It's ugly but has personality....

I LOVE making quilts out of used items. The joy of seeing a heap of old shirts turn into a quilt can't really be described to someone who isn't a quilter. I love finding fabrics from Op shops and rehoming them into a useful item. Of course I also like making extra pretty quilts, with all the latest fabrics that match..but they generally disappear to some raffle donation or baby or niece.

The scrappy quilts tend to stay here, normally because a little bit of extra love has gone into the making. There is a new addition made for my boy's recent birthday. He is a big lover of quilts, always likes to be wrapped warm and cosy and takes a big interest in the construction. He liked the clothes string quilt I made his sister for her birthday last year, and I have been racking my brain to work out what to do for him. Most of his clothes were unispiring to me and were passed to his cousins and my friend's boys. I started collecting up his t-shirts and in June at retreat i got serious!

I cut the front from all the collected t-shirts, then pinned them to a pre-quilted foundation piece. To give stability i crazy (string) pieced parts of his cotton shirts in the corners, using some of his Dad's shirts as well, one he is holding him in as a baby, another he wears in a date photo with me. I found an old football jumper from his team...in it went....his last ribbon from the local show found a spot..and I transferred some favourite sport photos onto fabric as well. A few boy type strips went in for good measure. I did some basic trimming to get at least some of the blocks to the same width and it turned into kind of t-shirt eye-spy! It has a very warm flannel backing and I added a polar fleece cuddle border to the top. Like I said, it is ugly from a purely aesthetic view, but he doesn't think there is anything more beautiful, 'cos it has personality! We have to keep cuddling under it and he keeps explaining to me why his is better than his sister's!

Here is hers, just for the sake of equal parenting. i love hers, it managed to be pretty, but then it didn't have to have star wars and geelong t-shirts in it!


Hope your day is great!