Built a Quilt!

As some may have seen from my Facebook post on Sunday, this past week I knocked out two items from my Operation 30 list:

#8. Finish my t-shirt quilt - check!

#4. Do an adventure race - check!

In order to do them both justice, I'm going to separate my blogging and focus on one at a time. The nerd in me says it should be chronological in the order they were completed, so here goes my quilting extravaganza...

The last I wrote about my quilt in August, my mom and I were working on cutting the fabric border pieces and sewing the front of the quilt entirely together. I have to be extremely clear that my contribution was exclusively in the ironing, stenciling and cutting camp, while my wonderfully talented mother provided all of the expert sewing skills. I'm not sure if this picture does it justice, but this is a QUEEN SIZE quilt. It's huge! To break it down a little bit, there are 30 t-shirts, 76 border strips and 42 corner squares just on the front of this thing. That's 148 separate pieces that my awesome mother stitched together piece by piece...and that's not even counting the edges or the back!

The month of September was spent sewing together the front, while October was spent finding someone who had a machine to do all the quilting. My mom again came through by finding someone a short drive from St. Louis who said she would do the quilting for $50. (Yes, $50!) To put that in perspective a bit, the next lowest quote for quilting such a large size was well over $100. What a deal!

So my mom and I made the short drive in early November to drop off my quilt front, back and batting to our designated quilter, Marie, who I can only imagine has thirteen grandchildren and spoils them with presents throughout the year from all the money she makes quilting. (Seriously - garage full of quilts "on deck", rolls of batting, and patterns galore.) We picked out the pattern and thread for my quilt. (I went with "blown wind" and white thread.) And in roughly two weeks time Marie was calling me to tell me that my quilt was ready to be picked up. That was two weekends ago. All that was left after that was finishing the edges, which my mom did in a very short timeframe. She sent me a text last Thursday to tell me the good news - my quilt was finished! Sweet!

In case you're wondering, the answer is, "Yes, there is a significant meaning behind each t-shirt." And if you're curious just what that meaning is, then read on...

First, the shirts are arranged in somewhat chronological order. (The engineer in me had to have a structure to work within when arranging.) So the first two rows are elementary/middle school, the second two rows are high school and the last two rows are college. If you imagine that each row is numbered 1 through 6 and each column is labeled A through E (just like Microsoft Excel), then here's your decoder ring:

A1: New Kids on the Block - Only my favorite band in 2nd, 3rd and maybe even 4th grade. Jordan Knight was my fave.

B1: Colors, We're Better Together - An elementary school play where I sang in the chorus. Sad my vocal talents never fully materialized. :-)

C1: FHSD - Together We Excel - That's short for Francis Howell School District, and the t-shirt design is one I recall my mom creating/inspiring. (Yes, sensing a crafty/talented theme?)

D1: Kid Songs - A special chorus I participated in during elementary school.

E1: Of Mice and Mozart - Another elementary school play. Yep, again in the chorus.

A2: Dance Connection - Where I took classes in tap, jazz and ballet for several years. (Yes, I can still bust out a time step on command.)

B2 & D2: Zingers softball jersey. Pretty sure this is what I was wearing when I broke my leg for the second time in 5th grade.

C2: St. Joachim & Ann Volleyball - Shortly (we're talking days/weeks) after getting my cast off, I switched to volleyball which I was much better suited for and played for 3-4 years. Mother was my coach.

E2: Bullwinkle! - No, I don't have a crazy obsession, but there was a summer when Taco Bell had a frequency punch card for tacos...10 tacos = free taco, 20 tacos = free combo meal, etc. This t-shirt was my glorious prize for eating my way around an entire punch card. (I was not a burger and fries girl, but I loved tacos.) I remember getting two crunchy tacos and two soft tacos every time. I think my parents liked that they could feed me a fast food meal for less than $2.50, and I wore the crap out of that t-shirt!

A3 & B3: FHHS - Francis Howell High School...where I spent my Freshman year.

C3: Small Pieces - A conglomerate of t-shirt scraps from band (played flute in middle school), softball, dance, National Honor Society and Frullati Cafe (my first real job where I made smoothies, sandwiches, wraps and more in the mall food court).

D3 & E3: Francis Howell Central - Where I spent my Sophomore through Senior year. First graduating class - 2000, baby!

A4 & E4: Cheerleading! Yes, surprising as it may be for those who know me today, I used to hold pom poms, cheer, and be a solid base in throwing up liberties, elevators, basket tosses and my personal favorite - knee stands. Tina, Lauren - that was a shout out to see if you were paying attention. :-)

B4 & D4 - Powder Puff football! One of my favorite annual events during high school.

C4: Small Pieces - A little bit of college flair mixed into the high school row...pledge class t-shirt for St. Pat's, Godz shirt from Greek Week and a sleeve from a Zeta shirt I used to wear all the time.

A5: ZTA '04 - This was the Greek Week t-shirt from my last semester, but to me it signifies two important things: 1) my sorority, Zeta Tau Alpha, which I gave a lot of my time and energy to and got a lot from during college...friends for a lifetime and great experience serving as President, VP-Membership, etc, and 2) the year I graduated!

B5 & D5: Intramurals jersey for Zeta. My favorites were flag football, soccer and weight-lifting.

C5: Greek Week Godz t-shirt. I was elected Artemis - Goddess of the Hunt!

E5: St. Pat's sweatshirt from 2002 - The Best Ever! Had to include one of the many of these I own in here. Aside for the renowned engineering school, it's what separates my alma mater from others who only pretend to celebrate St. Pat's. (We got two days off each year!)

A6: UMR - That's Joe Miner on a t-shirt with the logo from the school I graduated from: University of Missouri - Rolla. Not to be confused with Missouri University of Science & Technology, or Missouri S&T, as it's called now. Regardless of the name, it's still a great school and I'll always be proud of graduating from there with a BS in Mechanical Engineering (and a minor in Spanish).

B6: 10 Signs You are Dating a Female Engineer - Literally, one of my favorite shirts from college. The creative genius of my friend, Jamie, who's actually pretty funny when she's not being completely disgusting.

C6: Order of Omega - A Greek Honor Society for which I also served as President and gave my time during my Junior and Senior years.

D6: UMR Panhellenic - I served for ZTA on Panhellenic Council for three years, and had a great time. Kind of a work hard, play hard program when I was there.

E6: Recruitment Counselor - Last but not least, my last semester I disaffiliated during Formal Recruitment and recruited incoming Freshmen to consider joining a sorority. It was hard to leave my Zeta family that week, but a great opportunity to help others share in an experience that had meant the world to me during my college years.

Phew! That's a lot of t-shirts. Recounting the memories above makes me even happier that my mom and I were able to repurpose them in a meaningful way. Admittedly, in terms of time spent, this was an 80-85% Deanna (mom) project, 10-15% Danielle (me) project, and 5% Marie project. Therefore I can't take credit for the great craftsmanship of my quilt or why it looks as great as it does. But I can say that whenever I see it or think about it that, yes, I'll remember the individual t-shirts and associated experiences, but I'll also remember the time spent with my mom pulling it all together and the time she took out of her busy schedule to make it perfect for me.

THANKS, MOM!

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