Sandie Griego's blog

I know that T-shirt quilts are very popular.  I have only made two;  one for my hubby and one for a friend.

My hubby has an Indian heritage and loves the beautiful t-shirts of Indian scenes.  He is not a person who gives up on a garment so he wears them until they are complete worn out.  A couple of years ago, I took some out of his side of the closet without his knowledge.  They magically reappeared in a quilt I gave him for Christmas.  Debbie Westerman was wonderful to quilt it for me on short notice. 

This quilt is just fun.  It is easy enough to be a beginner project but looks more complicated.  Probably the hardest part of this quilt is selecting the fabric.  The fabric color needs to blend into the next fabric color.  The exciting thing about the quilt is that because of the colors in the quilt, each quilt made from this pattern looks different.  This quilt comes from a book named "Traditions with a Twist'.

While at home, I have a constant companion.  She loves to be in my sewing studio with me.  In fact, she has two beds in my sewing studio.  Meet Button, my assistant.  Button was the last kitten left of a litter surrendered to the Allen Animal Control.  She saw me coming and said she was

not going to let me leave without her.

My youngest son became an Eagle Scout in 2001.  I made him a quilt to remember his journey and to honor his achievement.  This was the first quilt that I attempted to quilt on my Bernina 180.  Each block represents a milestone in his scouting career.  

I love flannel fabric.  I love to touch it.  I love to sew with it.  It has a wooly for furry feeling that I never get tired of.  I would love for my hubby to wear flannel shirts.  I try to convince him of the snuggle factor involved with flannel.  Unfortunately, he does not wear long sleeves even in winter.  The only flannel shirt he owns, he wears it as a jacket to work out in the garage in cold weather.  Sigh. . .

A couple of months ago, I signed up to take a class to learn more about the different uses for my serger.  I purchased by serger about 10 years ago.  While I used it to finish seam allowances all the time, I knew there were other application I could use it for.  I spent two evenings at Bernina of Plano with my friends, learning from Betty and Elayne (two very talented instructors), about many new uses for my serger.  Some of the techniques were, flat locking, pintucks, puffing, inserting a zipper, and making cording.

I thought I would start a series of blogs showcasing quilts and projects I have made.  I have not been good about taking pictures of my early quilts, especially those I have given away.  This is a quilt I made in 1991 for my in-laws.  I saw a quilt in a magazine where they had taken the names in a family and created a crossword layout.  They filled in the open areas with quilt blocks.  This was quite adventuresome for me back at this time.  This was pre Bernina.  At this point in my life, I had never "quilted" a quilt.  My mother taught me to tie the lay

This being the weekend of December 1st and 2nd, one might think it would be too cold to spend much time outside.  Saturday was spend tearing apart an overgrown flowerbed.  This flowerbed is located outside of our master bathroom tub window.  When we moved into the house, it had no landscaping in the back yard.  I had clear glass placed in the window over the tub, with plans to create a beautiful flowerbed.  I placed an arch in the flowerbed, planted a wisteria in the middle.

I have used a piped binding on two quilts I have finished this week.  I have to say that while another step is involved, I find the whole process easier and the finished product superior.  I was first introduced to this technique on Ricky Timms DVD Grand Finale.  I do not own this DVD but I should.  I was able to view a copy from the Bernina store where I work.  It is worth the money.  I also took a binding class at the Bernina store from Teri Debolt where she showed us how easy this is to create.  I don't know why I have waited so long to use it.

I fell in love with the Rose of Remembrance quilt based on the Rose of Sharon.  This was a contest sponsored by Electric Quilt.  The winning blocks  submitted were made into this quilt.  Oklahoma Embroidery made an embroidery design collection from the winning blocks.  There is also a book of all the blocks sent into the contest.