T-Shirt Quilt - The Rest of the Story

In the last update in this post Josh's T-Shirt quilt was ready to deliver to my long-arm-quilter friend, Shirley Jackson.   We chose a pantograph, selected a thread, and she got to work.

Getting regular photo updates from her was fun.

 

After watching the progress I was pretty excited to open the box when it came in the mail.

My friend, Denise was kind enough to make a label for me.

Next up was binding - my favorite part!

Done!

Then, it was time to deliver it.  Actually, that is my favorite part.

Oh, wait!  That smile.  That is my favorite part.

Linking up with Tish's Adventures in Wonderland and Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

Goal Met - T-Shirt Quilt Update

It took a while, but I met my February goal.  The t-shirts are officially a flimsie, and it's ready to be basted and quilted.  

I'm pretty excited about this one.  I really laid out a challenge for myself when I decided to be creative with it.  I was able to incorporate all the elements I had hoped to.  I was able to use the fabric from Hawaiian shirts Josh's Gramma Lopez had made for him .....

..... and Grampa Lopez's sweatshirt from Josh's University.

I used several t-shirt necklines .....

..... some mildew stained, raggedy sleeve edges .....

..... even a sleeve cuff!

I set out to make it interesting, but I didn't have anything to do with this detail. Josh's name is spelled wrong on this shirt!

I want to use green for the backing because it's Josh's favorite color, so I gave him some options and he chose this batik.  I love it.  Green is my favorite color, too.  Luckily, there's some left for me!

Tomorrow this gets dropped off with my long-arm quilting friend Shirley Jackson  (Custom Quilting by Shirley Jackson) so she can work her magic on it.  I can hardly wait to get it finished and deliver it.  It's really a special finish.

Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict,  and Tish's Adventures in Wonderland. 

April Goals and Whatnot

I may have bitten off more than I can chew.  That is to say, "I may have set more goals than I can accomplish." Actually, so far this year of the 6 goals I set I'm only behind by one, and I'm making great progress with that one.  Josh's T-Shirt quilt top (which was my February 6 & 6 in 2018 goal) is almost finished.  I had to order more fusible interfacing in order to prep the last two shirts that need to be added.  In the mean time, here's a little preview.

But, I digress.  My April 6 & 6 in 2018 goal is .....  

..... to make something using the fat quarters my friend, Leigh, gave me. That didn't sound too bad.  Not until I pulled them out of the cabinet, that is.  

Can I work my way through forty-seven fat quarters this month?  We shall see.  

I really didn't want to think about it until tomorrow.  Today, I decided to make a doll quilt.  This morning I used squares from my stash to put it together then basted and quilted it. All I need to do now is stitch down the binding.

Because every child deserves to see his or her own face in the face of a doll, Amy Jandrisevits, owner and creator of A Doll Like Me, has made it her mission to create custom dolls for children with limb differences, albinism, birth marks, burns, scars, even cochlear implants.  Here are just a few of the dolls she's made.

And, since every doll needs a quilt, Bernie at Needle & Foot Fine Fabrics, recently hosted a doll quilt drive.  You can find more information about it here.  If you check here you can see photos and videos of these little ones receiving their dolls.  

Maybe after reading more about it you will be motivated to make a doll quilt, too.  I'm hoping the one I made today will be the first of many.

T-Shirt Quilt Update

The farther along I get on this T-Shirt quilt the more I want to work on it.  I spent the entire day in my sewing room last Friday getting this far, and boy did I have fun!  (And, boy did Hubby like coming home to a happy wife!)

The first three columns are put together, and I am loving it.
























I haven't been taking enough photos along the way.  I must be "in the zone" when I'm working on it.  So, I just took some close-ups instead.  Josh has some pretty cool shirts.   

And then, right up there in importance with the Grandma Hawaiian shirts is the "Grandpa" Illinois Wesleyan University sweatshirt!

I have two more columns to put together, and they are partially constructed already.   

 I'm "this close" to finishing.  Woot!  Woot!

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 

                                      

T-Shirt Time

My February goal is to have all of Josh's T-shirts sewn into a quilt top. I've been working on prepping the shirts for a while, and I've been doing lots and lots of pondering.  I'm always a little nervous approaching something I haven't done before so I usually end up overthinking it.   The first thing I did was watch this You Tube video by Rob Appell from Man Sewing. After that the huge stack of shirts in my first post about this project turned into a small stack after they were deconstructed and trimmed.

Being me, I can't just make a plain old quilt top with shirts side by side by side.  It has to be different, not totally conventional.  Well, Josh does get some credit for that since he wants some interesting shirts included - two Hawaiian shirts his grandmother made and a sweatshirt that was his grandfather's.  


















Not being able to leave well enough alone, I also want to use some necklines from the shirts .....

..... as well as this stained and torn shirt.

And for something completely different I want to use some of this mildew stained fabric, too.  I know.  Really cool, right?

So, now I have a rough layout on my design wall that I'm thinking is looking pretty good.  I left space to put the Hawaiian shirts in.  I just need to figure out how do that.  
























I actually have an idea that might just work.  If it does I'll show you next time.

T-Shirt Quilt - A Good Start

Finally, it's time to get going on this T-Shirt Quilt. Sometimes it takes me a while to work my way up to it when I'm starting a new project and it's something I haven't done before.  Don't get me wrong.  I'm really excited about making my first (First?  Does that mean more will follow??) T-shirt Quilt.  

The first step was figuring out which of the 33 (!!!!!) shirts Josh wants me to include in his quilt.  Actually, there are 30 T-shirts, 1 sweatshirt, and 2 Hawaiian shirts. 

Because we don't live near each other we went through the shirts by text message.  I sent one photo at a time and he decided whether to "Keep" or "Get Rid Of" it.  It wasn't until we were almost finished going through all those shirts that I realized it would have been easier to just Face Time.  Next time, right?  In order to keep it all straight and not toss out a shirt by mistake, I immediately pinned a "Keep" tag on each of the keepers.  

I put most of the "get rid of" shirts into a bag to take to the thrift store.

Two poor shirts with lots of puff paints on them went straight into the trash.  

I think they were from elementary school, and I was secretly glad he didn't want to use them.  I just wasn't sure about those puff paints!

Surprise, surprise!  The "Keep" pile was a lot bigger than the "Get Rid Of" pile!

I have enough stabilizer to get started, so now I can really get going.  I had to trim one of them just so I could feel like this journey has begun.

Let the fun begin!

I am linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Addict. Check it out!  There a lot of great quilt projects to read about.