Hawaiian Shirts and a Stash Report

Josh's box of T-shirts had two Hawaiian shirts his grandmother had made for him, and I really wanted to use them in his quilt because they're pretty special.  Originally, I wanted to figure out a way to use the actual shirt fronts, but it just wasn't going to work without taking up too much space.   I didn't have any room to spare because I was already using 25 shirts, and for 10 of those I need to use both the fronts and the backs.  

Thinking it would be easier to use the fabric from the shirts to make Hawaiian shirt quilt blocks instead, and knowing that I had seen a quilt like that somewhere, I began the search.   It turns out Moda has a free pattern that looks pretty simple and fairly straightforward. Well, it's not.  I did more ripping out than I did sewing. (Wait.  That can't be right.  I wouldn't have any finished blocks, would I?)  The first block took three hours to make! The second one took only two hours.  And, by the time I realized the trouble was entirely my fault and figured out that I needed to read the pattern more carefully, the third block really was "pretty simple and fairly straightforward".  

Isn't the 3-D collar cute?

The love bugs and peace signs are pretty groovy, too.

His favorite Gramma-made shirt wasn't there, but for some reason there was a piece of leftover fabric. I remember that shirt so well.  I have at least two photos of Josh wearing it.  I absolutely had to work it in somehow.  
  

At first, I was thinking that I would only be able to use it to make a label. When I pulled it out to have a look I realized there was more fabric than I had originally thought, enough for an entire shirt block.  I wanted to use a medium to dark grey for the background, but I didn't have any at all in my stash.  Aha!  The old "use-the-wrong-side-of-the-fabric" trick worked!

And it looks great!

I've arranged and rearranged (and rearranged some more), and have the final, final layout on my design wall.

It's time to start getting it sewn together.  Can't wait!

It's also time for my February stash report. It's not as bad as I thought it would be considering what kind of month it was!

Fabric Added in February  -   1 yard

Fabric Used in February  -   9.45 yards 

Fabric Added Year to Date  -  4 yards

Fabric Used Year to Date  -   23.56 yards

Net Fabric Used in 2018  -  19.23 yards