Old T Shirts = Quilts

Take one women + no quilting experience + directions printed from the computer + less than one month to make TWO quilts

= I  have lost my mind!

What do you do with bags and bags of T Shirts ? 

I promised my daughter a T shirt quilt when she graduated in 2007

Of course I was so busy with work I never got around to it.

So I got this insane idea that I would make hers and also

 my son a quilt and surprise them at his graduation party!

His party was less than one month away...

My kids are in my business know about every project going

 on in this house...so this was a challenge!

I ended up making two trips to our "Little House In The Woods"

The kids could not understand ... they know I am scared to death to stay by myself.

I got over my fear of being in the woods alone and the fear of  making something that might not be perfect.

Challenges...  OH YES THERE WERE MANY

    The challenge for his quilt was finding his

 freshman band  'Football Marching'  Tshirt.

Asking around without him knowing!

 Thank goodness a really sweet fellow band mom let me have her shirt.

She had kept her shirt over the years and still wore it.

 Some Tshirts had just small designs, so I picked a few

 and made one block with them.

 For her quilt, I had tons of shirts, the challenge for her quilt was

 deciding which shirts to leave out.

Because they had so many shirts ...I kept sewing them together and before I knew it they BOTH had queen size quilts..

(quite a large quilt for a beginner to make) 

 Of course I wanted to quilt them myself,

so I had to take a class on how to use a long arm quilting machine. 

The  local shop would let me rent their machine. Challenge..their machine was not big enough.   I had to drive to New Orleans twice to quilt them.

(I told the kids that I was shopping in New Orleans for a dress for his party,
 they know I hate to shop,   so it was hard to make that believable.)

I had them almost finished...I had to complete the edge binding,
 but I wrapped them up and gave them at the party just like that!

They were so surprised...but I think that really I was the one surprised. 

 I actually took on this challenge and completed it!  It was so rewarding.

I'm not sure about you,

but with every project I learn a little more about myself.

( I have linked to MADE BY YOU MONDAY @ Skip to my Lou  please go and check out all the great ideas)