CHRIS'S RETIREMENT

 Chris retired and his wife Gloria had me make him a quilt from his favorite shirts for work.  It's 58 x 72

backing

RECYCLED HEARTS

All of the red hearts are made from cotton shirts purchased at a Goodwill Store.  The shirts are always good cotton fabric, and lots of it for a great prices.  It's 54 x 72

Memorial baby quilt

Heather was expecting her first baby when her father-in-law passed.  She wanted a quilt for the baby made from his shirts.  This is 49x58.  I used a thread that matches the solid blue fabric that I purchased to go with the shirts.  She did a great job of picking out shirts that all blend well.

I used Bonnie Hunter's free pattern - Weed Wacker.  (available here:  http://quiltville.blogspot.com/2005/06/weed-whacker.html )  It's a great pattern to use when there are lots of different fabrics.

I had 11 different shirts to work with, plus one sweatshirt.  That is  the "Chicago" in the middle.

I quilted 2 hooks in each strip, and continuous curves in the blue triangles.

I carried the hook theme in the small border - that is a shirt I didn't use in the body:

The backing is a batik that fit with the shirt colors:

Quilt of Valor

This is another one of mine made from recycled men's cotton shirts.  I love the look of all the plaids and stripes.  There are even two shirts that were my husband's.  Finished sized is 60 x 72.  This will hang in our quilt show in April, then be donated to a veteran through the Quilts of Valor Foundation.

This quilt was presented to Richard Stutz - a WWII veteran - in June 2016.

I used the back of the shirts for the backing of the quilt:

I used a red/white/blue variegated thread and quilted stars, hooks, and line dancing:

star and line dancing in the large white stars

4 hooks and line dancing in the larger squares

one hook and line dancing in the half-snowball blocks

stars spaced all around in the white/cream border

Recycled Stars

Pat and I made these stars from recycled Goodwill shirts.  Everything on the front is from the shirts.  Our guild has a Quilt of Valor sew day each month, and we worked on them there.  This will be donated to the Quilts of Valor program.   This quilt measures  63 x 74.

Two different colors for the borders

I quilted a ribbon into each point of the stars with line dancing in the neutral areas

the same quilting in the blue stars.  The red/white/blue thread shows up well.

a simple meander quilting in the borders

a great patriotic fabric for the back and binding

Quilt of Valor

This will be donated to the Quilt of Valor program, (info here) but especially to a local group that has just returned home.  It is pieced entirely of recycled shirts, including the back.  I saved the backs of the shirts to have large pieces for the backing.  There are a ton of feathers in the quilting.  I also made a presentation case and label for the back.  The case can be used as a pillow case also.  There is a strip of the case fabric across the back to pull it all together.  The organization will fill in the name of the recipient before it's presented.  It's 60 x 76.

Click on the picture for a better view of quilting

Presentation case

Label on quilt back

Feathered Wreath

Feathers in the star points

Orca Bay

This is a Bonnie K. Hunter mystery quilt.  It has almost 4000 pieces, and I made it entirely from shirts.  I saved all the shirt backs to use on the quilt back.  Photos show the feathered quilting on the back - I couldn't get it to photograph well on the front.  It's 78 x 87.  This got an honorable mention at the String Along Quilt Guild  2012 show.

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)