Off to Paris

Paris
The quilt now in Sara’s sunny room in Paris

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“Wow!! Looks amazing” was Sara’s comment after first seeing the picture of her finished masterpiece.

A recent UGA grad with a major in Romance Languages Sara is now off with her Delta Zeta t-shirt quilt to Paris where she will spend time working in the beautiful city, using her French.

Sara’s pink and rosy quilt is made from her Delta Zeta sorority t-shirts and done in a basic Blocky style.  When looking at fabrics we considered an Eifel Tower fabric to use around the t-shirts.   All design elements considered, the beautiful roses with pink worked much better. We’ll have to include the Eifel Tower in the next quilt!  Pictured with Sara is Mom, Lori (also an RN).

Every customer is so special and unknowingly leaves a permanent impression from the close communication exchanged while working together through the creation process.  It becomes embedded in the quilt pictures for me long after they’re gone.  Sara I’ll always remember as very upbeat, positive,  and happy — who doesn’t need to come across that  during their day.  I always looked forward to her emails  and do still hope to hear how she’s doing in Paris.   Mom, Lori, raised a wonderful  young woman. She has to be a wonderful mother. Something spiritual resonated from and between both that’s hard to describe other than special. Thanks Lori, also for the referral to your friend from church.

Sorority. Fraternity, club t-shirts?  It would be a pleasure to get to know you and, together,  make something fabulous !

 

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Road Trip

Aaahh a soft, supple quilt.  It drapes and hugs back. It’s made out of your t-shirts.  Just how you wanted it.  It’s great to take on your road trip and snuggle up for the car ride. Use it for a picnic or outing along the way.  Bundle up in the hotel — instead of fighting over the air.  Take it to the campground.

You drive.  Let us steer you through the highways.

There are lots of roads to take to make it special  We’ll help you pick the ones to get it just right, and just how you want it. Such as what thread to use: “Cornbread” or “Electric yellow”! Cornbread won out for Karen’s quilt along with bright yellow flowers and super soft cuddly fabrics. All the main ingredients needed to make a special quilt for her daughter.  She actually had given up. It had been promised for so long; but, with Karen’s help, we made her daughter’s dream come true.

Let us do this for you. We work hard on the details to get things as close to perfect as we can get it. Be picky!  Karen’s quilt was completed just how she wanted it.  An exec at a healthcare company–the details mattered a lot!  The proof:  114 emails and 5 phone calls later, it’s done. Best part, her daughter’s happy. “She loves it” and  we received a special “thanks so much for your attention to detail”.  What’s your vision?   “

Give the Gift of Different

Someone special, may appreciate something special, personal.  Different.  Like this custom t-shirt quilt made for a long-time employee retiring from McDonald’s. Shown off at the regional meeting in Louisiana.  Thanks Roseann for choosing Just T-Shirt Quilts.

163 days till X-Mas!

Give the gift of different.

 

Come Fly With Us

Expect Great Things and Great Things Happen

Summer is upon us. I was panting coming up the hill from a power walk yesterday. 90 some degrees and high humidity. Drenched with sweat.  So who the heck is thinking about a quilt when it’s warm!

Summer means beaches and squishing toes in the sand.  Summer means playing outside and getting sweaty. Summer means air conditioning after the workout. Thank you to whoever invented air.

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After a robust spring graduation season and some brief vacations, summer means we’re (in the air) and back creating masterpieces.

Many days I have to pinch myself.

Summer means continuing to grow. Summer means flying.  Fly as on the wings of your trust and confidence. Fly as in our team has grown again. Welcome to our newest specialists Kesiena and Duk-Sun. Fly, as in working on 3 aviator quilts.  Presents for pilots.  Summer is for flying.  Ask me how I know.

Kesiena is with us through the summer. Her flight mission is to soar and professionally prepare all of the t-shirts for sewing before they even hit the runway ( go in to the quilt!). This involves precision: cutting, measuring and a high degree of accuracy.

Duk-Sun’s mission is hand detailing, hand bindings and special projects including a current one: an upgrade for a customer. We’re unquilting some “old” t-shirts from an existing t-shirt quilt and replacing them with some newer shirts! We’ve got this.

A new project came from customer, Thais, a beautiful Bolivian who recently flew off to Amsterdam where she’ll be for 3 years. Her going away present to us: to make a quilt from doggy bandanas. We came up with a flight plan which she approved.  We’ve got this.

cut squares and remnants

We don’t expect gifts ( or applause) once the destination is reached.  Today, once there and I disembarked I was transported 4 years back in time to a trip to the Provence region in the south of France.  Large beautiful big fields of flowers.  Sunflowers. Lavender.  Yellow, purple. Fragrant.  Fresh. I kept taking deep breaths.

