Hugs

Back in June or July I was contacted by a lovely lady (my physio's assistant) to see if I could make her two quilts for Christmas presents.  

Now these two quilts were going to be extra special quilts.  She lost her husband (53yrs old) three years ago and she wanted quilts made for her grown children using his shirts and ties she still had.  

I had to think about this.  I didn't want to screw up someone' s cherished clothing.  Could I work with these items knowing whom they belonged to?  (kids thought it was creepy).  After much consideration  I decided to go for it.  

She brought over a tub of golf shirts, ties and dress shirts.  And there they sat until Sept.  (too many things were happening during the sumer to get started)  The pattern and layout were up to me, she didn't care.  I came up with the idea to include a family picture on the quilt.  (something I have never done before).  

Out came the pattern books and magazines to look for inspiration.   I consulted Bonnie K Hunter's book Scraps and Shirttails.  

I viewed her shirt deconstruction video

And then got down to the task at hand.  Making two quilts using 6 golf shirts, 4 dress shirts and about 10 ties.  

the following pictures take you through their journey. 

ties unstitched

Shirt cutting begins

2.5" strips ready to go; lots to work with

test run of block

3 blocks done, many to go

tie strips; very slippery; used muslin underneath

Tie string block

many tie string blocks

I had to keep reminding myself through this process that these are not my colours.  These are being used for sentimental reasons.  

Whew I think that is enough photos for one post.  Drop back tomorrow for more progress on these quilts. 

Happy stitching

Lee