Rouse - A Finished T-Shirt Quilt

So what do you do when you get a request for a king size t-shirt quilt that’s juuuuust a few inches smaller than your largest ever t-shirt quilt from last year? Well, apparently you take rather bad pictures of it because it well exceeds your photo backdrop area. Or maybe that’s just me.

Okay, it’s probably just me. Y’all should be used to bad pictures by now! (My husband is off to the right holding the backdrop even further, but we couldn’t figure out a way to pin the left side to the wall before the whole thing just came down. Magnets aren’t that strong!)

So anyway, this is the first set of Alpha Chi Omega t-shirts from a local gal! She has…a lot of them. Even though this is slightly smaller than last year’s biggest, it’s more shirts - the other one used 36 shirts and a border, and this one has 49 shirts in a slightly smaller cut size than my normal gird to fit in as many as possible.

The quilting is Lyre by Urban Elementz - because Kate likes a theme and apparently so does this client! The golden lyre is the symbol of the sorority.

The sorority colors are red and green, but she asked for it to not be too Christmas-y, so I balanced a deep red blender with a light green dot. I don’t think it’s too holiday-ish! I love the binding - it’s a nice wide stripe and hits pretty much every shirt color that’s in the quilt. (And helps keep it from being too much Christmas!)

The backing is more of a traditional red (Essentials 108” Apple Venetian), with olive green quilting thread. Don’t the lyres look lovely? I used medium gray on the front - the green just didn’t look right there - but I like that little hint of the theme in the back.

114” square

Husky Pride - A Finished T-Shirt Quilt

After a short hiatus, we are back in business! Actually, it wasn’t really a hiatus - I’ve been working on several things behind the scenes (seams?) including another t-shirt quilt where she hasn’t decided on the binding yet, another one that gets dropped off Sunday so no blogging till next week, another one that’s getting mailed on Monday so no blogging yet… Let’s just say there’s about to be a bunch of finishes but they’ve all been in the works!

So this one! This is a local one, the same schools that my kids go to. The recipient actually also went to the college that my oldest is going to! Not, incidentally, Bama, which is decently well represented in this quilt. But, you know, when in Alabama…

This was a mix of vacation shirts (lots of Rehoboth Beach!) and school shirts. Notice the 30+ ACT shirt? My kid laughed and said he was glad they just got flashlights this year, because he would never wear a shirt. Also, I covered the names on the yearbook shirt, since there were last names!

Someday, I’m going to invent a time machine, go back in time, and instruct young children on how to sign shirts in a way that will be easier for the t-shirt quilt maker in a few decades. Alas, that someday hasn’t happened yet, so I had to fit the signatures from the sleeves into the block as best that I could.

The quilting is technically bear paws, but they work as dog paw prints as well!

Backing: Moda Marbles Sky Blue

Binding: Wilmington Prints Seafoam Dry Brush

70x84”

Scrappy Star BOM - Missouri Star

It’s another scrappy red white and blue Friday! How are you doing so far? Keeping up? It’s a lot of half square triangles, I know. It’s not going to get better in this block. #sorrynotsorry

Photo by Lori Barbely / Brands By Lori

So this block! You might recognize from a rather famous shop’s name and logo. The Missouri Star block was first published in 1933, in the Kansas City Star newspaper. (This is where a lot of blocks came from!) My version is evenly split between red and blue blocks, and there’s…well, there’s a lot of pressing instructions. Just follow the arrows. I promise they will all nest!

THE DEETS

The pattern is here - it will be free the first month, and go to $2 once the next one is posted. (Blocks will post on the first Friday this year, not Monday.) A portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Quilts of Valor Foundation.

If you’re joining me in these blocks, please use #ScrappyStarQuilt on Instagram or comment here so I can find your blog!

BOMS AWAY - AN ANNOUNCEMENT

Lyn and I decided to take BOMs Away to Facebook! The group will allow us (and everyone else!) to like and comment on your projects easier! If you’re on Facebook….come join the group! I hope you do - I know I wouldn’t get much BOM work done without the motivation of liking pretty pictures.