Rock & Roll Quilt

In May of last year, Mary Helen reached out to me with a request for a T-Shirt Quilt.  I said Yes, but it would have to wait till the end of the year.

I started the day after Thanksgiving and mailed the completed quilt the day after Christmas.

On the banks of the Potomac

The box I received contained about 18 t-shirts, most of them were never worn and in excellent condition. I cut them up - all of them. 

Then came the tiresome task of stabilizing them. I used about a bolt and a half of SF-101. 

Stabilizing T-shirts

Layering & Ironing

Once all pieces were stabilized, the design process could begin.  Of course, the stars would take center stage but the different sizes had to be reconciled.

I used the t-shirt backs to make checkerboard coping strips and used them as a design element.

Checkerboard

 

Captivating!

It was time to move to the Design Wall, although it was impossible to cram all these legends into a tight space.

Design Wall

The blue/white tie-dye t-shirt (Led Zeppelin) needed some white fabric but none of the t-shirts had any white. Paul let me use one of his old t-shirts (frayed crewneck) to make the blue/white coping strip.

Added White

The grid was three wide by four tall and I was aiming for about 60" wide by 80" tall.  Working on one row at a time, I added coping strips as needed.

Flimsy

Thick t-shirt fabric, made heavier with stabilizer does make the quilting a challenge. I switched to a 90/14 needle and quilted from the backing side using the square grid of the printed fabric as a guide.

Backing and Label

Here are some close-ups.

I chose this backing so that I could use the squares as a quilting grid.

I am told that the quilt was well-received.  Mary Helen texted "my friend absolutely loves the quilt"

Mission Accomplished.

In other news, I completed my blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.  After considering and discarding several designs, I decided to make super simple log cabin blocks. 

10" Log Cabin Block

Work in Progress

Thank you Island Batik

I will be sharing with Angela's Linky Party and Quilting Jetgirl's Favorite Finish and others too. See full list on the sidebar.

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Last week, we visited Mount Vernon on our way to Richmond. Just a couple of days to get away and celebrate Paul's birthday.

Mount Vernon - Looking at Maryland across the Potomac

Calm before the Storm

In Richmond, we visited the Civil War Museum constructed around the ruins of the Tredegar Foundry. Some pictures from our visit.

 

I texted my daily Wordle to Mari, while we waited for our lunch. She texted back. 

Mari: Did you see the news? 

Me: No. We are visiting the Civil War Museum. What happened?

Mari: Don't see it. Enjoy your day.

We did see the news. It was everywhere. 

So many times, my name is misspelled as Pretti. Every time I hear it, I stop and think - did someone call me?

A former co-worker turned friend bought some zippered pouches and wrote me a check.

I am Pretti

This is a difficult time and I am not OK. 

Hugs to you. Hope you will hug me back.