Ed Whitlock's T-Shirt Quilt... the Finish Line is in Sight!

Holy moly, this thing turned out HUGE!

I'm a bit frustrated that it took me so long to finish it up; I picked up the shirts from Ed and Martha over six months ago! It really isn't a complicated quilt, I just get myself into too many things at once. I'm working on that. I'm glad they've been patient with me. 

I finally got around to assembling the 10-foot long rows this past week, and I think the quilt top turned out great! The arrangement of the blocks mostly has the effect I was going for, although I just wish that there was a bit more blue punch to the square two right from the center. I tried to arrange the different colored shirts in a pattern that made sense, while still keeping Ed's most meaningful shirts toward the middle. It actually kind of reminds me of a Scrabble board. 

I guess we need a bigger garage. I'm sure my hubby would be on board with that.

Eh? Maybe, maybe not. 

This thing is a beast, though. The quilt top itself weighs nearly five pounds! I think it's the combination of the thicker knit jersey and the fusible interfacing that gives it so much bulk... plus it's just massive. 


While wrestling this thing through my sewing machine, I found that it seems to flow smoother and stretch less if the cotton fabric side is down as opposed to the knit/fusible side. I usually sew with the smaller piece on top, so I really didn't figure this out until I was assembling the big rows together. Oh well. My points aren't absolutely perfect, but I think it's good enough. Done is better than perfect, right? 



I went on a mini quilt shop hop with my mother-in-law today to try to find some backing material. I guess I wasn't really expecting to find anything bigger than 108", but I had hoped I'd at least find something kind of fun. Sadly, most of the places we went to didn't have a great selection. I did find a bunch of other stuff I didn't need though! *facepalm*

All the heart eyes for cute zebras and fun colors!

TULA SCRAPSSSSS!

Whales!

And some surprise friends inside! 

My good buddy fabric.com has a whole bunch of extra wide options, but I just wanted to get it done with while I had the ambition. I ended up buying plain navy 108" backing and some yellow print to add the extra width (which will actually be height on the finished quilt... a little edge of yellow at the top). Bonus points for JoAnn's though; they were having a big sale. The print was half off, and then I stacked up a bunch of coupons and got the 108" for 40% off, plus 25% off my entire purchase. So basically, I got $50 worth of fabric for $27 and change. I'll take it! 

Prepped and ready for sandwiching.

And now the biggest quilt of my life sits, awaiting a date with the longarm machine. Gosh, I can't remember if the tables at the NWTC Artisan Center are 12' or 14'... but I sure hope this thing fits!

Waiting.

Comments

  1. GreenBayTinaMay 26, 2019 at 4:00 PM

    WOW - what a project. I love how it came together. You did a fabulously us job on a huge challenge. I know Ed will love it. I look forward to seeing the quilting process.
    Also looking forward to your. t-shirt block tutorial.

    ReplyDelete

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