A New T Shirt Quilt

It's funny how customers materialize.

I've taken yoga classes at Tampa Yoga for several years.  And I really enjoy it, even though I am the Spokesperson for Inflexible Citizens of America Club.  On a good day I can bend over and touch my knees.  And 44 years of violin playing has raised some interesting orthopedic issues, to be sure.  (Hold your arms up, and turn your face to the left.  Hold for 2 hours.)  But I still like yoga!
My yoga instructor had a friend who mentioned he had a ton of concert T shirts that he would like made into a quilt.  My yoga instructor was kind enough to mention to him that he knew a quilter, and gave him my email.  And so my latest custom project was born.

Jimmy has been taking his daughter to concerts since she was a small child.  He brought over a huge bag of shirts from all of these shows, so this will probably end up being a multi-quilt project.  Jimmy is an ideal customer, though-- he just wants the quilts to be made, and doesn't have a strong opinion of what sort of style they're in.   I'm free to make them however I want.  He said to me, "if I don't get quilts made, the shirts are just going to sit in a bag".

Here's the first one.

I quilt in my bedroom, so I have a design bed, as opposed to a design wall.

One thing about concert shirts:  it's ALOT of black.  My biggest challenge was adding color and interest to the overall pattern.

The blocks are all 12 1/2 inches, a convenient size since I have a 12 1/2" square ruler!

Some of the shirts were really tiny, truly child sized, so I filled out the block with additional fabrics.  This helped add color and interest, too.

The date on this Bruce Springsteen/E Street Band shirt is 2002.  This was also a really small shirt-- since the daughter is in college now, she was maybe 10 or 11 at this concert!  This shirt was also a little worn looking, and had obviously been a favorite at one time.

 A few appliques add color and interest.

And I love that guitar fabric that's being used for the long vertical sashing. (It's out of print but still available here  on Ebay.)

This is going to be a lap size quilt, probably about 60" square when completed.