I had a “finally finished”this week! I turned a UFO into a shower curtain. Some of you who follow my blog read about it on Wednesday. Some of you may have only heard about it. It was an OMG project for several months.
If you are interested in more detail, here is a link to my Midweek Makers post!
It’s funny to me, that when I showed fellow quilter friends this top, the reactions were lukewarm! “Well, that’s interesting!” And “ hmmmm, where did you get that pattern?” I really hadn’t had an idea where it was going to go at the time, so it when in the to be finished closet. I liked and still do. When we redid the shower in our front bathroom , I decided to get rid of the fishing theme. Rainbows, Be Kind, Positive Attitudes was my thought process. I thought of this quilt. And so it is done! I linking up with Alycia at Alycia Quilts for Finished or Not Friday!
I’ve had several blogger friends ask me how I made a quilt top/flimsy into a shower curtain. I’m going to attempt to explain. If you are not interested, feel free to exit out and go on to the next maker
First, of course, decide which of your UFO tops you will use. I chose a top I made from a QAL called 30 Blocks in 30 Days.
Then comes measurements. Is the original wide enough for the opening in your shower?
There was a lot of trial and error for us because we had our original tub/ shower combination taken out and a new step in shower installed. I opted for a curved shower rod installed at a custom height. Because Mr Busy is tall, the shower head is higher than normal and therefore the rod is higher.
This is just to see where I needed to make adjustments. It’s clipped to hangers!
I started with a clear plastic liner from Amazon. It is 72x78. That gave me a starting point. I needed to add borders to the sides to begin. I divided the width difference in half, added seam allowances and added the borders. I knew I was going to have to add to the length, but I needed to wait until it was hanging to determine that length.
I made a liner from a piece of muslin I had. You could use any plain light colored fabric. I measured again! Always measure twice ( or more ) cut once! Then sewed the backing(lining) at the sides only. The liner was longer than needed but that gave me some leeway.
I pressed the seams to the main curtain. Trimmed the top edges even. I cut strips of Stitch Witchery at 3 inches by the width and fused the muslin back to the quilt top. This reinforced the top edge for grommets. You could also do buttonholes. I added a narrow binding at the top using a light gray fabric. The color is personal preference. You do you! I chose to use a 1.75” strip and attach per Edyta Sitar’s method. You can find a video on Fat Quarter Shops YouTube channel or search Edyta Sitar Laundry Basket Quilts.
Oh yippee, I think I was able to insert it here! 😀
Next step was to insert the grommets. I was able to find chrome 3/4” grommets at Hobby Lobby. I knew I needed twelve, to match the purchased liner. I measured and marked the grommet location to match the liner. With Mr Busy’s help I got them installed. I measured 1” down from the binding edge. This gave a bit more above the grommets, and changed the total length needed a bit.
At this point it was more trial and error. I now needed to add 4” at the bottom of the original quilt top. I cut border rectangles at 6” in colors that coordinated with the flimsy. I calculated 4” + 1/2”for seam allowance + 1 1/2” for a hem. I didn’t have to match seams, I just made it long enough. I hemmed the curtain by pressing up 1/2” then 1 inch. I machine stitched it down. I cut the lining a bit shorter and used an overlocking stitch on my machine to finish the edge. I had to unstitch the side seam about 2 inches. The muslin lining hangs loose at the bottom. To finish, I top- stitched the side edges so they have a crisp edge.
I know this is wordy, I hope you get the idea. This is by no means the only way to do this. I just did it one step at a time. I’m pleased with the way it turned out!
Our bathroom is small. Our house was built in 1978.
I hung this wall hanging above the towel rack to the left of the shower. I think it compliments curtain.
I had to smile ! My post title made me think of this famous P¡nk!
But she’s not saying goodbye anytime soon.
I haven’t sewn any pink in recent weeks. I have 7 pink zipper blocks and 8 pink split nine patch blocks finished. Not sure what my final plan is, but I don’t want anymore orphan blocks. So when I settle on a pattern, I’ll add to the colors I need.
Mr Busy and I got the grommets in the “shower curtain”. There is some “pink” in the top of that project.
In looking forward to the new color for June, BLUE!
My goal for March is to take this UFO quilt from 2019 and turn it into a shower curtain. We had a walk in shower installed in our main bathroom. For the last 20 years, the decor has been Fish, Fishing, Fishing Gear! I needed a change.😊 This quilt top is my stepping off place, Rainbow Colors, uplifting messages, brighter happier decorations! I loved doing this 30 Blocks in 30 Days with Carla from Creatin’ in the Sticks. If you link to her blog there is a tab in the header
It’s long enough for the shower opening but needs to be 6 inches wider. If I add a 3.5 inch border on either side it should work . I’ll line it with muslin and either use grommets or buttonholes.
Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict hosts Hands2Help every year. You can read about this awesome effort here.. You can read about my journey to this charitable organization here.
A small quilt ready to be mailed to Jack's Basket. From the pattern Simple Gifts by Weeks Ringle and Bill Kerr of Modern Quilt Studio.
