Update...it's finished!

Here she is in all her frustrated, yet finished, glory.

Special note here, this corner shows the binding, which was quite difficult to attach.

This shows the back - the millions of stitches that we had to use to hold the batting (middle layer) in place.
Here are the two pillows I made with leftover scraps from the shirts on the front of the quilt. They were pretty fun to make.

Thus, major project #2 of my year is done. First, the Ireland scrapbook. Second, the t-shirt quilt.

Next on my list of accomplishments is to read Harry Potter #7, after seeing Wicked, the musical, in Chicago on Wednesday, of course.

How many librarians does it take...

You would not believe how long it takes to work on a 7 1/2 foot by 9 1/2 foot quilt.

FOREVER!

The idea, the design, was ruminating in my mind last Fall. In December I began the arduous task of interfacing and measuring and cutting up all of my favorite old t-shirts. That was Step 1. In December. That month, I also picked out the colors of fabric for the inbetween parts - charcoal with a subtle pattern and deep red with dark flecks in it. These would, in essence, create the cross-beams between each shirt square. I began cutting those out, as well, while on vacation at my sister's in Arizona.

In January, I bought a sewing machine. And thus began Step 2 of the quilt -- sewing all the t-shirt squares, strips, and tiny squares together in rows and then one by one sewing all the rows together. 8 rows of shirts. 9 of the cross-beams.

I almost quit in March, when I realized that it wouldn't/couldn't be perfect. I messed up one cross-beam row. Didn't align at the corners with all the other squares.

I left it sit, my sewing machine idle, for at least 6 weeks. I was immersed in a huge scrapbooking project. Once that was done, I had nothing left to work on, except this ginormous quilt, hanging out unfinished in the corner.

I got the top part finished in...well...May, I think. At that point, I believe I had done the hardest part.

That is, until last Thursday, when I delved into it again, after a long break. I headed to my parents' house and swore I couldn't leave until it was completed. I needed my mom's expertise in sewing and her help with the calculations (I really suck at numbers)..

After 3 trips to the store for more supplies, we began. Step 3 -- quilt assembly.
Assembly...doesn't seem like it would take too much time. But this is what I found that it entails.
~ Taping the fabric backing to the floor
~ Laying on top of that, the batting, or stuffing, for the quilt
~ Cutting and sewing the batting in order to match the size of this gigantic quilt
~ Putting it back on the floor, on top of the backing
~ Laying the quilt top (all of my t-shirts and what I had finished up until this point) on the batting
~ Pinning all 3 layers together - using probably around 200 pins...all of the ones I had, plus what mom had in the house
~ Using embroidery floss to making stitches through all 3 layers to hold the quilt together when the pins are removed (12 skeins of charcoal floss, 4 of red, 1 of white): Note that each stitch is actually a double stitch, requiring double the amount of floss and time. Five stitches in each of 48 t-shirt squares; 3 in each of 100+ charcoal strips; 1 in each of 63 tiny red squares.
~ Removing all the pins
~ Flipping the quilt over and tying knots in every single stitch
~ Putting whole quilt on floor, trimming the edges and preparing for attaching the binding

All that is left, Step 4, is binding the quilt together - which makes the edges look nice and holds it all together. That is what will happen tomorrow.

December to August. That's how long it takes to make a quilt. Without Mom and Dad's help this week, it would never have been completed.

I did it!

Here she is in all her glory!
Okay, so it's really just the top of the quilt, but honestly...I can't believe I did even that much. It's awesome.

I'll have to enlist some help (Mom...?) for the batting and hand-sewing on the backing, but, for me, this was the major part. Cutting, arranging, picking out colors, sewing, seam-ripping when I messed up (three separate and major times), and ironing seams, once I got them right.

Below is my favorite part of the quilt -- dead center, all my favorite old t-shirts: Care Bear, MASH, I heart Ireland, my tiny pocket red shirt from 8th grade, Ciao Ciao from Italy, my Good Will China shirt that Evan picked out, Mr. Bubble, and, last but not least, Steve Buyer...best and last campaigning I ever did, handing out fliers for him during a parade in my hometown.

Yay for me!

PIECES DONE!

All pieces are cut and laid out on the living room floor. Despite a minor setback of my complete idiocy with numbers and geometric shapes, we're going to have an amazing piece of work here. The picture follows:

This is going to be a pillow for my bed. Matchy-matchy.

This is my old quilt on my new bed. I can't wait to see what my room looks like with the new quilt!

UPDATE! UPDATE!

This just in....

I found my old t-shirts - my absolute favorite from 7th grade that I wore until I went to grad school last year; and the replacement Mr. Bubble shirt for the original Mr. Bubble shirt from freshman year of high school (the first had to be pitched because it was so thread-bare). The best news, of course, was that I found a 3rd shirt with them. The green American Eagle one with a dragonfly on it that I have loved and also wore for many, many years. I had a senior picture taken in both the one from 7th grade and the green one. My favorite senior pic was in that green shirt, despite the fact that I was basically hanging out in a tree (to match the green) in a long-sleeved knit shirt and khakis in the middle of July.

In other news, Casino Royale is definitely worth seeing, and this from a girl who doesn't like Bond movies at all.

Also, the Bruschetta Chicken Pasta at T.G.I. Friday's is phenom. Eat it.

I APOLOGIZE FOR MY NEGLIGENCE

But it has been a crazy couple of weeks.

I graduated from college - went through the ceremony and everything. Here I am in my garb.

I moved into my own apartment and with the help of my parents, Cat, and Simon, it looks pretty amazing. Here are some preliminary shots (kitchen and guest bedroom).

I entertained for the first 2 1/2 days while living in my new apartment - being with Cat is always amazing!

I was invited over for my first neighborly dinner at Liz & Chalupa's. Waffles with blueberries are lovely!

I arranged for cable, Internet, insurances, etc. to all happen after I return from my Christmas extravaganza with the fam in The Zone (short for Arizona). That felt like a very grown-up thing to do.

Now I'm at my parents for the next few days--seeing old friends, hanging out with the 'rents, and, to everyone's surprise, making a t-shirt quilt of all my old fav's. This quilt is going to be amazing, despite the fact that I've misplaced my two favorite shirts of all time (they were the original inspiration for this crazy crafty project). I haven't taken any pictures of it yet, but will within a day or two. You should be expecting something spectacular; I sure am. But we'll see.

Off to see a movie or something fun, at least.