Sailing Takes Me Away

Sailboats! This beauty came to us for repair. It’s been very “well loved” and in her family for a long time. Her great grandmother was over 100 years old and refused to take her quilts to be quilted by anyone who used a machine! So it was quilted all by hand. Most of the repairs will be completed by hand. See more of our repair work here.

If you have an old quilt that needs repair, give us a call 678-324-8084. It’s a good idea to try and bring it in when you notice any holes or tears. Holes don’t repair themselves. Wouldn’t that be nice. Self-sealing quilts ! Fabrics used in quilts can vary from very good and still in very good condition to cheap with holes and showing more signs of wear. With time worn areas tend to get larger. We have had some quilts where just one fabric was the culprit and consistently had holes or tore across the entire quilt, when everything else was fine.

We’ll look at the back, too. Sometimes the back needs attention, but sometimes not. We’ll come up with an estimate based on what we think needs to be done and present for your approval. Once we receive your ok, we get started.

Repairs are hourly. You can set a time or dollar budget that we can use as a guideline. A time budget could be, for instance, do whatever it takes, no matter how long it takes or don’t go over 20 hours. A dollar budget would be, let me know if it’s going to be more than $800.

Hand repairs are usually not cheap, but if it’s a special quilt, it can be very well worth it to restore it so that it can hopefully last another hundred years!

Here’s one example of what we’re doing on the sailboat quilt. The sailboat on the left was pretty holey and you can see where the middle layer, the batting, was poking through. There were also holes in the surrounding red fabric. We thought it more efficient to recreate the entire block, or sailboat square, rather than to fix the individual holes.

We recreated the sailboat on the left and replaced it with fabrics the customer approved of on the right. Now we’ll hand sew it, replacing the “well loved” boat to restore areas like this on the quilt it to useable condition. It looks like it’s been on a trip or two!

Let us know if you have questions. Pictures can often give us a good idea of what needs to be done.

No T-shirts, No problem

Where are the t-shirts? There aren’t any, at least that are recognizable! These were made from different colorful print clothing items. The shapes were cut to get to the desired quilt size and arranged in a layout pleasing to our customer. The back is a soft black minky. It comes in many different colors and feels so nice against your skin. The outer black border on the front is cotton where you can clearly see the quilting in heart shapes in a silver thread. Quilting makes it a quilt ! The very outer thin edge is the binding — another color choice when we’re making a quilt for you. Here it is black cotton. Aesthetically, the binding frames the outer edge. Practically, it hides the raw edges after the quilting resulting in a nice, neat finished edge.

Consider something like this if you don’t necessarily need the entire clothing item any more, maybe considering discarding or donating, but would like a reminder and memento of that special person that wore them.

The quilt becomes a huggable surrogate to hold and cuddle up with just as if that person were right there with you.

A Hearty Reminder

Hearts can be happy when they remind us of loved ones. Hearts can be sad when they remind us of a special someone who is no longer with us. This quilt was the vision of a widow in memory of her husband, a pilot, who died in a plane crash. It’s all made from the clothes he wore.

In the corners we quilted penguins. They met at the zoo and liked the fact that penguins mate for life and had planned to live together forever. The penguins, the hearts, his clothes in the form of a quilt, become a surrogate to have and to hug as if he was still here. Grieving represents love. Love never dies.

Happy Valentine’s Day

Consider the look of romance as a way to remember events shared with your significant other! Here we used 2 of the same t-shirts earned from running the Peachtree Road Race and shaped them in to hearts as a testament to the couples love and passion for running together over the years. Zoom in to see the quilting —running shoes! Quilting makes it a quilt! This is one of many designs that are available to personalize your masterpiece. There are many different ones with shoes and others such as crossing the finish line with your arms raised. We have over 500 designs and if you don’t see one that resonates with you, we can help to find something that you like.

The quilting goes through all 4 layers of the quilt. It is decorative, and done in the thread color and design that you like It is functional in that it connects all of the layers and keeps them from shifting.

If you’re a runner you may just have a lot of shirts that you’ve earned enjoying your sport. We don’t have a limit on the quantity that you can included. It’s up to you. Take some time to go through them and pick out the ones that you’d like to include in your quilt. You can still wear them, just in a different way, in the quilt!

A t-shirt quilt can also make a nice gift for that special someone. It takes time to make the gift of different.

Slow fashion. I’m liking that obverse to fast fashion!

What’s your vision?

Dream

Martin Luther King Day. Today’s the day. It starts with me.

