Author: KyleTheGirl

First Responder

Posted on | by KyleTheGirl

Kristie lost her husband this year and came to us to make a special Christmas gift from his clothes for her son in his memory.  Her requirements: 1) She needed it by Xmas; and  2) being a gift for a 13 year old, the overall construction of the quilt needed to last and hold up over time.  Check to both.

A month out from X-Mas we received the clothes and immediately got to work doing the through assessment needed in order to come up with a design. 

Fabrics and materials selected were screened for durability and longevity. Kristie opted for a simple loopy quilting pattern instead of say an EKG, or heart rhythm offered as another option. In addition to adding a decorative touch, the actual quilting reinforces the overall construction.

Mission accomplished 12/19.  Included in the quilt were his EMS work shirts in the center. Around those some solid plain t-shirts, and 4 of his work patches filled in the corners. 12/20  it was shipped off to North Carolina and opened today.   The best reward for us:  the creation of something meaningful. More importantly—the smile.  

What’s your vision?

First Responder
First Responder
First Responder

Nancy

Posted on | by KyleTheGirl

Nancy came in to see us in between her worldwide travels. Near and far:  Hilton Head, South Carolina,  Europe, Greece.  When in town she’d come in to the shop so that we sit down together to refine her layout and vision for her quilt to get it exactly how she wanted it.  Decisive she didn’t want her masterpiece to conform to a template or pre-existing design. While it was to loosely resemble a friend’s quilt, it had to be unique. Over several iterations we got it. 

With packed executive days, once the quilt was done, the best delivery solution ended up being, since I was in the area that day, that I drive it to her. I pulled up to a large, understated house, set back on a hill off of a main street.  I knew she wasn’t there. I knocked. I imagined several servants in crisp black and white uniforms holding my door and bowing at me.  To the contrary, but, as expected,  I was met at the entrance by a big beautiful, friendly golden retriever and Nancy’s handsome son.  He got up from studying to greet me. His books on the table: calculus and physics. I had flashbacks of taking chemistry 2 as a pre-req for the RN program. Pain scale 10 /10.  It took me 3 tries to pass which I did on the last and final attempt. I wondered, taking those subjects,  what HE wants to be when he grows up.  Teacher? Scientist? Engineer? I left the quilt in their company just in time for Nancy to fly it to daughter that weekend who was just starting college out of town.  Nancy.  Blank. A name well known in Atlanta.

Seasonal Help Needed

Posted on | by KyleTheGirl

We’re now accepting applications for seasonal help starting in mid-September through the end of the year.  It’s our busiest season and the skills below or any combination of them are always needed during this time.  Looking for 1-2 people, for part time flexible hours 4 – 20 hrs/week.  Accuracy, dependability, willingness to pitch in critical in our casual, team-oriented environment.

Skills Needed:

Sewing

Precision machine sewing;  hand binding;  long arm quilting experience would be a plus.

 General Workroom Assistant

Ironing, measuring, pinning; filing fabric; computer-aided design/graphics;  running errands; data entry.

If you possess any combination of these skills and are interested please send an email to kyle@justTshirtQuilts.com  (no phone calls please) with interest and relevant work experience for consideration.  These are W2 positions with an hourly wage based on relevant experience.

Two of our wonderful team members hired as temporary workers last Fall are still with us so there’s a possibility for ongoing work depending upon your availability and skill set. 

UFOs

Posted on | by KyleTheGirl

Did you know?  The acronym UFO has a meaning very familiar to those that make quilts that has nothing to do with ships from outer space!  For quilters, UFO stands for Unfinished Object.  A UFO is often one of several projects started, all in various stages of completion such as a quilt that needs to be completed. Sometimes these can linger for years or… even life and not get finished.

Even if you don’t quilt you may have inherited UFOs and don’t know what to do with them.  Parts of quilts, blocks, or squares that can make something fabulous, if only you can get them done. Or maybe you have a project you’ve been thinking about converting a duvet to a quilt, for instance, and haven’t even started yet.  Pictured are some examples of UFO’s and other projects we’ve had the pleasure of working on that may give you some ideas. 

Summertime, for us,  is a good time to gather all of the pieces, any fabric you have any ideas and bring those to us.  We’ll work closely with you to design something awesome and get it finished.

