Quilts from 2013

The Green Quilts

I have been thinking that the blog is a good way to document the quilts that I have made and given away.  Most of my quilts fall in that category.

The most memorable quilts of 2013 are usually referred to as "The Green Quilts".  It is almost too sad to give them any other name.  They were t-shirt quilts made for 3 little girls who lost their father way too young.  Their mother was a co-worker who knew that I quilted and asked if it was possible to do something for the girls from his clothes.  I was honored to be asked.

I received 2 big bags of misc t-shirts, a few casual shirts, and some shorts.  I had specifically asked for jeans since on a previous memorial quilt I included the back pocket of the jeans and the response was so positive.  Being able to stick a hand in the pocket of a loved one's clothing was one of their favorite parts of the quilt.

The guidelines were very open - similar but not identical, green was his favorite color, snuggle size.  In between getting this project and executing the project I lost my mother, who was a quilter, so there was a whole new dynamic in making these quilts. 

Once the plan came to me they came together pretty quickly.

I used the same layout for each quilt, but the actual blocks were different.  There were enough t-shirts for each quilt to get 4 full sized blocks.  There were only two Jacksonville Jaguars shirts, but by using all the logos from each shirt and combining them with a black casual shirt that made one block for each quilt - upper right.  The khaki shirt and plaid shorts with lots of pockets got the same treatment using enough features of each one to come up with 3 blocks - upper left.  There were only 2 neat swooshes on the light blue golf shirt so the 3rd block used the logo from that shirt and another light blue shirt and a pair of shorts - lower left.  The center block combined all three of the green shirts, but each in a different way.

She had asked for the word "Daddy" to be incorporated somehow.  After cutting the back pockets off the jeans for a 4-patch I made another square of denim and embroidered a pink heart with "Daddy" on it.  Each square had a different font, but all in green thread.  The remaining squares on that block were smaller logos from the t-shirts and the coach shirts.  Lower right.

The only fabric I added was white for the sashings and green for the outer borders and backing.  Again, each quilt had a different green.  The backs were pieced with a combination of the greens and a few leftover shirting fabrics since I ran out of one of the greens.  The setting squares were cut from plaid shorts and are the same for each quilt.  The inner borders were cut from the casual shirts.  Each quilt got a different inner border.

It took a long time to decide how to quilt them.  I ended up just quilting 1/4" on either side of all the seams, including seams already on the shirt or pants, since I did not want to detract from the look of the shirt fronts.  The quilts finished at just under 70 x 70.  A good size that will keep up with the girls as they grow.

When the UPS man asked me to put a value on the box to be shipped I could only say "priceless."  I was pretty nervous until I heard they had been received.  Then the magic words for a quilter - hearing that the quilts meet a need.  That is all I could ever want when making and giving a quilt.