Two Commissions and throw in a bonus

With the recent comfort quilt, two commission quilts and getting a head start on the next fund raiser quilt, I've made 4 T-shirt quilts in the last 2 months.  The system is working well and everyone seems happy with the quilts, and I'm getting faster at the process.  All good.  I do wish I could locate extra wide fleece, piecing the fleece is a pain, but I almost always have enough shirts that the 60" just isn't wide enough.  Maybe my next post will be how I splice fleece.

Lots of quilts lately and a new way to press

Not sure how, but I've ended up making 4 quilts in the last 2 months.  I'm getting pretty quick at these now.  I have a system of course (accountants love systems).  Over the years I've developed a production line method to fuse woven interfacing to the back of the t-shirts.  I precut all the shirts to the same width using Karen Kay Buckley's perfect adjustable square ruler set.  It is perfect for trimming t-shirts.  Generally I start 15.5" wide and what ever length the design is.  I lay them out face down with no spaces between them on my two large ironing boards

I have already precut the interfacing to my standard width and rolled it with the fusible side on the outside.  So now I can easily unroll the interfacing across them all and get it all smooth and ready to fuse. (Note, I don't typically use black interfacing but the store was out of white and I needed more quickly.)

Using 4 different irons with extension cords running to different rooms so that I don't blow any fuses (I know, I know, electrical hazard) I start alternately moving one iron after the other across the section of interfacing.  It's tricky because the irons are wedge shaped so I have to pay attention and make sure I've covered everything.  Once fused I roll that section up and lay down the next.  When all are fused I trim them down to 14.5 wide and I'm ready to add the sashing.

Since I seem to be doing so many of these quilts now, I thought perhaps I would invest in a heat press.  But geesh they are so big and heavy and you pretty much need a permanent place to store them.  And I just wasn't sure I wanted to abandon my production line method.  Hmm, I decided ease of storage was a priority for me.  I do make a lot of t-shirt quilts but not so many that I wanted to take up a significant space on the counter.  But I discovered a compromise, the Cricut Easy Press.  And I am in love!  It is basically a 9" square iron with a timer and a temperature gauge.  Ha, no more counting.  I loved the first one so much I got a 2nd one. It was so much fun just walking them evenly down the row.

No more weird iron shaped sections since they are square, no more spurting rusty water.  I did discover a damp pressing cloth worked better than just spraying the back of the interfacing,   Also discovered that since the heat is more even, a couple of the shirt designs got too hot and stuck to my ironing surface (yikes), so I cut the time back to 10 seconds.  The pressing cloth helped with that too.  And look how cute they are, stored away in my fruit crates under my long arm table.  A perfect fit, sitting in the heat proof stands.  They are pretty great for smoothing out yardage too.

It definitely made this step in the process much faster and more enjoyable.  I timed the last quilt I made and it was right at 12 hours from start to finished binding.  Bring on more T-shirt quilts!

Comfort Quilt for Coworker

Recently a long-time coworker has been faced with some health issues.  I had some extra t-shirts around, also asked for some donations and received several more.  I brought 4 of the blocks to work and had people sign well wishes.  And here is the finished quilt.  The backing is nice "drapy" fleece and so it turned out pretty soft.  I've discovered the backing has a lot to do with how nicely (or not nicely) a t-shirt quilt drapes.  Hopefully the signatures will last, we used a .08 Pigma pen and I heat set them.

Edited to add the thank you note

Omg I love this quilt so much!! Happy tears it came at the perfect time! I been depressed since Sunday! So sick of cancer and all the side effects I deal with daily! It truly made me so happy! I know God is good! I stay in prayer I need to beat cancer! 💪🏻Be on the look out for a Thank you note I will be sending to thank everyone! Please tell everyone I truly appreciate the love and kindness that was put into the quilt 💙 I will do chemo again in 2 weeks and will use this every time to remind of yalls kindness! I miss y'all more than you know! Much love to everyone💕💕💕💕John loves it too