From a basket of t-shirts my friend had collected over the past 13 years while her daughter was active in Girl Scouts, this mom’s long held dream came true.  She prepared the shirts and made the top and bottom borders, printed memory photos on cloth, and did the first draft layout.  Her schedule didn’t allow her the joy of actually sewing the top together and learning how to quilt the top, so this is where my skills came in to complete the dream.  Read more about this giant quilt /what-im-working-on-in-late-aprilearly-may

There were numerous rearrangements of shirts before the first stitch was made.  Think of a gigantic jigsaw puzzle where parts could fit pretty much anywhere and the object of the puzzle was to fill a rectangular area with no empty space.

When the “space” was filled, the next challenge was how to sew it together with the least amount of unmatched seams.  There were no rows or columns like other quilts are constructed.  At last, I conquered all and the quilt was quilted!

Presented to her outstanding daughter as a graduation gift not just from high school, but also with a 2 year degree from a local junior college, mom and daughter alike were anxious for the gift box to be opened.  You see, I only shared one photo of the quilt on the design wall at an early point in this process, so my friend didn’t know what to expect.  I’m pleased to say, both mom and daughter are happy with the end result!

The beginning of several re-dos before getting it  all fit together!