My friend lost her 19 yr old son two weeks ago in a hit and run accident. He was on his bike. Now she is asking me how to make a quilt out of his old clothes. She is in Fla and I am in Wa. Anyone on here from around Ormond Beach?

Sorry to here of your friends loss. Wish I was closer and if there is noone close enough welcome her to this site and there will be many who can talk her through one.

Can you skype with her???

i dont have skype but would be willing to get it. good idea!

from my understand skype is free and would be a great way to talk and help her with the quilt. Also have her look through somee of the tutorials here with the t-shirts to get ideas to help you help her.

Tell her about our board to check it out :roll: :lol: :P :thumbup:

There are so many ways that you can help her. If I may offer some suggestions to you....
A T-shirt quilt is nice but may be too difficult to do at first. So, maybe suggest that she collect the t-shirts and set aside to figure out how many and which ones to make in the future.
Think about shirts and jeans. A rag quilt with jeans/slacks on one side and shirts on the other. Don't forget to save the pockets for a little extra.
Now, this may be going too far, so please excuse.... Make some blocks out of his regular clothes, enough for a small pillow sham. You could suggest socks or misc items to use as 'filling' for the pillow.
A miniature quilt that she can have with her at all times.
There are alot of posts on making these here. So sorry to hear of your friend's loss.

Gwyn, so sorry to hear of your friend's lose. You are a good friend to help her with this project. Bless you and her and her family, of course.

Yes tell her about this board!

We'd love to have her here!

well, perhaps a rag quilt would work. easy, squares and not much work.

I made a quilt for a man I had never meet, with the clothes he gave me from his mother ( who I had not meet either ). Through asking many questions about her and getting some pictures of her, I was able to make him a quilt all about his mother and he had some of her clothing to remember her by as well. You could do it too. If she sent you the clothes she wanted you to use and you could talk with her about him and what she wanted. Good luck.

So Sorry for you and your friends loss.

My Prayers go out for you and your dear friend and her lose.

Sorry to hear of her child getting took out so young. Maybe it would be good if you could get her a pattern book or just some copies and let her choose a pattern to go with each shirt. She could then cut out the blocks and you could sew them together for her.

Heart breaking. I am so sorry to hear about this. Prayers said for her and her family.

Skype is free. Just google it and sign up. I use it a lot with my daughter.

We set up Skype when my son was in Japan for a semester. Once set up it is really easy and a great way to communicate. You could show her ideas and she can show you what she has done. You will need a camera for your computer- any of the stores like Best Buy and Staples can help you set it up.
You are a great friend to help her with this, she needs some way to put her emotional pain into a physical task. My heart goes out to her!

I am so sorry to hear of her loss. I would be willing to bet that if she let this board know where she is, there would be a couple of ladies on here who are close and would offer to help her with her quilt. She just needs to identify her location, or a close location so those in Florida could see if they are close to her.

So sorry for your friend's loss I have skype and it is totaly free from computer to computer also free dowmload and also if you have an older computer you can buy the camera-microphone at Radio Shack for under 30.00 dollars it is so inexpensive for other calls that I use it for my house phone

She will only be able to concentrate for short periods of time, (My 28 year old son died 4 years ago, I know the feeling oh so well). You will need to keep it very simple (maybe 8" squares from his jeans). That would be something she could cut out on the days that she is able think clearly. Just have her keep cutting the squares until she has enough, then move to the next step. Skype is also a great way to keep in touch with her, on the days she wants to talk as well. I have Skype and have been teaching my sister to quilt this way for about 6 months (She lives 250 miles from me).

Maybe she could join a guild in her area. She would not only learn to quilt but have the companionship and support of quilters in her community.

I have Skype its really easy to download and it is free, I talk to my girl friend all the time she is a quilter to and we show each other what we are working on and its almost as good a sitting in her livingroom.

Thank you everyone for the great ideas. I had thought after some time to offer to make her a quilt when she surprised me by asking me to talk her through it. It would be easier for me to just do it, but I believe this may help her through the healing process. She really wants to do it. Rusty quilter, I am sorry for your loss, the idea of doing simple squares is probably very wise. I imagine this is going to be a long healing process for her.

you might have her contact this:

Byrd's Nest Quilt Shop
Byrd's Nest Quilt Shop in Ormond Beach continues to be one of the largest quilt shops in Florida, if not the whole country. Over 5000 bolts of fabrics are ...

www.byrdsnestquiltshop.com/ - Similar

You could find out what classes they have. But you keep in contact with her to get her started.

I live in Mt. Dora, Florida but have visited the quilt shop in Ormond Beach many times. With the boards help and maybe going to classes at The Byrd's Nest she should be able to get a good start in quilting. Incidentally, the lady who owns the shop is from Oregon so maybe they could find something in common.
So sorry for her loss. This isn't something that will pass quickly but I find that quilting is great therapy.

Be sure to talk about her son. When I lost my daughter, nobody mentioned her name. I know they were afraid it would upset me, but I was already upset. I wanted to talk about her. Take your cues from her, but don't avoid talking about him, and use his name when you speak about him. Also, don't forget his birthday. She won't.

Quilting is great therapy. And the added benefit of friendship and companionship will be good. Blessings to you and your friend!

I live in Lakeland, Forida and am also in the process of making two memory quilts for a second cousin of my DM'S who lost her husband and youngest daughter within six months of each other. It has been a challenge, but also a healing process for me. I remember both of them wearing most of the clothes and also have pics of them in family photo albums.
I'm so sorry for your friends loss of her son especially at such a young age. Please do suggest that your friend join this board she'll get more help and suggestions.

Take a weeks vacation and go visit her. You could teach her the basics while you're there. I visit my two friends
in Stuart, Fl. every year for some shop hopping and doing some projects together. It is so wonderful. I cherish the time we spend together sewing.

God bless your friend and may she find peace in the art of quilting a memory of her son.

Take a weeks vacation and go visit her. You could teach her the basics while you're there. I visit my two friends
in Stuart, Fl. every year for some shop hopping and doing some projects together. It is so wonderful. I cherish the time we spend together sewing.

God bless your friend and may she find peace in the art of quilting a memory of her son.

I would tell her find a local quilt shop. They are always willing o help.

Prayers to you and your friend, such a horrible thing. Good luck with helping her make a quilt.

I made 2 quilts out of my friend's shirts. As he wore mostly cotton button shirts (and saved everything) I had pleanty of material. I just did 4" squares in order to take advantage of all the material.

I will be praying for your friend.

My prayers are with your friend & you

If she is going to use his t-shirts, tell her to iron lightweight stabilizer to the back of each design before cutting. T-shirt material "moves" too much otherwise.

Yes, Skype is free all you need is a camera in your computer or you can add a small camera for about $20.

She may really be asking YOU to do the quilt without actually asking. I think you need to assess that first. Talking with you about his clothes might be the therapy she needs to get her through the next few weeks. I don't think she would be able to cut up his clothing this close to his death. Poor thing. You are a great friend to help her through this troubled time. My prayers for all of you.

My sister-in-law and I use Skype to talk and quilt together almost every day. She lives in Fla and I in KY. It is free and we have some much fun doing this. If one of us doesn't know how to do something we can work it out together. If you have a computer and a webcam and she also has this I would suggest this. I think you would enjoy it. We do.

so sorry for your friends loss, invite her in here , there will be plenty of help day or night