Charity string quilt

This one is for the "comfort quilts" group that our guild supports.  There are group of ladies that cut the blocks for foundation piecing, and all the strings, then kit them up for members to make.  So all I had to do was sew the strips, add borders, and quilt it.  There were enough strips pieces left to add the chinese coins border.  The blue and yellow borders were from my stash, and I found a perfect backing to match. I quilted some wonky flowers all over.  It's about 60 x 70, so a nice throw size.

Jim's Ties

This is a 70th birthday present for a friend's husband.  He is a retired pediatrician, so has some really cute ties.  (see Dr Seuss photo)  Some of his favorite shirts are on the ends, and in the corners are the labels from the ties.  The embroidery is his nickname "Doc" , and the name the grandkids call him:  "Oompa".  One of the ties has writing in Latin on the front, and the label has the translation:  "Don't let the bastards get you down."  What a perfect power tie!!  They used to own a small airplane, and the picture and model of the plane were on two shirts.

Trips Around the World

I  made this Bonnie K Hunter variation of Trip Around the World for a friend's Mom who has cancer.  She's going through a tough course of chemo, and I thought this would keep her warm. She worked at JoAnn Fabrics for years, so I know she'll appreciate a quilt.  She likes patriotic stuff, so the backing is red with small white/blue stars all over.  I quilted it using a multi-colored variegated tread, and did swirls with 3 feathers on the back side in the body of the quilt, swirls in the yellow border, and feathers in the blue border.  The binding is scrappy also - lots of leftovers from other quilts.  60 x 84.

Debbie's Memorial Quilts

These are two quilts for Debbie made from her husband's clothing, and are the patterns she chose.  The blocks are from shirts and sport coats, and the borders are from his slacks - khaki and olive green.  The green sashings in the one above left were his flannel PJ's.  They are Irish, so I free-motion quilted 4-leaf clovers throughout both quilts.  One has a kind of splotchy back with various colors of khaki/tan/white, and the other is green/white small argyle plaid.  They are both approx 60 x 75.  She is also having me make a framed project with some of his ties and a few pictures. 

Golf towels

 

I embroidered these golf towels for my golf league season-ending championships. A nice treat to give the ladies as soon as they win, so they get an immediate reward rather than waiting until the banquet to get their regular trophy.

Elaine's T-shirts

Elaine has lots of memories here - both high school and college.  Turns out the school colors for both are the same!!  She is headed to South Korea to teach English as a second language at a university there.  Way to go Elaine - good for you!!  She is taking this quilt with her to keep her memories close at hand.   The backing is a pretty medium/dark blue wavy line plaid.  It's an afghan size - 56 x 87  Aug 2011 

Lasagna Quilt

This is made from one jelly roll (or 40 2.5" strips cut width of fabric) with the strips sewn end-to-end.  Fold the strip in half and sew the edges.  Cut the fold when you get to the end and finish the seam.  Do this a total of 5 times and you have a quilt top!  It finishes at 48 x 64 without borders.  Took me 2 hours total.  Amazing.    I added borders, so that added maybe another 30 minutes.  I pulled from my stash for that and the binding.  It's crazy  how fast it goes.  Here is a link to a video and specific directions:  http://blog.heirloomcreations.net/?p=1897  I did this one for charity - our guild supports "Comfort Quilts" - so someone will enjoy it.  I quilted a ribbon meander on it - a very quick finish for a very quick quilt.  July 2011

Emily's T-shirts

Emily's quilt should be named "peppermint twist" - the colors just remind me of that.  She said she likes pink, but wanted some green for her school colors.  So, when I found the green with the pink stripe - that was perfect for the second border.  The back is crazy - a black/white zebra skin print.  I found a zebra print that was black on pink instead of white, but we decided that would be too much pink.  I even added poms on her embroidered label, as she was on the dance team.  This is a twin size - 70 x 92.  July 2011

BOM - May 2011

This was the pattern for the Block of the Month for my quilt guild for the June meeting.  I used heavy denim for the pants,and recycled shirts from Goodwill.  I really wanted to win the blocks, so I made 4 to give me 4 chances. Didn't work though, some other lucky lady got them all.  Some of the women were really creative - they add a tiny patch pocket on the pants, and gold top-stitching lines just like on a real pair of jeans.  Some even added detail to the boots.  I'll definitely keep this pattern - my nephew and wife live in Houston, so if they ever have a son, they'll get one of these quilts for sure!!  May 2011

