quilt I ever made. I should have read the directions three times before starting instead of two. The basic premise is stacking 16 layers of fabric (lights and darks), ironing a template on top of the layers, and cutting the layers with a mega-large rotary cutter. It was a little challenging with so many layers and pieces. My biceps are a tad larger after the cutting process! The sewing was fun, but I had trouble with things like getting Santa’s boots to not be pointy, tree trunks a little too thin to my liking, etc.

After the top was finished, I headed over to consult with Kim Norton, owner of A Busy Bobbin. We talked about custom quilting and I totally let her take over with design and thread choices.