The fabrics were not fat quarters, but large chunks leftover from various projects. The Pooh fabrics were from a quilt I made for my 2nd Great grandson in 2013. The green swirl fabric was from an over-purchase of fabric that I used to create a Mommy Bag for my granddaughter. The peach was from my 30's stash and is now nearly all gone. I have used it my bow tie blocks for RSC19 (the May color is Orange), it was in a block in the 30 Blocks in 30 Days quilt but was originally purchased for a block in a 30's Sampler quilt that was a donation for our local quilt show prior to 2011. I cannot remember why I have the red with white dots, but I like it and there is at least 3/4 of a yard still in my stash.
This fabric is soooo cute! Pooh and Piglet, what could be better?
The quilting was done by my friend, Marva Jo in record time. I gave it to her at our stitching group meeting on a Thursday, and by Friday at noon she called me to say it was finished! Whoo Hoo! She used a variegated green thread in a pattern called Spring Fling. There are flowers and butterflies. It fits so well.
The backing: two Pooh fabrics and more green swirls!
Pooh and Friends Hello Little Cloud!
I am excited that this precious quilt is done and ready to be revealed at our challenge reveal day. Then I will package it up and mail it off to Minnesota.
Thanks Sarah for giving me the opportunity to participate in your Hands2Help Challenge. It won't be the last time.
I will link this post to Confessions of a Fabric Addict linky party on the 19th.
**I decided not to add to Can I Get A Whoop Whoop as the post is already on Sarah's blog through the linky party for Hands2Help! I did not want to be so redundant!
I would love to be able to find a local way to help also, but other than Quilts of Valor, there doesn't seem to be an avenue for donation quilts.
May's RSC18 color is pink and rose. Some of you may remember I participated in Carla's 30 Blocks in 30 Days in April. I originally started to make the blocks in the order Carla presented them, but using the color order from So Scrappy's Rainbow Challenge. Of course, I did not know in what order the rainbow colors would be selected. I did know what the colors might be and finally I decided to just make the colors willy nilly, but following Carla's Rainbow layout. (I hope you could follow that bit of rambling.)
The beginning of May, when pink and rose was chosen, I gathered the rest of my chunks and scraps of pink and darker other pink. I made slab blocks to go with the other slab blocks from the previous months. I think I need one more for six total.
They are odd varied sizes as of now. I will add more as the month goes one. One of my other challenges for May (One Monthly Goal) is taking some time too. I'll post about that later, but I will tell you it is definitely NOT pink.
I decided to pull the pink block from 30 Block challenge to show you here too.
There is lots of white on white negative space in those large blocks. I am sort of anxious to put these blocks together. This one is way outside my box..really pushing my envelope. Not the piecing of the blocks, they are super easy and super fun. But the modern look with all the negative space and the rainbow look is definitely different for me.
This week, I got nothing completed. Unless you count getting mostly caught up on my home office stuff! You know, filing, shredding, reorganizing for the new year!
I did work on 30 Blocks in 30 Days at Carla's blog, Creatin' in the Sticks. I mostly did one block each day according to her tutorials, but I did not read that she was presenting them in column order for layout. I just did my own thing for a week using the RSC 18 colors as my choices. Then I "woke up" and decided maybe I should have a plan. I liked the Rainbow layout, so I printed her EQ photo and put the blocks on my design wall to sort of replicate her color layout.
The blocks have now been taken down and placed in a project box. I have my CiL blocks to do for this time, my OMG for May to get done, the RSC18 = Pink slab blocks to do. So these will have to wait. I have no real plan for them, but they were so fun to work at every day!. When I put them into a flimsy top with borders, I'll post again.
I worked on some scrappy slab blocks for April. I did not think I had much yellow, but when I started digging, I found quite a bit. Then add in the scraps from some fellow quilters and Voila! I had a good assortment.
My blocks looked like this in the middle of the week.
I added a couple of rounds yesterday.....and I decided to join in with Carla's Blog Hop 30 Blocks in 30 Days! I had the yellow out and I had almost enough yardage of some white on white pin dot. So I picked 2 blocks and cut and sewed. The large block on the left is Chunky Pinwheel and the middle one is Topsy Turvy.
Funny story: I started to do the alternate method to the Staggered Block. I did not have the blog up on my laptop (it was upstairs) and I thought I had jotted down enough directions that I could do it. Ummm, not so much. When I cut the block at the 5 1/2 mark, I had one set of 5 1/2" strip and one that was only 5" . So I went back to the blog and looked for a block that I could use the 5 1/2" side in another configuration. I found Topsy Turvy. I could take the strip of rectangle apart at one seam and add 2 5 1/2 " squares. It worked. See the yellow with red dots! In the middle. Where there is a will, there's a way!
My plan is to go back and make blocks 1-7 in the other colors of the RSC18. So I will make 2 blue, 3 purple, 2 or 3 lime green , 3 yellow and so on. I have a chart - sort of, so I can make all 30 blocks using the 10 colors in the Rainbow Challenge. I will probably add in a neutral and a dark( black or brown). I'll wait and see how they all play together.
I really needed an extra project/challenge don't you think?!!!!!
