Monday 13 February 2012

.A special kind of quilt.

Here's a snapshot of my latest project:
A big pile of tshirts to be cut up and made into a king sized quilt.

The tshirts belong to Aaron.  Lisa asked me if I could make them into a quilt that her and the boys could snuggle under and be reminded of him.  I'm nervous that it won't live up to expectations!  But I'm also grateful to be trusted to transform them into something useful.  

And I'm really excited about seeing it all finished up - to me, some of the tshirts look a little scary (Motley Crue?!) Aaron loved his clothes, sports and music and I love how these tshirts sum up so many of his great loves!!  To Lisa, I know that each of these shirts bring with them special memories - of places they have been, things that were said, events that have happened.

Making a quilt is a big task, I'm so so so grateful to Sarah of Patchwork Plus for offering to quilt it for me on her longarm machine.  This girl is an absolute gem!  Quilting takes forever for me so I'm so happy to know that it won't take months for Lisa to get it back.

I've got some sewing to do - see you later!

P.S. The auction went AWESOME!  Did you hear that it raised over $12,000?!  The donations site is still open if you wish to make a donation.

13 comments:

Rebecca said...

good luck TOni! IT will be fantastic - and I am sure that they will all love it so much x

Alison said...

I spy both of the tshirts I brought home for Aaron from the US which makes me very teary and sad, and happy. Most people would be like "cool tshirt! thanks!" but Aaron was always so appreciative that I'd picked something for him, and acted like I'd bought him something really extravagant. He wore both of them all the time. I always get a really fuzzy and special feeling when I see him in the photos with Noah in hospital (ICU) wearing the tshirts, because just like you said, clothes are kind of a marker for places and things and conversations.

I know you'll do a great job. xo

Ana said...

what a beautiful idea (bet no one's ever said that about Motley Crue before!).

Lotti said...

That is just AWESOME .... I wish you every luck with making the quilt and I'm sure you'll do all those wonderful T-Shirts and Aaron's memory justice. I can't think of anything nicer than Lisa and the boys being rugged up under that quilt together. I can't wait to see a picture of the finished product.

Jopsy said...

That's lovely. A beautiful memory quilt x

Unknown said...

I put off a tee-shirt quilt for months because I was afraid to quilt it. But once I started quilting? Easiest quilting ever!! Mine was not a king though, so wise choice to send it off. I'm sure you will do a lovely job.

Debbie said...

Ive never made a t shirt quilt but I've read about them. It seems that you need to use stabaliser. Im not sure how to do a link but this is an address with some pics of some on a longarm forum.

http://www.apqs.com/quiltboard/viewthread.php?tid=28141&page=1#pid357858.

Hope it works. I'm sure you will do a fantastic job.

The Kings said...

I'm looking forward to snuggling under it :)

rachelmp said...

What a lovely idea. Good luck with the quilt Toni, and I would stablise them too so they don't stretch too much and make it difficult to quilt.

Bec I am said...

What a beautiful idea, what a wonderful thing to be able to do for the family.

Greta said...

Loved the quilt you made for Lisa from Aaron's t-shirts. I just think it's so awesome that when she's down or feeling blue she can just snuggle up with her Aaron quilt and a part of him is there.

You're a special cousin for loving her so much and giving of yourself and talents.

'Make it perfect' is just what you have done! :)

Baby Sister said...

How much longer will the fundraiser be going for?

Mary said...

I just linked to this post from the King's blog, which I've been following. I love the quilt. One of my sisters did the same thing for my niece (now our daughter) when her family died:

http://jarmanfamilyblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/pieces-of-memories.html

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