T-shirt Quilt: Part 2

February 17, 2020February 19, 2020 SewtropolisLeave a comment

I made another t-shirt quilt this week for a friend of mine’s daughter!

I love how this one turned out! Once I had the t-shirts we scheduled a call to go over what her daughter wanted. She pretty much left the design up to me, but knew that she wanted the borders to be a gray… and that she wanted the backing and binding to match.

Some of the shirts were smaller (child size) so I had to ‘build up’ some blocks to make them large enough.

When laying it out I thought it would be cute to have Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse looking out across the quilt to each other.

I quilting it using a longarm, and super fine thread that blends in so nicely with all the blocks.

Like I said, I’m really happy with the way this turned out. this quilt is about 55″ x 55″ and I used about 15 t-shirts (a few front and back) to make it. I have my listing up on Etsy if you’d like to your own t-shirt quilt.

Sample Seahawk T-Shirt Quilt

February 8, 2020February 24, 2020 SewtropolisLeave a comment

I posted earlier that I am taking custom orders for t-shirt quilts. I’ve done a few in the past, but unfortunately didn’t have pictures of them to post on my Etsy site to ‘advertise’ my work. Unfortunately, I don’t own a lot of graphic t-shirts … so I took a trip to Goodwill and picked up a few Seahawk t-shirts to make this Seahawk themed lap quilt.

I think it turned out okay considering some of the t-shirts were “V” neck and I didn’t think of how hard it would be to ‘center’ in a block. I also included some kid-sized t-shirts that needed some ‘building up’ to make the block larger. The quilt measures 45″w x 50.5″ L … so not quite square, but plenty big for a lap quilt.

I had the green fabric used in the sashing and the binding in my stash, and the Seattle/Seahawk themed blue fabric was purchased from JoAnns.

I’ve taken pictures and listed it on my Etsy store as an example of my work AND listed it for sale here. As much as I like it, I have a house full of quilts and like I said – I’m determined to get out of debt.

Happy Sewing

sewing

Looking at 2020 Goals

January 21, 2020 Sewtropolis2 Comments

Last week I told you about one of my goals for 2020: obtaining my Greek citizenship. Another one of my goals is to get out of debt! I will admit that I am one of the 169 millions of American’s who holds debt – and I hate it! I was a pretty good money manager, up until about the time I opened my business. I said it before and I’ll say it again: I loved owning my own business, but man did it take a toll on me… physically, mentally and especially financially.

I have no regrets – and I take full ownership of my debt. I’ve been pretty steady with clawing my way out, but I am at a point where I want to claw my way out faster! I think it was Suze Orman who said “Debt is Bondage” and man is that TRUE!!! It’s been hanging onto me for too long now and it’s time to break free!

Dave Ramsey suggests that to help pay off debt one should get a side-gig. So I make quilts… and sometimes I sell quilts. I watch dogs via Rover.com – and that is fun, but during the winter months there just isn’t a lot of people traveling. (no cash flow).

I am currently working on a t-shirt quilt for my brother and he is SO happy with it that he suggested I make custom quilts for people as a side-gig. I typically don’t like to do custom work for people – after all I have enough projects of my own… but then I think “Debt is bondage – get your priorities straight!”

So I’ve added “Custom made T-shirts” to my Etsy store. I’ve made each of my kids their own t-shirt quilt.. but I added lots of other stuff to ‘fill in the gaps”, so they are more of a memory quilt than a t-shirt quilt.

Drew's quilt Dion's quilt

I also made my brother his quilt – he just wanted all his shirts sewn together – no sashing or extra stuff. (my brother has ‘unique’ tastes in t-shirts).

Sam's quilt And, I can also do a t-shirt quilt that has sashing… I just don’t have a good photo of that style (but you can bet I’ll be working on one).

My debt is pretty large, but my determination to get out of it is even larger. I’m curious to know what your side-gig is if you are also digging yourself out of debt. In the meantime, feel free to contact me if you want a t-shirt quilt done… or know anyone who may.

Happy Sewing