Saturday, August 11, 2012

Finished Tshirt Quilt

The giant Tshirt quilt is finished! 
It was a marathon effort, even though I didn't finish it in time for my nephew's birthday.
As experienced Tshirt quilt makers know, it is really tough quilting soccer jerseys...
the fabric is thick and slippery, and your machine puts up a fuss! But it is finished and I am happy with how it turned out. The size is 65" x 95", so that was 316" of binding that was sewn during olympic viewing this week...
that's a gold medal effort I'll tell ya!

Even though the quilt was large, I managed to push it through my Brother 1500 before my machine died...it gave a valiant effort for it's last quilt!            
I machine quilted some free motion loops and stars (that I practiced in March's Free Motion Challenge) in the sashing and border.


I finished it off by quilting my nephew's name on the bottom corner. 
I enjoyed revisiting the memories of his childhood, the times he wore these shirts, and the fun things we did together....he was a real cutie. Here he is on the left in this old photo, sitting with my daughter, his older brother, and my baby boy...good times!
I hope he likes his quilt and uses it until it's threadbare. After all, quilts don't provide comfort and warmth sitting in a bag in the closet, right?!? 
And meanwhile...my trusty sewing machine is having a few issues, so it's in quarantine at the repair shop...cross your fingers that it can be fixed!
I didn't have a chance this week to work on the scrap challenge, but you can hop over to SoScrappy and check in on what the other quilters have been up to.

8 comments:

Candace said...

Your T-shirt quilt is wonderful and I can't imagine that it won't be one of his treasures. I've never tried one, but you make me want to. I hope that your machine is fixable and comes back for many more years of sewing.

Deb A said...

The tshirt quilt came out great! Love the stars and loops and the name is awesome. I always have trouble with that part. I hope the news is good on the machine and that it can come home soon.

Janet O. said...

Great looking quilt, Kathy, and I believe you when you say you had to "muscle" it. That was a heroic effort of your Brother to finish the job for you. Hope it gets better soon. : )

Diane said...

good job on the t shirt quilt!!

Karen said...

I used to help a quilt shop owner put together tee shirt quilts for customers. They can be a bit of a challenge with thickness some times.

scraphappy said...

Congratulations! T-shirt quilts can be tricky with all the heavy fabrics and paint involved. Even on my quilting frame my last quilt gave me fits at the end. So worth the aggravation though, to create something with so much personal meaning. I am sure it will be loved.

Cathy said...

Oh that is just great!!,

Kate said...

Congrats on the finish! I'm in awe that you quilted on your home machine. T-shirt quilts are so heavy.