I finally finished the sorority tee shirt quilt my daughter requested. Don't think I ever want to do another one of those. I wanted it to be perfect, but I soon threw those wishes to the wind and just hoped I'd get it finished before she moved....I barely did. I finished Mon. Dec. 10 and she moved today, Dec. 12. She and the quilt are somewhere over the Atlantic on their way to the other side of the world as I write this.

Seriously, I've made a fully lined man's sport coat that was easier than this quilt. So I truly admire you gals and guys who have made the tee shirt quilts. The decals aren't straight on the fabric, the fabric stretches, it's hard to get all the blocks the same size and impossible to center each one. I used the felt-like iron-on batting.........sometimes it stuck and sometimes it didn't. Then I was afraid the ones that did stick would come loose if I ironed it after sewing, so I didn't press seams. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew! I'm glad it's finished.

My husband and daughter are standing on the farm truck holding it over the rails and it's still nearly touching the ground. I believe it's 94" X 94" finished. I had enough small logos to make the cornerstone blocks for the outer border, but had to make 9 for the interior, so I used violet fabric ( one of their colors...the other is maroon) and appliqued some, used fabric crayons on some, etc. using the sorority symbols of penquins, pearls, hearts, doves, triangles, and violets.

My husband has it all scrunched up on his side....it really is straight, but you can't tell from the picture.

That is so original, what a great idea, your daughter must be delighted, where has she moved to?
Katherine

cool idea for all the t shirts that are favs:)

WOW,You really did a great job, Thats a lifetime keeper. She'll look at it , and miss you terribly. It will get tear stains.

wow! that's fabulous! she'll treasure it forever!

Say what you want, It looks great to me, from what you told us I now understand why it is so expensive to have one made. I love the little squares. Its great :D

Really great quilt. :!: :thumbup:

You did a great job. I'm sure she'll treasure it and cuddling with it will bring the feeling that's you're close even when you're far away.

Looks great. I have only made them by using iron-on stabilizer to get the t-shirt fabric to cooperate.

Thanks guys for your compliments. I talked about our daughter leaving in some posts way back, but didn't realize until lately that I need to be cautious in revealing exactly where she is going for safety reasons. But the area was part of the old Soviet Union.

She gave up a great career with the Marriott Corp. to become a missionary. Her work visa lists her as a business consultant. She will be teaching English as a second language at a business school. She will also be working with children at risk. She went for a 2 week visit last year and came back with both sad and exciting stories.

The kids are from single parent families usually and the mothers are usually alcoholic and I suppose are prostitutes to pay for their addictions. They think the House the missionaries run to give them one hot meal each day is the only meal they get. They also socalize with the children and provide them with warm clothes. It often gets (and stays) 45 degrees below zero in the winter. She was told that the children are usually 2 yrs. older than they look due to malnutrition.

I get regular newsletters from there. In the spring this year, there were 2 male cousins who started coming each day. They would squirrel away bread crusts to eat later. The 15 yr. old had only one outfit of clothes..an old pr. of warmup pants that he tied with string and a warmup jacket. The 13 yr. old had a man's suit that was about 4 sizes too large. That was what they wore each day until the missionaries bought them some new clothes.

Then there's the success story of the tiny little girl (about 8 yrs. old) who has blossomed and is learning to crochet.

My husband is having a hard time with DD's move. He bursts into tears often during the day. I understand her desire to make a difference, so I'll miss her but I know she's serving a purpose.......a job like any other, just a lot further from family than some.

What a great story to top off a great quilt! I am sure you are really proud of her.

I bet there are a lot of us here that could donate clothes to those poor kids!

I have confiscated some of my husbands tshirts, promising to make a quilt some day out of them. I will have to get more tips before tackling that!

Best Wishes!

Sounds just like some areas here in the United States. You did a great job on that quilt!!!! :D

I like it but it is not one project I would ever take on,, I am not that brave :lol:

She must just love it. Its beautiful and surely is a one of a kind project. Great Job.

That is one 1 of a kind quilt. :!: :!: :!: What a loving gift--such a treasure.

What a great story and a perfect going away gift for your daughter. It is hard when they are so far away, but they are doing such wonderful work that it is hard not to be proud. Chin up dad, she is doing what she needs to do.
I love the quilt but I am still a bit too new for that challenge, although I think I have more than enough tshirts to get the job done. Maybe a lap quilt would work for me lol

ndi
Love your Fairy..........

I can relate to your feelings having had a daughter who served in the Peace Corps in Nicaragua. The two years three months she was gone were hard for all of us in her family. Like you we worried about her safety and health (she was sick alot). But, I do believe like your daughter that she made a difference in people's life. We have been lucky enough to visit there twice, once during her Peace Corp stint and again last Christmas. The friends we've made there will last a lifetime and my daughter learned invaluable lessons from living there. For one, we just are so truly blessed to be living here in the United States. We take so much for granted.......

p.s.----Thanks for all the pointers on the T shirt quilt. I have a box of them squirreled away with the idea of making them into a quilt and now I have a much better perspective.......(they may just stay in that box a while longer LOL......) Plus, I think your quilt despite all the challenges is wonderful!!!!

