T-Shirt Quilt Makeover

Last year, I was asked to "makeover" a t-shirt quilt.  Now, I have to admit that I forgot to take before pictures, and that really bums me out.  Not because it was that bad, but because it was that bad!  (Sorry, Kelly!)

Kelly was in band and graduated in the early 90's.  And after she graduated, she took her band t-shirts, and kind-of cut them square, and haphazardly sewed them together with some other random fabric.  It was in rough shape...

So, I took it, and pondered what to do with it, since the shirts were neither square, nor all the same size.

Her school colors are black and orange.  I looked and looked for some kind of complimentary fabric, and finally found a black background fabric at JoAnn's with musical notes in multiple colors on it.  It was perfect!

But I still had the issue of random sized shirts...

I stabilized them (a definite must for t-shirt quilts!) and then took some of the black music fabric and sewed 1-2 inch strips on all sides of the offending shirts, and then trimmed them all to the same size.  Odd solution, but it ended up blending well...

OK, OK, OK.....  Here are the pics of the finished quilt, since I didn't take before shots:

Front

Back

Happy Recipient

With both of us

And this one she posted to Facebook laying over her sofa. 

She said that she has napped under it many times.  And that makes me happy...  And I learned that I actually REALLY enjoyed making this T-Shirt quilt.  I'd be happy to make MORE of these...  I've got to add one of these to my growing project list!

Have you made a T-shirt quilt?  Would you have one made for you?  It sure is a fun way to save memories and have something to snuggle under....

AMW

Quilt projects

A long time ago on this blog, I talked about some projects I was working on or wanted to work on. I've completed a couple (one on the list, and one not...) and have compiled some pics...

One little thing I mentioned was a "jar quilt". Now, fabric isn't cheap, and the thought of searching all over to buy lots of different fabrics for a jar quilt was a little daunting. Until I hit ebay! Not only did they have a variety, it was already cut, and would all come in a nice little package.

This was the first bundle of pieces, the sweets!

And then came the fruits and veggies.

And after some working and tweaking - came the quilt!

When the dining room table is clean, it's a table runner.

Oooops - didn't think to take a picture of it on the table!

The next quilt was a test of ability, patience, and speed. Let me set the story....

A large group of my friends participate in something called "MMC" or "Make-My-Christmas". I've only been around this group of folks for a couple of years, but this tradition has gone on for 16 years or so. Everyone who wants to participate puts their name in a hat, then everyone draws a name out. Whoevers name you draw, you must MAKE them a present. There are about 30 people who participate, including a couple of kids. Sounds simple enough, right?

What about if you draw someone's name that you know nothing about??????? Don't even know who she is????

Names were drawn on November 1st, and the exchange party was December 19th. Just a tad under 7 weeks. I had to learn about this woman, and design something, and make it in that time.

What I learned was that she was a HUGE Boston Redsox fan, that her favorite colors were green, orange and yellow. (I learned other stuff, too, but it wasn't relevent to this post... LOL!)

I knew I was going to make a quilt, but now was undecided to go with the green/orange/yellow theme. Or the BoSox theme.

As you can see, the Bo Sox theme won out.

Although the BoSox fabric didn't.

I managed to find some scraps of VINTAGE fabric, but all other BoSox fabric is discontinued.

So I went with the Boston Red Sox colors, and held my breath.

(Just a shot of the back and some of the quilting...)

I decided on a simple pattern that would most highlight the few logo scraps that I had, and went from there.

And made it lap size. Big enough to curl up with on the couch.

But most importantly, I think she liked it! I was terribly worried. It's a bit nerve-wracking to make something so personal for someone you don't know. From the design, to the fabric shopping, to the assembly, and presentation.

Although I've watched and attended MMC before, this was the first time I participated. I really had a good time, and will do it again for sure. I had a TON of comments, and really felt good about my accomplishments. Not just that I made this quilt for someone, but it's also the fastest I've ever completed a quilt.

So now I know I can....

Are you working on any projects??? Like what???

AMW

Projects

I've been working on a few things here and there.  Nothing out of the ordinary, just some projects.  Most of them quilt related.  Did I mention that before?  That I quilted?  Don't think so, but I think most of you who read this already knew that...

I took some pictures (but forgot to put them somewhere I could access them at work) of a recently completed quilt.  This one took WAAAAYYY too long to finish.  I would get stumped by how to do something, and until I worked through it, I walked away from it.  I really need to work on working through it better.

I've got a few more planned, and hopefully, I can get working on them soon.  What's on tap?  A baby's "I SPY" quilt.  A "polka-dot" quilt.  Maybe a "jar" quilt.  I've got designs for them all.  

The baby quilt is the most pressing, as the the little bundle of joy will be home in just a few weeks.  I only found out about his arrival a few weeks ago, so there's a bit of a rush for that one.  Not too bad, as they live a few hours away, so we don't see them very often.

The polka-dot quilt will take a while.  It's going to be queen sized, with ALL polka-dotted fabric.  Lights, darks, mediums, big dots, little dots, solid dots, loud dots.  Should be a really fun looking quilt when it's finished.  Will probably take me a year or more to finish.  I have a feeling there will be quite a bit of handwork on this one and not as much machine work until the squares are finished.

So a "jar" quilt in the mean time might be just the thing to bridge the gaps, and to make a nice table runner.  This one will probably be able to be done almost completely by machine, so it will be nice to have a project that will go quicker.

Pictures - I promise I'll take lots of pictures.  

I'm certainly not the best quilter - but I enjoy it.  I just found out that the lady who I learned from, Edith Hughes, is still teaching.  I took a class with her 11 years ago, and I'm sure she was in her 80's then.  She is surely in her 90's now, and STILL TEACHING!  Wow!  And apparently still driving, and in good health...   I always loved the spunk in that little woman.  I need to visit her soon, I suppose.

Guess I've rambled on enough.  What projects are you working on?

AMW