{Post 1,771} New Finish, and I’m in Love!

 If you have been reading my blog for long, you know I save every little scrap. I also love quilts made from upcycled 100% cotton shirts (limited to plaids and stripes). I had a little plastic basket that I was keeping all my shirt strings in (just the colors, not neutrals). It was exploding, and I decided to make a quilt from them. As I shared progress on IG and FB, one of my friends who is a missionary in Madagascar commented on how much she loved the colors and pattern. Here’s how it was made.

I cut many 3” x 6” strips of old phone book pages. I had run out and didn’t want to buy paper for using as foundations. So I sent an email out on my church’s list and a friend gave me 10 phone books (that’ll keep me making string blocks for a l-o-n-g time!). Old books are used because the ink won’t transfer when they are ironed. I merely covered the foundations with strings of all the scraps. Some “strings” were even pieced from several fabrics!

I cut the same-sized pieces from a bolt of muslin I have here. I set it with a straight setting, not on point as it appears in the above picture. Here are some progress pictures, in reverse order chronologically.

When I got to the original size planned, I asked her how big she wanted it. She wanted it bigger than I had already pieced, so I pressed on literally and figuratively. It is 84” x 94”. I let her pick the quilting pattern, and she chose topographical meandering. I did it in cream thread. Here are a few pics from the quilting.

I cannot get any more pictures to upload. I will try this another day. I even tried restarting my iPad.