I have always followed Bonnie Hunter. I admired her 'made from shirttails' quilt designs. I loved how she thrift shopped for men's shirts for quilt fabric. Kinda shot that " I can't afford to quilt " analogy to hell. I have never cut up shirts for quilts -- except the t-shirt quilt I made Eric...
I never have -- until now. A friend I work with lost her 30-year old son to congestive heart failure. He just didn't wake up one morning. A volunteer fireman --- looking back, friends and family could all pick up the signs, but being too close to Billy --- they just didn't pick up on it.
Kay brought me a tote bin full of his clothes and asked me to make a quilt from them. Yikes -- all I thought was that I don't quilt well enough to do something like this. 'No seriously, My other son just announced they are having a Baby -- I'd like a quilt for that baby from Billy's clothes.."
I put the tote bin in the dining room corner and left it there for 3 weeks. I couldn't even open it. I finally opened to bin and saw the different pieces she sent. I combed through books, Pinterest-- anything I could find to get an idea of what to make.
I picked out a nine patch variation. I also found a fire truck applique. So for $2.50 I downloaded it. I probably could have drawn it out, but felt like accuracy was important.
This is the bottom three rows. It's made up of a baby blue oxford and three different plaids. It was amazing how for the shirt fabric went. Bonnie had a tutorial on how to dismantle the shirt to make the most of it. I incorporated a solid white background. I bought navy and white gingham for the back and binding.
There will be a row of 3 firetrucks. The firetrucks are burgundy, from one of Billy's shirts. It fit the theme. There will be a single plaid row on the top.
I started cutting on Mother's day. It was tough. Really tough. Lots of tears, tons of prayers for that family, for that Mother as the scissors cut out individual blocks. I can't even imagine her heart ache.
This is go to be a great quilt.
P.S. I'm back -- 4 quilts left the house without even a photo. Everyone goes through different seasons in there lives... I think I'm about to embark on a great one.
