Tom's T-Shirt Memory Quilt

My oldest brother, Tom, passed away in January. One of my nieces kept some of his t-shirts for a quilt and I offered to make it. When I found out that there would be a large gathering on Memorial Day to celebrate and commemorate what would have been his 80th birthday, I put the pedal to the metal and finished the quilt with a couple of days to spare.

Tom was a Navy Seabee and served in Vietnam. He was exposed to Agent Orange which was the reason he lived his later years disabled.

The red/white/blue borders on each of the smaller t-shirt pieces, and the inside quilt border are also from one of Tom's shirts. 

My niece gave me a rather rough layout that she thought would work and suggested gray for the background. I was able to draft a pattern from the layout but couldn't imagine gray for the background after auditioning every gray in our house. I went to the Quilt Peddler in Fennimore, WI and Jen, the owner, took one look at the t-shirts and showed me the perfect gray! She only had 2.5 yards, so we decided on a navy outer border, Stars of Valor Navy Flag Texture from Wilmington Prints. I ended up buying the coordinating Stars of Valor Red Flag Texture for the backing.

I decided a simple meandering would work for the quilt and not take away from the shirts. I did add a few hidden words in the meandering - Tom, Dad, Gramps, Fuzzy (his nickname), and Santa (his other nickname). 

I used Dream Poly for the batting - a big change for me since I always use Dream Cotton. I did not want this quilt to pucker so much; I wanted the t-shirts to be readable. I used Glide #1BLK3, Shadow thread on the top and #70187, Ruby thread on the back. The quilt is 65" by 85".

I had four extra shirts and made 16" pillows with them. The pillows are lined and have an envelope closure. It really helped that the shirts were a large size so I had plenty of fabric to work with. Here are a couple:

We had a great Memorial Day - watching the parade, visiting with family and friends, eating some of Tom's favorite foods and treats, remembering and celebrating Tom. People loved the quilt and it went home with my sister-in-law. I'm really happy that I was able to get it finished. Making the quilt helped me - I've never cried so much making a quilt. Now I hope it and the pillows will bring comfort to Tom's family. 

Made with Love

Lone Star

"The Lone Star quilt pattern ...

symbolizes honor, generosity, and protection. 

It's often given as a valued gift at milestones

like ... graduations"

Grandson M's quilt is done! I started it late but finished it in time for his graduation this past weekend. Whew! I found a Lone Star pattern that I liked from Missouri Star Quilt Company.

I had to resize the star from 62" to about 39" for a XL twin mattress (standard dorm mattress) and design the rest of quilt. When I resized the star, there was a lot of space at both ends of the quilt that I needed to fill.

I have only attempted a Lone Star quilt once before and it did not go well. This time I was more prepared - I starched my fabric and cut very precise angles (big success factors). I used Grunge and Dry Brush fabrics and learned to choose the background fabric AFTER making the star. 

Ray was holding the quilt and fighting the wind but I think we got a decent photo. The quilt is 64" by 90".

I used rulers to straight line quilt the stars, the diamonds, and the inside and outside of the terracotta border. The background is quilted with meandering. Glide Battleship #10430 was used on the front and #32965 Navy was used on the back and the navy border.

The navy border has ruler quilted diamonds with scribbling in the centers. The corners are filled with double loops.

The navy border in the above photo is color-correct. Below the color is off - It's the same navy border as above and the same color navy backing with bits of denim in it.

In other news, the mystery quilt top is finished,

as is my brother's t-shirt memory quilt top.

I need to finish the memory quilt soon and then I don't think I have anything else with a due date so I'll soon be back to quilting whatever I feel like at the time.