My New Tee Shirt Quilt

In my 7 years serving in the Foreign Service, I had the wonderful opportunity to travel the world. I bought quite a few things, probably too many things, to remember each place.  Since I like to wear tee shirts, I tried to buy one from different places I visited.  It was a way of getting a souvenir that I could actually use and not just put on a shelf. 

A couple of years ago, I went to a craft fair at a local high school and ran across a lady who turned tee shirts into quilts.  I fell in love with her work!  It took me 2 years to finally have the shirts together that I wanted made into a quilt. I know…life gets in the way of great plans.

I contacted Melinda and made an appointment to meet with her and go over my future quilt.  What an amazingly nice lady!  I spend about an hour or so going over different fabrics, colors of fabrics that would go between the panels of my shirts, the backing, what I wanted stitched along the border and what I wanted stitched across each of the shirts from different countries.  The result was much more than I expected!  I knew it was going to be beautiful based on the quilts she had on display at the craft fair.  Around the border, she stitched the different countries the tee shirts were from. Across each shirt, she stitched something I said about it or a design.  On the back, which is dark blue, you can see more detail on what is stitched over the shirts on the front.  And because she stitched the design over each tee shirt, there will be no shrinking or shifting of the shirt.  

I know I’ll be using this quilt this winter and many winters to come.  One friend said “You aren’t going to use it, are you?”  I said “Hell yes!  Why wouldn’t I?”

If any of my Foreign Service friends wonder what to do with their tee shirts from their travels, contact this wonderful lady. She will Skype with you!

See the camel stitching?

I grew up in Coronado.

I love the plate of pasta for Italy!

 

Camels!

First Turkey Trot in Oman with shell stitching

Had to include my tee shirt from the Foreign Service

Sally and I did have an adventure in Sri Lanka!

Ahhh...Italy!

On my way to Retirement I made a short stop...the reference to "Thanks Dad" is because he was born in Greece.

If you think you might want one of these quilts made with your shirts, below is the contact information for Melinda.  It's not cheap, but it is something you'll treasure forever!  And it doesn't have to be just travel. She does beautiful quilts with your son or daughter's team shirts or vacations, like what is on her card below. She went with her family to Disneyland.  What a great way to remember a special trip!