:shock: that is my look of amazement! Wow! Wonderful!

Thanks again everyone. I have a new challenge....WHAT to do with 16 perfectly good tee shirts except for the 17 in. square hole in the back and 7 in. square hole in the front..........I have a lot of ideas.......BUT your suggestions are welcome. Right now I have ideas of how to use every last shred of them, but have some other things I want to do first.

To Joan, DD is adapting wonderfully to her new home, even though it has been -30F and snows almost every day and she typically hates cold weather. She bought a goose down coat and long johns before she left here and snow boots there, ( tried the boots on in the snow in the outdoor bazaar) SO she says only her face gets cold. She even sweats walking through all that snow and it's very warm in the apartment. They have radiator heat controlled by the city...city turns it on in Oct. or Nov. and off in Mar. or Apr.

I bought her one pr. of socks from National Geographic catalog knitted from Alpaca and copper. The copper ( which you can neither see nor feel) reflects the body heat and she says they are extremely warm.

henryparris76.........Can I call you HP? I've been looking at your projects and they're great either for a beginner or old pro. Loved the hanky project.

I read a lot on here and learn a lot. I don't write a comment to everything I read, ( I'd never get off the computer if I did ) but I have learned a lot from just reading what everyone is making and "how" they are doing it. I LUV creative people.

Andi.......Dad is doing better. He doesn't cry everyday now...that I see. Read a lot and plan how you're going to do a tee shirt quilt. It is quite different from sewing woven fabric. I procrastinated, read on here and on other sites for a few months before I cut that first logo. I thought I had it all in my mind, but I changed plans twice even after I started it. Nothing is set in stone in quilting.

I don't have this picture stored on my computer anymore, so I had to find it in an old post. Hope this helps.

Just looking through archived pictures and admired your t=shirt quilt. You did a marvelous job with t-shirts which are notorious for stretching and having no consistency to the fabric. Love your quilt, and now especially enjoy the story of your daughter, who seems to be an angel on earth. I so, like many others do, admire those people who serve their lives for a greater purpose. Best wishes to you and your family.

Great Job - if you say you had trouble, it doesn't show. Your daughter has to love her quilt!

Oh honey, it is beautiful. I made one for my daughter. ( I didn't even want her to join the sorority ) She loves it and shows it to anyone who comes over. I call it "the quilt from H***". The most important thing is she loves it. Yours is great.

I think it turned out great. I bet your daughter LOVED it

You have done a fine job on your tshirt quilt!
I have found that I am the only one who knows where the weaknesses are in my quilts. Everyone else thinks they are perfect, so you be easier on yourself.
Improving something is always an option, but good work is good work and you need to give yourself credit for having done what looks to me to be a very good job indeed!
Next time <g>
your frustration may have come from the iron on batting, as you probably already know. A lightweight fusible interfacing would probably help you not have so many variables. And, for any considering using either product for the stabilizer on the tshirt fabric, always remember that interfacing, batting, has a give to it. By making sure that the "stretch" or "give" is always going the same direction, the quilt will hang differently.
Although, I still think your quilt is just great!

WOW! I didn't realize I had gotten the latest comments. We've been gone a month....was on 4 continents in a month...North America (of course), Europe, Africa and Asia.

Met our daughter in Barcelona in early April and went on a 2 wk. Mediterranean cruise from there calling at ports in Italy, Greece, Turkey, Egypt and Malta. Was in Rome for Easter Sunday and stood in a crowd of hundreds of thousands in front of St. Peter's Basilica to hear Easter Services and the Pope came out on the balcony to bless the crowd.

It was the first time to Egypt. We stayed in port overnight and had 2 full days giving us plenty of time to see the pyramids and the sphinx and take a dinner cruise on the Nile, visit the mosque of Mohammed Ali and watch a paper-making demonstration at the Papyrus Institute plus tour the cities of Cairo and Alexandria. Just glad the weather was mild...I was afraid it would already be really hot in the desert.

Barcelona was one of my husband's favorite ports when he was in the Navy during the Korean war, so we stayed 3 nights there altogether. Loved walking the Las Ramblas.

After the cruise, we went to Kazakhstan. I don't think I'm supposed to say where she's serving, but I don't know why. Everyone was so nice. We had a great time. We visited the orphanage. I had been sending beads and she took them one Sunday. I had expected they would have fun with them, but never dreamed of the intricate jewelry designs they made. More than a dozen of the teenage girls got into the floor and started turning out earrings, broaches, necklaces and bracelets as fast as they could. I was truly impressed.

We visited a lot of historic things like the gulags where Stalin sent political prisoners and the mass graves. I went with Victoria to her Russian classes and to the English class she teaches at the halfway house. That's where some of the orphans live after they have to leave the orphanage after 9th grade. Some aren't so fortunate and are just let go to fend for themselves. All of these kids are so talented, but there are very few facilities to help them after they have to leave the orphanage. Just breaks my heart.

Anyway, I saw a treadle machine at the halfway house. One of the girls who is 16, wants to be a fashion designer. She sews on the machine. Victoria said one night she was making a beaded costume for one of the other girls who was in a dance recital. She also crochets. The dream of all of them is to come to the United States. And Victoria's desire is to stay there. Go figure.

