T-Shirt Quilt a Different Way!

So I am getting a little tired of making t-shirt quilts this way.  They are too long and it's hard to pick fabric that isn't matching one of the squares!

So here's the new way!  We cut some of the shirts shorter, went with a thin sashing and added a colorful border.  The size is so much better and the blocks aren't so matchy-matchy.  

Had to show my cute quilt holder: 

And his lovely wanna be assistant! 

My Lucky Square Quilt

This is my version of the Lucky Square Quilt.  You can find the pattern here.   I went digging through my scraps and found some colors that I thought went together. I picked blues, greens, reds, and yellows that were no so bright and added in some turquoise that was a little brighter.  Then I came back and added some brighter reds to perk it up a bit.  

After picking my fabrics, I cut them into 2.5 inch squares, sorted them into blocks so that the colors would be spread out somewhat randomly amoungst the blocks.  I sewed the blocks together and laid them out on the design wall.  Then I could decide which color square should go in the sashing.  

Measure out all the remaining white pieces, sew your rows together, and your top is done!  Mine is smaller that the original pattern, 5x6 blocks.

A Quilt and Some Pillows

This is the second t-shirt quilt for the Children's Church.  I'm not sure about the green that I chose, but the kids like it.  I tried several colors in my stash, but I don't have a lot of kid friendly prints.  The back is a zig zag flannel with red, orange, green and teal on a white background.  I difinitely like the back! Sorry there's no picture.

There are so many shirts that the church has left over from camp and things that I couldn't possibly use them all.  So we took these white ones (which were ugly shirts in my oppinion) and turned them into cute pillows!

These white ones are going to be given away at camp with a colored sharpie as a "signing" pillow.  The campers can have their cabinmates sign the pillow as a keepsake from camp.

The process is quite simple.  After I cut off the top and sides of the shirt,  I used the 14.5 inch template that I have been using for the quilt blocks and drew a square around the design with disappearing ink.  Then I pinned and sewed about 1/2 inch inside the line leaving a hole at the bottom of the shirt for stuffing.  

We trimmed the top and sides with pinking shears on the ink line.  My daughter stuffed the pillows and I sewed them closed.  Finally, we cut the bottom with the pinking shears and it was done!

Here are a couple pillows we made for the Children Church store.  The kids earn tickets by learning verses and get to spend them at the store.  The "R" pillow stands for Revolution Youth. and the purple pillow below came from a young ladies retreat called "Her Virtue".   

So if you have old, or new, t-shirts laying around but you don't have enough for a quilt, you can always turn them into a pillow for a wonderful keepsake!