The long quilt journey(Connie's shirt quilts)

Over the last few weeks my quilt focus has been on this UFO.   Finally it's complete.    What a journey it has been from the word go.  I've been stealing a few minutes here and there to get it quilted.  It took about 4 weeks once on the frame.  The quilting design was kept simple.  You can read more about how I went about making my decision for the quilting here.

 I hope Connie loves it as much as I do. That's Connie below.  She was so proud of her new quilty adventure.

Connie had a vision for this quilt when she saw an origami shirt quilt pattern in our local quilt shop.   The pattern for the shirt blocks can be purchased here.  

We worked together folding and temporally attaching the little shirts to the background fabric.  The plan was for a simple on point quilt alternating the shirt block with a solid blue alternating block.  She quickly ran out of steam while making these blocks.  So I offered to finish the quilt for her.  After getting her finished blocks and a bag full of her husbands shirts to my Studio the quilt stare began.  There was great potential hiding in that bag of shirts... I just couldn't stay with her quilt plan.  So I asked if she minded me working a little quilt magic on her blocks.  Of course she gave me the go ahead.  All the but the background fabric is her late husbands shirts.  I designed the applique wreath and basket blocks for a separate quilt but after months(years) of trial and error it became clear to me to use them with the shirt blocks.

 Many quilters think you can only use one type of applique on a quilt.  Not true.  There's 3 different types of applique on this quilt.  The shirt blocks are hand stitched applique.  The baskets are freezer paper applique, edges turned with an iron, invisible machine applique.  You can see how I use freezer paper to make applique here.  And the letters are fusible raw edge applique.

This quilt barely made a dent in the bag of shirts.  It would be a shame to let them go to waste.  Why not make a few quick cuddly quilts.  The quilt below I love just as much as the Heirloom above.  It's so soft and cuddly and looks sorta patriotic.  Since my time is limited and I wanted a quick finish, the decision was made to tie the last two quilts.  Have you ever tied a quilt?  Oh my goodness it's so quick and easy.  It gave the quilt a vintage feel.  I may need to make one of these for my couch.  A tip for tying quilts is thin soft yarn or embroidery thread to make the actual ties.  I used baby yarn, it was super soft and thinner than normal yarn.  I tried using plain ole red heart yarn and I couldn't pull it through all the layers. 

Here's the last picture before packing up the quilts to be shipped.  Hand delivering them would be ideal but at this time it's just not possible.  She only lives about 30 minutes away, so I bet I'll be able to hear her squeal when she opens the box!...LOL!

Before I go I wanted to tell you about a challenge on Instagram hosted by Sherri Lynn Wood.  It's called the make do quilt challenge, #makedoquiltchallenge  it's all about using what you have to make a quilt, recycling and upcycling.   You can read more about this challenge here.

~ Lea Anne ~

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