I learn more if I listen to her answers to other people's questions. Someone asked her if she would be coming back to the states after her 5 yrs. are up and she said she hoped to be able to stay there. The kids depend on her now. She said they were very needy and clingy when she first arrived, but now they know they can depend on her so they're becoming more self-sufficient and she doesn't want to leave them.

The ones who aren't lucky enough to get in a halfway house or trade school or aren't taken in by a family member, wind up on the streets. Aprox. 10% commit suicide the first year and the rest become prostitutes or drug dealers to survive.

We took an overnight train to Almaty in the far south near the China and Kyrgyzstan borders. We stayed in a duplex on the grounds of "Teen Challenge", a rehab center for young males. They had also taken in some younger male kids that were living on the streets. The manager said there are some addicts as young as 8 yrs. old and some prostitutes as young as 10.

The manager drove us around for a tour of the city and a trip into the Tein Shan Mtns. where the apple trees grow wild and they were in full bloom, as well as the wild tulips. There's a very good book about this country called "Apples Are From Kazakhstan" by Christopher Robbins.

He also took us to his favorite Uighur restaurant. He said they weren't supposed to open for another hour, but he told us to wait in the jeep while he talked to them. He came back and told us to come on in. I guess they opened up just for us, because we were the oonly ones there for an hour. We ate with chopsticks and drank green tea with the meal. He is a descendant of the Uighur tribe of China.

There are actually several tourists in Almaty, but it's not a touristy city. It is like a different country from Karaganda (where Victoria lives), though. It's green and has character and of course, the mountains. It has a population of 2 million according to our driver.

She lives in a city of 1/2 a million, but it's on the steppe....nothing to break the wind...it's in southern Siberia. It's very much like the plains in the US. Their only trees are planted in the city, but there aren't any outside of town.

It snowed twice after we arrived, but the trees & lilacs were sprouting buds by the time we left. The streets are one pothole after the other. The temps are sometimes 45 below zero F. And the summers are often over 100 F. She has moved into an apartment alone now and it's one of the very few that has A/C. The other 2 she has lived in did not.

I'll put some pictures on here later if anyone is interested. It takes a long time for them to upload, so they may be few and far between.

WOW! Great job!!

Your trip sounds very interesting. If you post pictures on Picasa or one of those sites like it you could just post a link to it. Glad you got to see and spend time with your daughter.

I'm just bumping this up from 3 or 4 yrs. ago. I haven't been on this site much in the last 2 yrs. until this past week and I was pleasantly surprised to find that it is now much easier to navigate and WOW, it has grown from about 2,000 members the best I remember to over 29,000. That's fantastic!

At the time I posted this tee shirt quilt, I mentioned it was for our daughter who was moving to the other side of the world. Some of you asked where, and I had been instructed to not advertise the location. I think it is still not identified on the mission website, but they all post to Facebook, so how much more public can it get?
She lives in Kazakhstan ( Borat's imaginary country), but there's nothing imaginary about it. It's a real place with real people although, it's a half century behind the rest of the world. We visited her there.

She teaches English as a second language and works with about 300 orphans at one children's home and close to 100 babies at a baby house and also does some volunteer work at a house for kids at risk in a poor neighborhood.

This is in the region of southern Siberia in central Asia and was part of the Old Soviet Union. The word, Siberia, is enough to tell you that the winters are brutal with possible temps dropping to 45 below zero and the ground is covered with ice from Nov. til the spring thaw in April. BUT, she began calling this land home almost immediately.
Nothing ever works all at once...i.e., the heat or the water or power will go off without warning or the lift will be out and she lives on the 5th floor and her clothes dryer is on its' last leg, but she cannot find a dryer in the stores...the Americans are the only ones who use them, so they are not stocked and hers is one of the oldest in the country. Sliced bread only came to stores since she moved there.
They shop outdoors in bazaars all winter and at times the vendors have to use hair blow dryers to keep their produce and their hands from freezing. She literally bought snow boots in the snow.

She now has a family of six siblings who consider her their mother. Seven siblings were dropped off at the orphanage nearly 10 yrs. ago. The oldest is now deceased, and 2 are still living at the home, but the older ones who have been released from the home at 16 or after 9th grade are either enrolled in a school with a dorm or working. They visit with our daughter on weekends and the 19 yr. old girl lived with her last summer while she did an apprenticeship in the city. They range in age from 11-22.

A really awesome quilt!She will love it forever!

I made that same statement after I finished my one & only t-shirt quilt. Never again, but yours looks great & your daughter will cherish it!!

The quilt you made your daughter is precious. It is beautiful and a treasured gift your daughter loves!

Love the story of how dd came to love her surroundings. She is doing remarkable work. And I'm sure she's made a huge impact on these kids lives. I can understand why she loves her work. It's very rewarding for her. Your raised her right! Great job mom and dad!

I'm glad you were able to visit her and take advantage of seeing other locations as well. You painted a beautiful portrait of the other countries that most people only dream about visiting. Well done.

Glad you decided to visit us again. And update as well.

Sue