I've been "gettin' stuff done!"

These 3 quilts were intended as graduation gifts for my two sisters upon their high school graduations, and a similar gift for my honorary little sister, Lena. Let's just say that Nicole is graduating from COLLEGE in December, and Anna & Lena are both starting out their junior years at Clemson University this fall.

With Baby on her way, I've been feeling the urge to finish any outlying projects (partly because that's just my personality, and partly because who knows WHEN I'll have time to do them once she's here!). The past two years, with me working full-time (and usually overtime), I've barely had time to maintain-- between daily life, VBS coordination in the summer, weekly times at church, and writing curricula. For the first year of our marriage, I didn't have ROOM for big sewing projects, anyway. Ryan & I have both been motivated to work on our home-- to fix things that sort of annoy us, and to generally make it a pleasant, ordered place to be. I had forgotten just how much I enjoy sewing and general "craftsy-ness." I doubt I will go this long without at least some sewing projects again! One other impetus for the project completion has been the drive for storage space. These projects, brought with me from Greenville, have just been sitting there in my limited shelf space, doing nobody any good. Yuck! Who wants useless clutter? So... here we go!

The idea was to get t-shirts from each girl which captured their high/middle school careers. You know how you get so many t-shirts in high school, and you sort of want to keep them because they have all these great memories attached, but you also know you won't really wear them much? Here is the solution! (that website suggests using iron-on interfacing to keep the t-shirt squares from stretching. I didn't use it, but it probably WOULD be helpful)

#1- Lena's Quilt

Lena's was the first quilt I did. I'd actually pieced the top 2 years ago, when I first moved up here and was still living with the Moores. I borrowed Sarah Hedrick's machine... then I moved into my own home and everything was boxed until we finished the floors a year later...

Back of Lena's quilt-- I managed to include her soccer jersey. Not easy to sew.

Lena origally started at Furman (my alma mater), so I had chosen purple (Furman's color) & blue (Eastside, her high school) for the dominant shades. You can tell she was into soccer and involved on campus & our church. GBC-ers may recognize VBS t-shirts, mission trip shirts & church retreats (every winter over New Year's we used to have "The Gathering" in NC).

#2- Anna's Quilt

Anna was really involved at Southside Christian, her high school, so her shirts are nearly 100% school-related. Even the "I heart NY" tourist-trap shirts are from her senior trip. Anna likes to be well put-together, precise, and well, let's face it, perfectionistic. =D (I used to get such a kick from going into her room & setting her pictures on the wall just the tinyest bit off... oh, sisters...) So she gave me shirts that easily matched, and I found a pretty girly-girl green (her favorite color) polka dot cotton that tied it all together really nicely.

The back of Anna's quilt-- I began to experiment with using the BACKS (and sleeves) of the t-shirts for the backing. Waste not, want not, right? It makes for a really cuddly, soft back... and what else was I going to do with all those t-shirt remnants?

#3-- Nicole's Quilt

Hers was just finished on Friday, and I was so proud of it! I made hers biggest (16 squares), so I finished it differently. With the other 2, as with Éowyn's crib quilt, I had sewn the backing & quilt top together on the machine, with the filling sandwiched between. Then all I had to do was turn them inside-out, and then hand-quilt. But this one would have been too bulky & heavy to do that way, so I did it the old-fashioned way and pinned it all together unfinished, quilted it, THEN bound it all together (as you can see on the back).

Nicole was really into cars in high school, thence the camaro print. =D This quilt captures her JROTC career, her summer jobs as a lifeguard & Camp Spearhead counselor, her involvement at Southside High (including the homecoming t-shirt she designed!), her middle-school summer in France, and her love for the youth at Grace Baptist Church. She also has a t-shirt from one of our favorite family vacations in there: a beach condo rented at Emerald Isle, NC with Tia Olga, Andrew, Tia Virginia & Uncle Alan, my cousin Courtney, and our adopted brother, Kyle. I brought him home for Sunday lunch one time and he never left... lol.

Nicole's quilt back

I was SO excited about this: I did it entirely with t-shirt remnants-- sleeves, backs, pieces of fronts. I LOVE using all of something. I always wanted to be a pioneer, as you know... and their life mottos was pretty much "Waste Not, Want Not." My sisters used to call me "mrs. savey-save" & my husband wants to give me a "The Planet Loves You" award for recycling... I think my second motto after Waste not... is "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle." =D Quilting has always appealed to me because (originally anyway) it was a way to get yet more mileage out of scraps or worn-out clothes. I always laugh at myself when I go BUY yardage solely to cut up and then sew together into a big piece again (aka quilting as it's done today). I'd rather use what I already have... like the curtain scrap that became the blue in Nicole's quilt, or the small squares on Anna's quilt from a shirt someone gave me that was WAY too big (but was fun & crisp 100% cotton)... or the pyjama pants that were partially ruined with bleach which are the vertical purple pieces in Lena's quilt.

My current sewing projects are a baby blanket from a HUGE Furman t-shirt & one of my friend Ashlea's shirts, and a pillow case for my body pillow!! =D I think I'll have them done before Éowyn arrives. I have to put my feet up often anyway, so I just turn on an Audiobook or sermon, and sew away! =D I like this whole "nesting" urge!