Some More T-Shirt Quilts

T-Shirt quilts are fun to make. Not really because of the hours of solitary sewing, but because of the people they are made for. I like laying them out, looking at colors, the obvious importance of the event on the shirt, and yes, even the hours of solitary sewing! you see, I love to read and watch movies and sew but you just cannot do all of those at once! Can't even do two of them at once. Sewing is a lot like swimming in that you need to focus. With swimming, you really need to focus on the breathing part. When sewing though, breathing is easy, there is some concentration on keeping your seams straight, but there is a little room to let your mind wander! I have found I pray a lot while sewing. Not just that the item will turn out okay, but I pray for the recipient of the quilt. I love how the project becomes that much more special with prayer!

After Rachel's quilt, and all that experience behind me :), its time to tackle the Too Cool T-Shirt Quilt! I read the book How to Make a Too Cool T-shirt Quilt
re-read the getting started parts and know I need some templates. I am all about doing stuff myself, but let me tell you, BUY the templates! The part about making your own sounded simple enough, I can handle a craft knife just fine! I head over to Rural King to buy my big sheet of plexiglass. They had a huge sheet for about $75 (I think thats what the templates cost) and some small sheets but not the size I needed. Okay, Rural King is not too far from my house so I go back home, get out my book and some graph paper to figure out how many of the smaller sheets I would need and how much waste I would have. I don't like waste and there would be just too much. So I run back to Rural King (some Saturdays we hit the place two or three times so no big deal for the second trip, plus they have the best free popcorn and coffee) and ask if they have any in the back. They don't but think it will be in later in the week. So I run over to get some new craft knife blades and find some other really cool stuff that I just had to have but didn't know it until I saw it! I love Rural King! If you have one near you, stop in, get a bag of popcorn and just wander around. You'll be so happy!

I now have a few days to study this book again and feel like I know what I am doing. Finally the plexiglass comes in, I pick my piece up and put it in the garage. Saturday, after a good breakfast and great Costa Rican coffee, I head out to the garage. After wasting as much time as I can, wondering if Kevin will come out and ask what I am up to, I have to get started. I think I am hoping Kevin will see what I am doing and think he can do it better and then take over. No such luck. Ugh! The first cut is sloppy and I break the plexiglass! So much for the book. Well, there has to be an easier way. Where is Kevin?! Back to the graph paper to make sure I didn't mess something up. I think I can do it still. Finally! I did one! Much easier, so on to the next, there are at least ten or twelve to be cut. After I get a couple of the templates cut, here comes Kevin. I don't think he thinks it looks like fun. Probably because it isn't. So he watches, and tells me how to do it. Arrrghh! At least he sands the edges while he is watching. After two days of cutting, and sanding, the templates are ready! FYI, buy the templates, it is so worth it!

Now I'm ready to start cutting t-shirts. This is fun! I am sure there are at least 50 t-shirts. Now to sort them into sizes, and then the math. Amazing! The math is right on! For those of you struggling in math classes right now, you WILL use it in life. Michala comes over and we lay out the quilt on graph paper. If you design it on your computer, changes are MUCH easier! Once we like the pattern, we lay the pieces out on the living room floor. Side note:  The cutest dog in the world will want to help so I advise you to not tell the dog what you are doing. 

Michala stitched  the whole top together and it is awesome! Just imagine 50 of your favorite t-shirts all in one place, what a conversation piece! Even though there is a lot of time and planning in a quilt like this, it is totally worth it. I can't wait to do the next one! Brenna and Elizabeth each have enough for two or three quilts apiece! We just need to figure out what ones to use.