It's with a heavy heart that I share a recent project. Not long ago, we lost an important part of our small Waverly Hall, GA community: 12-year-old Colin. He passed away suddenly last month and it broke everyone's heart. He was the definition of an All-American Athlete, even at his young age. He was caring and sweet and above all else, a good friend. My son Colt, who was the same age and a fellow teammate of Colin, had nothing but kind words to say about him. I was incredibly honored when my friend Melissa, the boy's mother, reached out to me to create a quilt for him from his jerseys.
One of the most amazing things about this is just how many jerseys that Colin had. Just how many years he spent in sports at such a young age. Once finished, this quilt is spread to be over 85" x 110". I've done several graduation quilts for seniors that weren't nearly this size.
As in most of my t-shirt quilts, I cut each block to fit around the focal point of the shirt. It's not a one size fits all! Once all of the blocks were cut out, it was time to arrange them in the puzzle piece form and carefully sew them together.
Next stop..which is sometimes the scariest part for me...loading it onto my long-arm machine and beginning quilting.
This quilt was massive. It was definitely the biggest t-shirt (jersey) quilt to date. While planning it, I had to take into consideration the magnitude and change the shape up. With the backing needing to have a little overage, I designed this to be the full width of my machine, and be a little longer instead of more square.
Last stop is to bind! It's so heart filling to see all of these jerseys into one. Think of how many years were spent at the baseball, football and soccer field. And even on the basketball court! Colin will be deeply missed but I hope this quilt brings even some happiness to those he leaves behind.
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