The Final T-Shirt Quilt

It's done! This afternoon after a long "Mother's Day" nap, I was able to sew the last stitches on the binding on my son's high school graduation quilt. He is my quilt holder for pictures. At 6'2", he is able to hold them up high enough to be photographed. The best compliment that I could ask him to give was when he muttered under his breath, "This one is going to college with me." Just by chance, the colors of his college are navy blue and hunter green, the colors he chose for this quilt last Summer.

My son loves the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (TMNT). We chose paintball splatter backing fabric in TMNT green.

At My Sewing Machine

T-shirt quilts! I've been inundated with T-shirt quilts. I'm on my last one, I hope. This T-shirt quilt is for my son who will graduate from high school this May. The pile of T-shirts in the above picture are the shirts that Did Not make the quilt. I've been saving Michael's T-shirts since he was in kindergarten. We had plenty of shirts to choose for his quilt. The shirts were stored in a drawer in  my sewing room. I'll bundle these for Goodwill. That will free up a drawer for other "treasures."

These are the shirts that were cut and prepared, but did not make the final quilt. These shirts are rather, like the film on the "cutting-room floor." Don't panic.  Most of them were some sort of duplicate. You know that I wouldn't discard the LSU National Championship shirt or a Rugrat shirt without having an LSU shirt and a Rugrats shirt in his quilt. We have Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and lots of video game characters, too.

Last week (after a week's delay because of Marion's complications), I brought the the shirts and the quilt background to school. My wonderful art teacher again assisted me with arranging the shirts. She was so helpful in making sure that the colors flowed and that the shapes were balanced.

 I've started sewing the shirts to the background. It's rather like quilting a quilt. It's bulky, heavy and filled with pins. It's not the easiest top to put together, but I'm making progress. I'm listening to Comfort Food by Kate Jacobs on my Ipod which helps keep me motivated.

Here's a sneak preview of what Michael's quilt will it is look like. I probably put too many t-shirts, but Michael is attracted to the shirts, not the overall balance of the quilt. Every night, I'm sewing about an hour or so trying to get this completed so that I can get it quilted. I'll post of picture when the top is finished.

Even though I'm "over"  this project, my son is anxious to have it on his bed. That makes it all worth every little bit of time and effort.