T-Shirt Quilt

Here is a sports T-shirt quilt with a very clever setting, made by my customer JoAnn.

Each T-shirt has the twisted or diagonal border frame in black and white prints, which make the colorful shirts really pop.  JoAnn also used the numbers, team names, or other smaller elements at the intersection of some of the blocks.

Because of the black and white flame-looking background, as well as flames on some of the shirts, I used a meander that resembles flames.

I was a little worried about some of the slick, perforated shirt fabrics, as well as the heavy screen printing on some of them.  But, I was able to stitch into all the fabrics except for the thickest of the numerals.

If you are a longarm quilter, you may agree with me that sometimes seams on the back are problematic.  If the seams have any fullness, it can lead to pleats on the back.  Well, this quilt had quite a few back seams, as the back is entirely pieced from a variety of black and white fabrics.

Yikes!  Of course, one way to alleviate the problem of puckers or seams is to clamp the sides of the quilt.  That is one reason why we like to have an extra four inches on each side. 

Or not!  Blogger is rotating my photos again today, but in some places I only had about an inch on the sides.  Well, it came out pretty nice, I think.I have a little sidekick to keep me company for the next week or so.  Our granddog, Roo, is staying with us while his parents enjoy a trip to Florida.

 I think he is ready to go for a walk!  The temperature finally just reached 40 degrees F, so I guess we are off!

WONDERful Quilt!

Just finished one of the most interesting quilts that I have worked on in a while.  I give you....  WONDER WOMAN!

Or, her undies, at least!

This quilt was lovingly made by my friend Karen Wagoner.  We went to college together at NCSU, got married about the same time, and each had two children at about the same time.  We lost track of each other until she showed up on my doorstep to bring me her first quilts! 

She has a daughter who still loves Wonder Woman.  On one of Karen's trips to bring me more quilts, she brought some of the Wonder Woman apparel that her daughter had collected over the years.  After deciding how to work with that chemise, I suggested she might find some more images on the web that she could transfer to fabric.  Done!

These are copies of comic book covers.  The one at the top is from 1942...perhaps the first?  Notice it is in black and white.

Of course, the top and, uh, briefs, are the star attraction.  Well, for all of WW's many male admirers, they were always the attraction, right?  Surely not just the invisible airplane and golden lariat? 

Karen appliqued them to the background by machine blanket-stitch.

There are some well-loved T-shirts in the quilt.

But my very favorite is this wonderful photo transfer of the two beautiful sisters in the Wonder Woman "Underoos!"

They still make Underoos, although I don't think the brand name is as widely used. They usually have a T-shirt top or vest, and underpants that resemble the costumes worn by Superheros. 

Now they also have Dora the Explorer, SpongeBob, and other non-Super types of children's characters.  I wonder if wearing SpongeBob underneath your clothes gives kids the same feeling of confidence as wearing Superman duds?  Probably not.

I admired my little grandson's Spiderman Underoos about a year ago, and he disdainfully told me, "Gigi, they're called UNNERWEARS."

I have fond memories of my own two little blond boys in their Superman pajamas complete with capes.  There is a little pair of Dave's waiting in the cedar chest for his own little Superhero someday.

Or maybe they will become part of a quilt!
I also finished a little patriotic-themed quilt for Karen's grandson.  It was also quilted with lots of stars.

I like to add children's names to their quilts if the makers agree.

He does not need to worry about passing this quilt down to his little sister.  I think I have already quilted at least three for Evie, including one of my all-time favorite children's quilts.

Quilt Therapy

I have been quilting, quilting, the last two days. The title of this post explains part of the reason that I have almost finished three quilts in three days. More about the reason for therapy after the quilting part.

I finished my friend Karen's T-shirt quilt that will be a gift for her husband. I would name this quilt, "Labor of Love," if it were mine. Imagine working hard in the construction industry all year, getting a couple weeks off, and spending part of it sleeping on church floors and pews while fixing houses in poverty- or disaster-stricken areas. I admire the folks who can do this. The t-shirts in this quilts are all from various Reach construction missions over the years.

Can you tell these are authentic souvenirs of a construction project? There are little traces of paint, stain, grout, whatever, on many of the shirts.

I decided to do a right-angle meander, which is new for me. I thought the linear design mimics the skyline of the cities on some of the shirts, and also brings to mind boards and schematic drawings.

I have also added some basic tool outlines in the tan outer border between shirt designs.

I'm afraid most of my tools look like they have been dropped from the scaffold and bounced on the concrete, but I think they will at least be recognizable.

The third of Karen's quilts is a pastel Take Five quilt in Wizard of Oz fabrics. Very fun and quite feminine after working in tans with carpenter's tools, LOL! This one is getting fantasy flowers worthy of the Land of Oz, and some starbursts and other fun designs. I only have one more pass to go, but just couldn't do any more today.

So, why call this frenzy of long-arm quilting "therapy?" Well, don't want to be a "whiner," but this has not been the best of weeks. The main reason is that Wall Street has reached Main Street at this address. Did I mention that my husband is a stockbroker? He and others had to watch the market collapse when it became obvious that the government economic package would not pass. Before the day was over, Wachovia Bank had been purchased so it would not fail. That hit a lot of the stockbrokers at Wachovia Securities very hard in the wallet. But they are not unemployed since the Securities is a separate entity.

So, he comes home Monday in a state of semi-shock, and due to our remodeling project, can't even crawl into the Man-Chair and watch his beloved TV or reach for one of his fourteen remotes. So we sat on the porch until sunset, and then watched Dancing with the Stars while we drank wine on the bed.

Yesterday, good progress was being made on the floors. Here is how it looked at about 2:30 when Scary Tattoo Guy called me downstairs. I thought it looked shiny and gorgeous.

He announced he was stopping work because of a defective product, and was calling his supervisor to come out. Turns out the wood was not milled correctly, because there were gaps where it was supposed to join.

The supervisor agreed. I was now feeling doubly sick, and went back out to see about replacing the wood. I chose a different kind which is almost twice as expensive, hoping that it would be better. I don't know anything about construction and flooring. So confusing! It will be at least another week or two before we start up again.

Meantime, here is what the comfort of home looks like as my poor husband comes home from the trenches in this grim week of explaining to all his clients what is happening to their investments.

The front entrance with the most of the 31 cases of unused wood piled up in the dining room and the scuffed-up tar paper exposed.The floor that he laid is covering part of the living room, followed by new tar paper and plywood sub-floor.I know, at least I have a roof over my head, electricity, and no flood damage. And things will get done some day. In time for our client appreciation party on November 1? Looking doubtful!

Well, the sun has come out. Think it's time for me and Maggy to go exploring around the yard. A little nature therapy!