Nana's sweatshirts

I made these for a friend who has 7 grandchildren.  Whew - that's a lot!!  Two very different personalities even though they are the same.  Amazing how fabrics can change the personality of a project.  The grandkids are arranged by families, and I reversed them from one shirt to the other.  May 2011

 

Cameron's T-Shirts

Cameron is a swimmer, and a big part of SWIMMING USA.  So his shirts are all red/white/blue, and so is all of the fabric.  I embroidered his name, high school, and year of graduation in one block, and his HS logo in another to fill in the empty blocks.   Swimmers don't have as many t-shirts as other sports since they don't wear them for practice!!  I added 3 borders - red/white/blue to get to the requested queen size quilt  (90 x 107).  He is going to the University of Notre Dame on a full ride for swimming  (way to go Cameron!!), so the Notre Dame logo is in the middle of the back.  (It's about 18" tall) I used a pantograph called "ebb and flow" for quilting, as it looks like waves in the water.  May 2011.

Ellen's T-shirts

Ellen is the younger sister of a customer from two years ago.  (previous quilt)  Fortunatley, Mom remembered me, and hopefully will remember again with the third sister.  Ellen has a real mix of shirts, just not athletic ones.  Looks like lots of childhood memories.  This is as twin bed size, with a green backing.  I carried that green to the front with the binding.  May 2011

Megan's and Hugh's T-shirts

I made these two for a brother and sister.  I made this one for Megan last year.   She loved it so much that she dug up some more shirts and her Dad let her get a second one.  Nice Dad!!  Megan's is a twin bed size with a crazy purple snowflake type design on the back, while Hugh's is double bed size with a black and green crazy batik on the back.  March and April 2011

Meredith's T-shirts

Meredith was a volleyball player and coach.  There is a jacket and some sweatshirts in there, and even a baseball hat - both front and back.  It's just about a twin - just a little short of that.  She wanted a yellow back, so I added yellow cornerstones and binding to pull it all together. (78x90)  Feb 2011

Josie's grandkid's clothes

These are for a past co-worker.  She saved the favorite outfits of her 2 grandkids, who will be 2 and 4 this spring.  Their names and birthdays are embroidered in the middle.  They both have fleece on the back:  Zack's (56x72) is white with tractors and bulldozers etc all over in primary colors, and Addy's (79x95) is big pink and white flowers.  Josie picked them up at school this morning and they are leaving tomorrow to go deliver them to her family in Texas.  They are expecting their third child next week, so it looks like I'll be getting another order in the next year or so!  Feb 2011

Recycled shirts quilt

 

This quilt is made entirely from recycled shirts from the Goodwill Store - the backing too.  Or you can raid you husband's (brother, Dad, sons, whatever) closets and dig out those old 100% cotton shirts.  The pattern is from Nancy Rose's blog - Life's A Stitch.  She did hers from only 7 shirts - I had to add extras for the backing.  I just kept piecing fronts and backs till I had the size I needed.  It was a fun project.    Mine finished at 52 x 64.  This one is definitely masculine colors, but you could chose women's shirts in brighter colors.  There are some other pictures on her blog.  (Pieced 2009, quilted Jan 2011)

NIPSCO Customer Care Team

 

I embroidered each of these designs 4 times to attach to all four sides of the top of a display tent (like at craft shows and tailgates).  Their tent will be used during emergencies - disaster relief type of situations.  The designs are huge - 5" x 14".  The blue one has over 42,000 stitches and the black one almost 15,000.  I did them on white cotton, then attached that to the tent.   Hopefully they'll never need the tent!  (Jan 2011)

Leah's T-Shirts

This was made for a customer who was in the University of Illinois Marching Band.  Lots of saxophone section t-shirts, as well as ones from trips  to bowl games, and yearly road trips.  I also made one for her husband a year ago.  He played the trumpet, and I found a quilting pantograph with both instruments, so it was a perfect fit.  This one is double bed size - 85x91.  (Jan 2011)

NOT a Christmas Quilt

I won these block-of-the-month blocks at my guild's 2010 Christmas meeting.  My friend Pat designed the block, and 29 of them were made.  She stipulated that it had to be red and green, but NO Christmas fabrics - hence the name!  I added 3 more so I could set them on-point and made it 64 x 76.  I will give the quilt to Pat as she really wanted to win the blocks, plus she was a great help to me this year as a new member.         (Jan 2011)