A source for the full text of the speech is here.

The truth from his daughter Rev. Dr. Bernice King “Don’t act like everyone loved my father. He was assassinated. A 1967 poll reflected that he was one of the most hated men in America. Most hated. Many who quote him now and evoke him to deter justice today would likely hate, and may already hate, the authentic King.”

The dream starts with me.

Race Memories of a Doctor that Runs

This is Dr. Ann with her Peachtree Road Race quilt we completed 2 years ago. The Peachtree Road Race is held every year in Atlanta on the morning of July 4th. She has run a lot of Peachtree Road races in Atlanta and wanted to make a keepsake quilt from them. We worked closely with her to narrow down all of the important decisions and make final choices that she would be happy with. The fabrics she chose continue the Peachtree patriotic theme in red, white and blue fabric with silver-gray stars for the quilting. It was a pleasure to work with her again recently to create a quilt from running shirts from the triathlons they ran together as a family. She wanted the same style and about the same size. The quilting on this one is triathletes: swimmers, bikers, and runners all over in a silvery gray thread. Quilting makes it a quilt ! It made a nice gift for her son.

Our goal throughout was to provide the same level of excellence, care, and attention to Dr. Ann that she provides to her patients. No shortcuts. (In a race you get disqualified for that!) We greatly appreciate her review and a new third project now in the works. What’s your vision?

There’s a lot to admire about a physician that runs. It’s not easy to earn all of those shirts! Kudos to you if you run.

“The potential for greatness lives within each of us.” – Wilma Rudolph

“Don’t dream of winning, train for it!” —Mo Farah 

For all the Oklahoma Thunder Fans

Take cover. It’s thundering!

This quilt was made for a die hard Thunder fan for his baby girl. Not limited to just t-shirts, a part of his military uniform was included, too. The very cool Thunder fabric made for a cozy colorful border and how about those quilted basketballs. Stitched in their choice of electric blue thread. The design sinks in to the super softness of the luxurious minky back fabric. So nice to snuggle up in.

Also, did you know that we do everything? Starting with design. Then we frequently check in with you for approvals for the best execution. No shortcuts. It’s your quilt and needs to turn out exactly as you expect.

We’ll do everything to bring your vision to life.

How to get started: 1) narrow down the look that you like. Browse the portfolio for ideas. A picture or sketch can help here. 2) Review pricing 3) Call 678-324-8084 to know the deposit need 3) Mail your items to us with your deposit. We’ll let you know when we receive them and then lead you through all of the decisions needed to create your special masterpiece.

Take cover. It’s thundering ! 😊💕We can help you stay warm and dry !

Happy New Year

Happy New Year. I hope that 2025 is off to a good start for you.

Life can certainly change in an instant. Devon was a high school athlete that enjoyed lacrosse and football. He was on a family ski trip in 2020, had an accident and unfortunately suffered a traumatic brain injury ending his athletic career and leaving him unable to walk independently. Mom wanted to create a special holiday gift from all of the sports shirts and jerseys Devon had earned. To personalize it she liked the quilting design of his 2 main sports, lacrosse and football that you can see in the pictures. Quilting makes it a quilt!
When it was all done she came to pick up his t-shirt quilt and shared a video of the very, very best holiday present. After much hard work, right before Christmas, 2024, Devon was able to walk on his own without assistance. A story of love and courage. The best holiday gift ever. Read more about Devon Year in Review: Georgia Bulletin reporter reflects on a story of love and courage  – Georgia Bulletin – Georgia Bulletin. On the same site, go to the archives and search on Devon for a few other stories about his recovery.

An Early Quilty Christmas Celebration

She was going to be hospitalized for a stem cell transplant in September.  As it turned out she didn’t have enough circulating stem cells in her system so the procedure was postponed and another attempt scheduled for now, mid December.  The entire procedure can  take up to a month or more,  so the family decided to celebrate an early Christmas to be all together before she went in to the hospital.

Early Christmas took place this past weekend. Each adorable granddaughter pictured received their special quilt and a thoughtful book that included a picture of the quilt and the meaning behind the shirts in the quilt. 

“Even though my granddaughters are young they all appreciated and loved the quilts”. “My daughters and granddaughters were touched by each thought that went into the gifts.”

A time to be together, to think about others, and to be selfless. Goodwill, benevolence, and generosity,  That’s the spirit of Christmas. An early Merry Christmas to you, too, if for whatever reason, you, too, are celebrating early.