The destination is reached. The quilt is finished. Jean is now here for it with an unexpected surprise: big, brights sunflowers that say thank you.  The beauty and burst of color are uplifting.

Sunflowers

 

Jean and I became friends through the quilt creation process and discovering  things we have in common. We each have a child getting married, her daughter this Saturday.  My son, next year.

Her wedding gift –the t-shirt quilt—is ready for the dynamic duo this Saturday.  T-shirts from her daughter and fiancé intertwined into a unique wedding present.

Dynamic duo

Our mission is to soar.  Come fly with us.

 

Cotton Anniversary

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I had to take a look at the list for myself.  I knew about gold for the 50th and that silver was in there somewhere, but didn’t recall – if I ever even knew — where cotton was on the wedding anniversary list. Cotton, Julie informed me is what you give for a second wedding anniversary gift. As in a t-shirt quilt that’s made out of cotton.

Julie’s quilt for husband Jeff (pictured), is made from both of their Peachtree Road Race t-shirts. Julie wanted to use as much of the shirts as possible, so the fill in around the Peachtree artwork came from what was left over.  It works!

In staying with a patriotic theme, as the race is run on the 4th of July, Julie picked out stars for the pattern that is stitched all across her quilt.

We finished it in the nick of time – at 3 pm on her anniversary day.  Julie was able to give it to Jeff that evening and kind enough to email me the picture saying “He loved it”.

I sighed. Another one…gone. The new friendship with Julie and the nice Peachtree quilt gone from my life. Boo hoo (violins and sad music). Oh well, I thought. It’s not mine; and, on a positive note, she did say she was saving her sons shirts to have more t-shirt quilts made some day.  Guess I just have to stop getting so emotionally attached!

If you have a special occasion coming up,  just know that we’re at your service and happy to help plan a special gift for a very special occasion!

This is the list I found when I googled:  http://www.hallmark.com/anniversary/ideas/anniversary-gift-ideas.   Is “googled” really a verb now? Guess I’ll have to look that one up, too!

X Marks the Spot

We’ve received t-shirts marked with duct tape. Sometimes lots of duct tape.  X in this case does clearly mark the side of the shirt to not use, but it can sometimes be hard to remove. Especially if you’re sending them from a warm climate or they’ve been sitting in your car for awhile!  Plus, the tape can remove fibers and art, leave adhesive residue, and distort the t-shirt in the process of removing it. We want to know exactly what you want, and are happy to receive them anyway you can get them to us. If you’ve already taped them, by all means send them! If you haven’t taped them, don’t.  You don’t have to.  For the overall health of your t-shirts, better to take a picture, print the picture and make comments on paper than to use duct tape. This can help prevent some “sticky” situations! Thanks!

 

Treasures From Afar

Unique fabrics and t-shirts make up Michelle’s t-shirt quilt. Michelle brought these back with her from Africa after spending time in the Peace Corp. Mom, Katie, got them to us and we completed and shipped the quilt to Michelle in California for her birthday. When I asked Katie what Michelle thought about her present Katie replied with this picture with the words “the picture says it all”.

In your travels see if you can find a bazaar, market or local resale shop off the beaten path. Look for a t-shirt that is different or has words in another language. Hand printed or hand painted fabrics are special. You may never return to that place again and just may come across some treasures to include in your t-shirt quilt.

Michelle with quilt

 

Graduation Orders

If you’re thinking about a May graduation gift it’s not too late. We’re happy to take on your graduation quilt and can still guarantee completion by your May due date. This means whatever it takes: additional resources, planning, people, time, schedule changes to move your quilt up on the list and have it ready for your special occasion. In return, for orders received after March 1 with May deadlines a 20% escalation fee will make it happen. For orders received in April that becomes 30%.

Avoid all of that and at least get your deposit to us by March 1. Your deposit creates a reservation so that we know to expect you. Here each quilt is made to your specifications and crafted using precious time and talent. Timing matters so that your quilt can be ready for you when you need it !

Note: Starting with this info, I’m testing moving all blog entries to “Social” which you can find from the left side of the home page. This will reduce duplication as the same info is often posted in both places.

Just Chillin’

About our new cover photo: it’s a picture of Candy in Illinois relaxing. We completed this quilt as a graduation present for her daughter last May. She got it to us right around the first of the year 2014 allowing plenty of time to complete it.   Living in a rural area, there was a little anxiety over the delivery. It was pouring down rain the day it was delivered. But it arrived in perfect condition and on time.  Quilts to be shipped are wrapped for the elements. No worries!  Starting early gives us plenty of time to complete your t-shirt quilt and get it to you in time for that special occasion.

Candy Under the Quilt