Put them in the car.  Call or make an appointment and come on by.  We’d love to be a part of helping you finish your UFO or other special project you’ve been meaning to get done.  Let’s get started!

Legacy
Bow Ties
Colorful Diamonds
Sun Bonnet Sue
Sun Bonnet Sue
Lone Star Block Beauty
Lone Star
Living Memory
Butterflies
Block Beauty
Block Beauty
Block Beauty
Block Beauty
Crossstitch
An Inheritance
Working on the Big Wall
An Inheritance
UFO 6-b
Yellow Binding
IMG_5057
IMG_5078
IMG_5142
UFO-3
Roses before
1 2 3

 

Don’t forget the quilt

Posted on | by KyleTheGirl

Our cover shows soft-wear –a beautiful motorcycle quilt.  Quilting makes it a quilt. The quilting pattern all over is motorcycles in a light gray thread.  This adds a soft contrast against the black fabric. The binding in gray provides a nice frame around the border and collection of shirts. 

If it won’t fit in the saddlebags on the bike,  you may have to take the sports car!  

Weighted Blankets

Posted on | by KyleTheGirl

When it was done the whole quilt weighed 12 lbs. That’s 2 bags of sugar!  Collectively, the many parts of jerseys used account for most of that! So if you have a lot of jerseys or t-shirts and desire a weighted blanket, bring them all. We can help and think you’ll  like it more than a weighted blanket!

That’s because: First, technically, it’s not a blanket.  It’s several warm layers that we quilt to your requirements. It is quilted and quilting makes it a quilt! The layers are all held together nicely in the pattern of your choice.  It’s also thicker than a blanket; and, should you desire, we have even more ways to add a little more weight around the middle.  Secondly, it’s your shirts and memories that make up the canvas.  The footprint is yours. It’s one of a kind and won’t look like anything anyone else has. Third, there are no additional external weights added to the inside.  It’s all fabric.

This Masonry quilt was made for an athletic son who excels in baseball and football. Check out in the balls in the quilting.  

The extra weight in a weighted blanket is promoted as therapeutic. So if you like or need the weight, bring your heavies–your shirts, jerseys, jeans, or items you want to add.  Let’s get started! 

Weighted Blanket
Weighted Blanket
Heavy quilt

St. Pat’s Day Party

Posted on | by KyleTheGirl

Come on out to a fun event!  We’ll have some recently completed motorcycle quilts for you to see and 10% off gift cards for orders received by June 5.  Be sure to get your raffle tickets as we’re also contributing the BEST prize — a quilt!

Graduation 2018

Posted on | by KyleTheGirl

If you have a graduation coming up, we’re happy to get started on your quilt gift now to make sure that you’ll have it in time for the special occasion.  For us, nothing is mass produced or done in a hurry. Orders are individually crafted and prioritized based on when you get it to us and then the due date. So if you come to us on May 1 with a May 20 deadline:  a) orders received before yours will be completed first and b) it may not be done in time.  So if you have a date in mind, it’s never too early to start gathering your shirts and  Contact us  We like to have time to give you all the time you deserve  and make your vision come to life.

Your due dates are taken very seriously to where after the holiday I was having dreams about just that!

Our last Christmas 2017 order was to be picked up Christmas eve.  Three days before Christmas I was having dreams that something wasn’t done, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. A quilt was due for Christmas. In my dream I couldn’t remember which one or what was still needed; and if I couldn’t remember it, oh no, it wouldn’t be ready in time.  I’d wake up in a half-asleep fog and do aerobics in my mind trying to figure out who, what, where, when, why and how before fully coming to and realizing aaahh it was just a dream.  Everything had already been finished on time and already picked up !

Our last 2017 Christmas order was Debbie’s which was the last one that we took on the very end of November.  Debbie and her husband were beaming and relieved when they came in to pick it up on Christmas eve.  Their order was done and on time.  It was now time for me to go.   Everyone else had already gone home.  I took off my perfection hat and left to enjoy Christmas. 

Strange is that this dream would continue to wake me up in the wee hours of the morning for 3 days after the holiday.  We were far away in California on vacation.  

We spent a lot of time around Manhattan beach. After 3 days with high doses of  sun, seagulls, and beaches, it wasn’t long before those dreams vanished, and I was sleeping soundly again.

The moral of the story. I’m a perfectionist about pleasing you. Start early so I can do just that.