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.

Two Finishes This Week!

Finally! I'm getting some projects completed. I've been working consistently, but there are lots of steps in the quilts I need to have done by May. T-shirt Quilt number one for my friend Nancy's daughter is COMPLETELY done. The last stitch on the binding was done yesterday afternoon. 

The rag quilt that I've worked on between projects is DONE, Too. For years, I've wanted to do a Just For You Quilt, the donation quilt project of the Gwinnett Quiter's Guild. This is the year. I pulled blue and brown flannel fabric from my stash. I was thinking of a quilt for an older child. I think my son, Michael wanted it. He was asking who it was made for. That's a good sign that another teenage boy might like it too. 

I'm working on sewing the binding on Michael's T-shirt quilt. After that is done, I can work on any project that I want!!!! Yes! Now, what project......

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.

Snow Day in Atlanta

What a wonderful day to stay home!  I hate driving in stressful conditions. Thankfully, our school superintendent thought today was a day for our schools not to open. Resting another day has helped in recovering from my cold/virus/whatever. I made myself vacuum the house, but then did take a small nap mid-day. I worked on Michael's T-shirt quilt most of the afternoon. Happily, I marked-off several steps. All the t-shirts are backed, sashed, and ironed. They're ready to place on the background. The background with borders was pieced as well as the quilt backing. The next step is to arrange the t-shirts on the background. I'll try to do that later this week. The tables in my media center at school are perfect for this job. I'll wait until one day after school later in the week. Tomorrow, will be a bit crazy after an unscheduled day off. It's also our day for after school meetings/staff development. What a relief to have these three projects with a May deadline well on their way. Two of them are at the long-arm quilters waiting in line to be quilted. Michael's graduation quilt is taking shape. It's at least past the part that I don't like doing. I also had the opportunity to sew  the first block in the $5.00 BOM that I started at our new quilt shop, Patchwork Cottage.  

Finally, I dug out two UFO's that I'd love to finish. I'm debating which one to work on next. That's my reward for working on these three demanding projects. I can now work a bit on a project of my choice for a bit of time. It's all a "mind-game," but it seems to work for me :)