After striking on an inspiration for a design for the TShirt quilt I was commissioned to work on last week, I had much more interest in finally getting all the shirts cut up and interfacing ironed down. First stroke of good luck: one bolt of interfacing (I used Pellon 906) was the perfect amount! I have about a yard left from the bolt along with assorted odds and ends.
Second stroke of good luck: I was able to thematically group the TShirt blocks together into 5 “missing man” formations.
Missing Man TShirt Quilt: Scaled Formation (top) and Air Force Formation (bottom)
Missing Man TShirt Quilt: Oshkosh Formation
Missing Man TShirt Quilt: Reno Air Racing Formations
Third stroke of good luck: even the pocket art grouped together just as well. I do have 2 left over panels that did not work into the mix, but overall, I am really pleased with how it is coming along.
Missing Man TShirt Quilt: Pocket Art Formations
As a quick recap, these TShirts are all related to or reminders of my client’s pilot friends who have “gone west” (passed away). And here is a link to Wikipedia if you are interested in learning more about what a missing man formation is all about.
I will be spending time over Thanksgiving doing some quilty math and coming up with a plan to put all of this together into a quilt top. Do you have sewing / quilting plans for your holiday or do you plan on enjoying the company of family and staying out of your sewing room?
Linking up with WiP Wednesday and Let’s Bee Social to see what everyone else is up to this week.
Looks like you’ve got a good start! I am hoping to play some catch up this weekend, but also spend some good quality family time. I *really* need to make progress on a few projects, one of which needs to be finished before the end of the month, so I am definitely hoping for some solid sewing time… somehow… somewhere. Happy Thanksgiving! <3
This is going to be a very special quilt, I’m looking forward to watching it grow and learning more about pilot-speak 🙂 Happy Sewing xx
You’ve gotten a lot done. Good luck with your progress. Can’t wait to see it finished.
Love the idea – gonna look great. Happy Thanksgiving!
It’s always nice when things come together! Happy Thanksgiving! I plan on taking a day or two away from the sewing machine…I’m even going to clear it off the dining room table, but not for long!
This is going to be a very special quilt. Enjoy your sewing time –
Happy Thanksgiving
Happy Thanksgiving Yvonne! Your post shows that this is going to be another great success! I was so hoping to have a quilt binding almost finished last night, but I did not even get the last three rows quilted….so since we are going to families today, I will finish it when we get home later this evening. The remainder of the weekend will be spent on Christmas gift making. Thanks for sharing and have a wonderful creative day with lots of good food and great friends and family! Brenda
The missing man formation is working out well in this quilt. I hope you have a wonderful time this weekend. I’m into early Christmas celebrations myself. My work party is on Saturday evening and the Toronto Modern Guild has it’s last meeting before Christmas on Sunday and there is a lot of fun planned for that meeting.
It looks like this one is coming together nicely, Yvonne. It’s very interesting to see your process with this one. I haven’t done a t-shirt quilt yet, I’ve been a little stand offish as I have read nightmare stories. I will be watching your progress with this one with great interest 🙂
I’m not sewing for the next day or two. . . machine is in the shop which is ultimately a good thing but man, I feel like my left hand has been badly wounded!! LOL Hopefully my machine will be back in its proper place by the end of the day Saturday. Sunday I will be sewing up a storm!! 😀 Until then, we are spending lots of time in the Jeep and on the bikes out in the desert 🙂
What a special quilt! I really enjoy your thought processes and the layouts you are creating. Will you be able to use the extra panels for the back? Pillow shams? a carrying/storage tote for the quilt?
You will find me in my sewing studio. It’s raining and will probably turn to ice here… definitely no store traffic shopping… not that you would catch me in a store today on a good day!
You’ve made some great progress on this project. No sewing for me this holiday – it was spent traveling and with family. Looking forward to getting home tomorrow evening to just relax and recoup.
I’m glad you found some inspiration for this quilt. Your layout is very appropriate.
Oooh this is coming together nicely! How big is this quilt going to be? Are you using the tshirts on the front and back?
What a poignant quilt it’s going to be. You were clearly the perfect person to commission to make this, not sure anyone else would have come up with this idea.