Tales of Faith and Thread

The Lord instructed His children to remember the things He had done for them – the WHOLE way. (Deuteronomy 8:2). We are humans with minds that leak. We just forget to remember things we REALLY should remember. 🙂 I use an endless list of to do’s on my phone, sticky notes and alarms and still manage to forget things. When it comes to really important things, I have to be creative.

I hope it won’t sound odd to you, but a quilt can help us remember. Quilts made for me by my grandmothers help me remember them and the love they had for me. Quilts can also bring comforting reminders of those we have lost.

I recently made this memory quilt for a dear friend. The stars in this quilt are made from her husband’s shirts. It was a way to honor his memory. This was her second Christmas without him. I was hoping to send some comfort her way.

This turned out to be a Queen sized quilt adventure. It is my first Queen sized quilt and the first one that I have had long-armed. Which, by the way, is the easiest way to go with a big quilt. So far, I have done a quilt as big as a twin size successfully on my small domestic sewing machine but it is quite the wrestling match. This quilt deserved a better outcome than what I can do with straight line quilting. It was the right choice.

The quilting pattern is called “Baptist fan.”

The quilt pattern is called “Quilty Stars” by Emily Dennis at Quiltyloveshop.com

Lessons I learned from this quilt:

*It takes longer than you thought it would take. Always. But it is worth it in the end.

*Starch those men’s shirts like crazy. This will help them behave the way you need them to. Try to use shirts with 100% cotton or at least a good portion of cotton.

*Men’s shirts are not quilting cotton. It is not as thick. Proceed with care.

*I used a 100% cotton sheet to back this quilt but I won’t likely do it again. I am afraid the sheet is too thin and I am worried about how it will wear over time. To be clear, I had seen my grandmothers use sheets for backings when I was a kid, but I think the sheets made then were a little better quality.

*I learned to persevere with this quilt! Wherever I could find 10 or 15 minutes, I hopped in there and sewed a little more. Every little bit helped get it done. And it was fun.

*Contrast is important; it makes the fabrics in the block pop! I used a white background quilting cotton for the piecing of the blocks which gave it some sturdiness. The white played nice since the shirts I used were mostly blue.

Also I would like to thank Cathy Martin from the Catbird quilts. She has a Youtube channel that is full of great info about how to use men’s dress shirts to make the most fabulous quilts. You can find her: @thecatbird on Instagram. TheCatBird Quilts on Youtube.