Friday, 10 February 2017

A memory quilt for Catherine

This week I am making a memory quilt for Catherine. Her little boys' outgrown t shirts were in the attic for a few years and now I am turning them into a quilt for them to use everyday. It is so, so satisfying to turn a big bag of clothes into a beautiful quilt which will be really useful, to empty their attic a bit and give them something to remind them all of happy baby days too.

Memory quilt by Green Star Quilts
Almost all the t shirts are strippy, just a few plain ones. I have cut squares of 4.5 inches and when I started to put them up on the design wall, I realised they looked like African Kente cloth. I turned alternate squares so the stripes alternated and then added a thin strip of grey fabric between each square to continue the modern Kente theme. The grey fabric helps to stabilise the stretchy t shirt fabric too.
Memory quilt by Green Star Quilts
The white strip between the bands of colour looked just right, I love the modern style of this quilt...
Memory quilt by Green Star Quilts
It was all a bit slow to stitch together, but here is the finished top:
Memory quilt by Green Star Quilts
I kept some of the little pockets to add interest and you never know when the tooth fariy might need somewhere to put the tooth or the money..... The quilt is layered up now, pinned and ready to quilt....
Memory quilt by Green Star Quilts
Here in my oh so tidy sewing room (Ha Ha!! ), the quilt is under the sewing machine being quilted in straight lines before the binding is added. It is not quite finished yet but I am really pleased with the way it looks. I have appliqued a sweet little car from one of the
 t shirts at the bottom of the quilt.
Memory quilt by Green Star Quilts
I'll hope to show the finished quilt during next week. My goodness, we could really do with lots of quilts here in Lincoln. The weather is so cold, I hate to moan as I can see that lots of you in the US have loads of snow and we just have horrid stingy sleet to battle through. Daughter's little dog Nemi is having an operation on her leg today. We are all worried and hope it goes ok, so it is good to have lots of sewing to do, as a distraction, sewing is brilliant! Still, we have brave snowdrops out in the garden along with aconites and despite the cold, the mornings are lighter and things are beginning to stir after the dark months.
Happy quilting this week
kind regards,
Sue
Ps. I am linking up with Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts and I can't wait to see her new book soon.

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4 comments:

Jenny said...

What a lovely memory quilt - I especially like the way you have alternated the stripes this way and that! Did you stabilise the back of the knit before you cut the squares?

Sadly, the only memory quilts I have made is using clothing when someone has passed away. Your quilt full of baby memories is much happier indeed!

11 February 2017 at 15:16
Carie @ Space for the Butterflies said...

Oh that is such a lovely way to set off he fabric for a memory quilt, it's going to be gorgeous :)

12 February 2017 at 07:19
Sue @ Quilting the Green Star said...

I find I don't need to stabilise the t shirt fabric if I press it carefully and treat it very gently , but the knitted jumpers I do stabilise with non iron vilene which is a light weight stiffener. Lovely to hear from you Jenny, I envy you all that sunshine in New Zealand.

12 February 2017 at 11:04
Sue @ Quilting the Green Star said...

Hello Carie, thanks for your encouragement, I have just bought some black and white stripy fabric for the binding which will be finished this week. I couldn't find your blog to visit you and you are a no reply blogger, so I'll just say thanks again for visiting me,
Sue

12 February 2017 at 11:12

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