Fireworks Quilt

This most recent T-shirt quilt was made for a co-worker whose family runs a fireworks business.  Her son came up with the idea of a t-shirt quilt for his father, made from various firework related shirts gathered over the years of their business, attending annual trade shows and other related events.  It also includes some shirts from their business.  Because I was trying to get in a lot of shirts, it did get LONG.

We searched through the various firework related fabrics for something to use in the sashing, and decided on a scatter print of small sparkers (that do sparkle).   and the backing is a sunny bright yellow that is the same color as the shirts their employees wear.

I even got out of my comfort zone and stitched freehand stars for the quilting. I decided trying to do actual fireworks would just look like dandelions or worse.  Several years ago I read in a quilting book that any freehand motif looks better doubled, so I tried it and I'm pretty pleased with it. I also tried another method of joining the fleece.  I had been reluctant to sew the pieces together like normal quilting cotton because I knew you couldn't iron the seams open.  I was worried about them not laying flat, so I used a glue stick to hold the seams down during quilting.  Worked like a charm.

But this is the best part.  The son & father came to my office and I got to give it to them in person.  They were thrilled.  The best job.