Sunday, October 18, 2020

Embellishing the "Boyfriend Shirt"

Yup, there's that thing about wearing your guy's flannel shirt, or his bulky sweater, or bomber jacket... it hides certain parts you'd rather not think about... and makes you feel slim and petite... because it's, well, over-sized. And sometimes it's still warm from him, or smells like him (in a good way), and he feels close to you. You know, it's "the boyfriend shirt" phenomenon.

The boyfriend T-shirt.

Wearing the Boyfriend Shirt
I like wearing those oversized, well-worn and broken-in, washed-a-million-times soft, cotton T-shirts of my husband's for sleepwear. Those big Tees offer plenty of wiggle room, cover just what needs to be covered and are soft as butter. When my husband was going to "cut this one up for car wash rags" because it had a new hole in the front and a few stains, I said, "no." And promptly rescued it to make it mine.

Visible mending
With the focus on visible mending and sustainability these days, I decided to pull out the needle and decorative thread to embellish the stains and mend the hole in this well-loved shirt. This will prolong its life and there would be no question about to whom it belongs.

Running stitch with a decorative thread at the neckline.

A simple running stitch in a decorative thread follows the neckline. The hole (below) was covered with straight stitches, and a blanket stitch surrounds one of the discolored areas. More stitching will come as I find the time... and the imperfections.

Visible mending and decorative stitching on the front of the T-shirt.

The Boyfriend
For a number of years, he was the tech support guy for the department I managed. 
          He was the boyfriend for a short time. 
                         For 8 months, he was the fiancĂ©. 

This past week, we celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary. 

Happy 20th anniversary to us! October 14, 2020. 

I love him and his T-shirt.


Tuesday, October 13, 2020

EPP hexagons in September

This is one of my favorite hexagon blocks I finished in September. It's something about the graphic, stylized leaf motifs that speaks to my aesthetic. 
English paper pieced hexagon block.

My EPP [English paper pieced] stack of hexies increased by eight last month. I don't have a layout plan for these Glorious Hexagons... I'm just enjoying raiding the stash of scraps, selective cutting the images, and hand piecing each little hexagon gem.

Eight hexagon blocks made in September.

The mint and chartreuse colored boxes of September on the Stitching Success Tracker coincides with the EPP hand piecing activities. 

Stitch Success Tracker: September

However, now that it's October, I decided to revisit a Make Nine 2020 project that was started early this year—a knitted stash buster shawl. The Stitch Success Tracker is changing from green to orange. 

Stitch Success Tracker: early October progress.

It might be something about this cooler fall weather that is making me turn to a yarn project.


Saturday, October 3, 2020

Nearing the finish line for the 100 Days 100 Blocks project

The 100 Days 100 Blocks project for 2020 is coming to an end. The exact date for posting Block 100 is October 8.

Wrapping up the 100 Days 100 Blocks project for 2020.

With each fussy cut and color pull, I have enjoyed "getting to know" the prints from several fabric collections from Paintbrush Studio Fabrics. These fabrics have a beautifully soft finish and the Painter's Palette collection of solids offers a full color gamut with nuances and shades in all the color families. I have a new appreciation for solids after working through this project.

Block layout options
I have begun auditioning layouts on the design wall. 


Alternate blocks on point.

Alternate blocks with a straight set.

Block groupings...


This could go in several directions... or into several projects.

The Final Five
These are Blocks 96, 97, 98, 99 and 100. 
Blocks 96 - 100 of the "Make the Cut" sampler quilt.

Time will tell what these 100 six-inch blocks will grow into.


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