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.

Three Quilts for Three Musketeers

The assignment was simple - Make a quilt from old baby clothes.
The tricky part - Not one, not two, but three quilts.

Getting the fabric ready for a t-shirt (or onesie) quilt is a slow, labored process.
The painful (for me) part of the whole process is cutting up perfectly nice and cute baby clothes.  It generates a lot of trash - seams, buttons, zippers and oddly shaped fabric slivers.

Aligning fabric pieces on SF101

The tedious part - interfacing each piece of salvaged fabric.  This is slow, because I cannot hurriedly iron over it. Holding the iron down in each section for 8-10 seconds is a must to ensure that the interfacing adheres to the fabric properly. This is followed by squaring each of the above interfaced pieces. And only then can I start to piece.

Design Wall for Layout

SF101 is a must. Design wall is a savior. And most importantly patience is a virtue.

But let's get to the fun part. The finished quilts. These are the three quilts for three siblings (or musketeers).
Quilt #1

Finished about 41" by 44"

Personality Plus

Fly away

Hop to it

Dude with 'tude

All cuteness

Wild one

Bold & Boyish

Polar Bear backing from Hawthorne Threads

Walking Foot Quilting

Quilt #2

Finished about 43" by 46"

Bird & Beautiful

Pink and Pinker

Aw...

Brightest Slippers ever

Rooting for the team

May the best team win

I love you too

Fluffy Plus

Sweetness

Cuteness

Brightness

Loveliness

Labelled

Walking Foot Quilting

Quilt #3

Finished about 41" by 42"

Snappy

So much fun

Puppies and Turtles

Adorable

And I am no wimp

Orange, Coral and Yellow - Love the colors

Monkeys make everything better

A baby elephant adds to the charm

Yay for the team!!!

Navy & Starry Backing

Walking Foot Quilting

Bound and Done

If you choose to make a t-shirt quilt or a quilt from onesies and baby clothes, these are a few important things
1. Use a walking foot even for piecing because the knit fabric + interfacing = bulk.
2. Press ALL seams open.
3. Use a wider binding. Instead of using 2.5" strips, I suggest using 2.75" strips. A little extra width helps capture those bulky seams with ease.

But quilts is not all I made from the baby clothes. I knew I would have fabric left over for three small pencil cases  - one for each musketeer.

Three Pencil cases for Three Musketeers

Ready for Stuff

Also I had plenty of fabric to make three pillow covers.  I chose to use binding to finish, instead of just stitching RST and turning it inside out. Yes, it takes more work but I wanted to do the very best for this mom of three.

Three Pillow covers

Pink Binding

I had a feeling that if the pillow covers did not have a pillow form inside, they may just be sitting in a closet and not get used.  To make sure that items could be used instantly, I bought pillow forms and inserted in each of the covers.  Besides fluffy pillows also look better in photoshoots :-D

Envelope Style

Soft and Ready to Cuddle

Is that all?  Well, almost.
Still some pieces were left and they were too precious to discard, since they already had the interfacing. So, I finished off with a few mug rugs.

Mug Rugs

And a very good morning to you!!!

I was paid handsomely for all my efforts. The best part, however, was the smile on mom's face.
Mission Accomplished.
I will be linking with all my favorite lanky parties.  As always, I'd love to hear from you.
Which one is your favorite quilt?