Head First

I must admit that I have jumped head first into quilting.  I have always sewn.  I was lucky enough to have a mom that taught me how to sew.  However, I had never made a real quilt.  But, I have always wanted to become a quilter.

So how did I jump into the quilting?  It was a day in June and my 20-year-old daughter (The Musician) was home for the summer. The conversation went like this:

The Musician: Mom, I have all these t-shirts (holding up garbage bag) will you "help" me make a t-shirt quilt out of them.  ("Help" is code for will you make me a t-shirt quilt because she does not have a domestic bone in her body.)

Me: Sure.

So I started researching t-shirt quilts (on Pinterest of course) and decided it was time to become a quilter.  That's how I found Melissa Corry's Star Surround Quilt-A-Long, which again I dove into head first.  (I still have finished that quilt top, which is a story for another day).

The t-shirt quilt pieced together pretty easily.  The hardest part was planning the placement of the shirts.  She didn't want regular material for the backing, she wanted fleece.  I opted not to use batting for fear it wouldn't quilt well.  I basted the backing on to the quilt top and there it sat.  I was scared to do anything else.  Then I found the Star Surround Quilt-A-Long to distract me.

The plan was to finish the quilt before she went back to school in August, but my fear kept it from happening.  I finished it this week.  It's not the best or prettiest quilt ever, but it's finished and we all have to start somewhere.

I do have to say that this is actually my second finish.  I made another quilt for an auction.  I will tell you all about that in another post.

I chose a very simple design of stitching around each t-shirt.  I didn't want to mess it up too badly.  What do you think?