Anniversary Quilt

Remember when I made all those matching tshirts for my family's trip to Disney to celebrate my sister and her husband's 25th wedding anniversary? Well, for Christmas, my sister requested I turn those tshirts into a memory quilt for her and her husband.

Her favorite combo of colors are purple and black, so I used those as the main filler colors and for the backing and binding. She loves this full-sized quilt and it now adorns the bed in her guest bedroom.

Another graduation quilt

This evening I finished another graduation quilt for a recent graduate. This young lady really liked the hand quilted designs on the blocks, and requested a black backing with white thread, so the designs would be more visible.

This quilt's finished size is 76w x 72h, so it's finished cost is $370 + $15 for an embroidered block with name and graduation date, for a total of $385.

Graduation Quilt

Tis graduation season!

I just finished one graduation quilt and have started working on another.

When I sent the picture of the finished quilt to the grad, she responded: "THIS IS ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE. It brings tears to my eyes seeing it and I cant wait to finally cuddle with it. What a special thing I will have for the rest of my life and I cannot thank you enough for all the time and effort you put into making it!"

This is why I love doing this particular craft so much. It really is a meaningful project that I do believe people will keep and cherish for their entire lives.

Front

Back

Since I often get asked about price, I'll start listing the prices of the quilts. This is a finished size of 76 x72 and so it's finished cost is $370.

UPDATE - Here is a picture with the new grad and her quilt:

Memory Quilt

When something unimaginable sad happens, like many people, I never know the right words to say. The experts say all you can really say is "I'm so sorry." But sometimes sorry, just doesn't feel like enough. So when one of Superman's co-workers lost her 6 month old baby to SIDS last summer, and I didn't know how to express just how I felt for that mother, that father, and their darling baby... I offered to make a memory quilt from his baby clothes. This was the most touching sewing project I've ever worked on. I hope I never ever have to make another one.

Update: Here is a picture of Cooper's newborn baby sister, his mom's Rainbow Baby, laying on his quilt.

Note: Through this story, I have learned that siblings born after a SIDS loss are usually called "Rainbow babies." I love this term because it means: a beautiful and bright rainbow follows a storm and gives hope of things getting better. Storm-clouds might still be overhead as the family continue to cope with the loss, but something colorful and bright has emerged from the darkness and misery.

Rock Tshirt Quilt

This post is almost a year late!

Last Christmas, as a surprise present for my husband, I took a bunch of his old concert t-shirts and made a quilt for him. I just realized that I never posted a picture of it!

These aren't nearly all of his concert tees, but these are some of the ones I knew he wouldn't divorce me over cutting up. :)

Front of the rock and roll quilt

Back of the rock and roll quilt

On Christmas morning

Baseball Room

I was looking through some old posts, when I realized that I had post bits and pieces of the boys' baseball bedroom redo last summer (quilt-red, quilt-blue, pillows, coat rack, curtain rods) , but I never posted pictures of the finished product. So I thought it was high time I posted some.

As a reminder, this is what my boys' room looked like before. This is the same fishy/nautical theme they've had since they were newborns.

And this is the updated baseball themed room that we did for their 5th birthday! They LOVE it!

I got the blue black out curtains (it stays light really late in Indiana) on clearance from Walmart.com. I got the posters from Posters.com (and had a 25% your whole order coupon) and the poster frames from Menards. My parents ordered the little red locker-style night stand from Amazon.com. You can't see the alarm clock too well, but it has rainbow colored numbers! I got that from Target. The little lamp is also from Target, but that has since been replaced with a Lillian Vernon baseball lamp from my husband's parents.

We already had the shelves (Menards), but we decorated them some of my husband's old gloves, cleats, and trophies and some of the boys' balls and trophies. What you can't see behind the door is a we hung another old baseball bat and glove, along with and a framed sheet of IU baseball cards (Go Hoosiers!). The wall on the left side of the closet (which you can't see either) is basically a mirror image of the wall on the right, with a shelf on top and filled with double white metal hooks (from Menards) hanging ball caps. (My kids have a lot of ball caps!). I believe we got the baseball piggy bank from Target (or maybe Walmart, I don't remember).

Tshirt Quilt: Hokie Style

A friend's mom recently contacted me asking me to make a tshirt quilt for her youngest son's college graduation. It's a sea of orange and maroon!

Imitation Crafts: Tshirt Re-do

I've had this tshirt refashion on my Upcycling Pinterest board for a while. Then a few weeks ago I ran in a 5K and finally got the perfect shirt to try it out.

All they had left were larges, XLs and XXLs when I got to sign in. I had pre-registered for an XL, but I felt bad that all of these skinny runners were getting stuck with huge shirts, so I voluntarily took the XXL size instead. It is pretty roomy!!

Cut off the arms and the top/neck portion.

Turn the shirt inside out. On the top of front and back, fold down about an inch and a quarter to sew a ditch for running your straps through.

Cut off the reinforced band of the sleeves and use those as straps. Run them through the channel you sewed, then sew them together in one large circle. (Then I shifted the circle so that that sewed part was hidden.

Voila! The armpits are a little low for my taste, but I think that is because the shirt started out too big for me. But still...it looks really cute over a ribbed-under tank and some black running capris. :)

Pricing Page

So, I often hear: Oooh, I want you to make me a tshirt quilt. How much do you charge?

But I had been having a hard time coming up with a good answer. So I did a little research...and finally came up with a good answer.


Before I tell you how much I charge, let's examine the time and effort that goes into making a t-shirt quilt:

• cutting out the tshirts (and sometimes ironing if they are wrinkly)
• laying out the proof design
• sewing the quilt top
• sandwiching and pinning the top, batting, and backing
• hand quilting each square
• making the coordinating binding
• sewing on the binding
• optional: shipping

Now let's examine the materials I have to buy:

• batting (I use 100% cotton)
• fabrics for backing and binding
• thread

Not to mention the wear and tear on my machine that requires new needles and visits to the shop for regular maintenance...it adds up.

So, now that you've seen what goes in to what I charge, here is the new formula I will use (instead of my previous formula of $ per shirt): (Length + height) x $2.5

If you want more information, visit my new Pricing page.

The Fighter

One of my closest friend's grandmothers is fighting breast cancer. Over the last few years, my friend has been participating in many events to raise money for cancer research in honor of her grandmother's battle. She told me about a year ago that she was saving tshirts for me to make her grandma a pink ribbon tshirt quilt.

Last week she called me crying. They are stopping chemo.

She had only collected nine tshirts so far (and one slipper and one canvas apron belt), but she couldn't wait anymore...the quilt needed to be made.

Here it is.

In honor of Grandma G.

Mother, Grandmother, Fighter.

Maybe it bring her love, peace, and warmth.

Update: Sadly, my friend's grandma passed away last night. My heart is heavy for her loss.