Texas Bicycle Memory Quilt

For 2023, my personal challenge is to finish all the “UFO’s”  (Unfinished Objects), or my “PHD” (Projects Half Done) or help a non-profit finish some quilts.  My goal is to finish each quilt as it is made, check out my Island Batik Ambassador projects each month as well.

I went looking thru some of my quilt tops to see what I had started, but had not had a chance to finish.  Back in 2019, My husband, Randall and I rode several Bicycle rides around Texas.  We had so much fun, and I decided to collect an extra t-shirt from each ride to create a memory T-shirt quilt for 2019.  I kept all of the t-shirts in a bag because I could not make up my mind on how I wanted to assemble the quilt.  It would be something that we could take on future rides to sleep on, or for shelter.

In November 2022, I took a class at the Houston Quilt Festival, T-Shirt Quilts Made Easy with Martha DeLeonardis.  I am so happy that I took the class with her.  I had taken all the t-shirts with me, and we prepped the shirts with interfacing, and then cut the blocks.  The quilt is assembled with 5″ squares as filler.

In the class, we received a ruler for cutting the t-shirts to make it fit together. 

I have tried to locate where you can purchase this ruler, because it was a game changer. It full size of the ruler is 14″ x 14″. If you sew nine 5″ squares together you get a 14″ square. This ruler helps to cut other sizes up to the 14″ x 14″ square to finish the quilt.

The squares with an “X” on them, you do not use those to cut squares. You can see in the top right corner is a square with a circle, this is a 5″ square, and you can center you design in the circle. If you want a 9 1/2″ x 9 1/2″ square you use the right top two row/columns. This ruler was a game changer and was so easy to use. If I can locate where to purchase, I will update the blog.

That takes into account 5″ squares sewn together, do not create a perfect square, but 3 rows of 2, creates a 9 1/2″ x 14″ square.  It has circles so you know where to center you design, depending on the size of the t-shirt.

Martha’s method is so easy to make, and if I had cut enough 5″ squares with me, I could have finished the quilt top in our class that day. 

For my 5″ squares, I used some left over project fabric from Island Batik, “Cheers”, by Carl and Linda Sullivan, Colourwerx from my September 2022 Island Batik Ambassador Project.  I love the brightness of this fabric, and love the designs.  The color matched a lot of the t-shirts from the rides, so it was so easy.

Martha has you use a grid to layout the t-shirts, and then you can fill in with the 5″ fabric.

It was so easy and I love how it turned out. It finished at 63 1/2″ x 86″

T-shirt quilts are heavy to begin with, but I still used Hobbs Batting and quilted using Aurifil Thread 2600, light gray.  Hobbs Batting gives it the feeling you want, and will be good for extra padding on the ground or keep us warm in the cooler rides.   Aurifil Thread 2600 light gray thread blended well with all the different colors of fabrics, so you can still see the fabrics and t-shirts. Aurifil thread works so well with my Juki Longarm, and doesn’t break and looks good. 

I Quilted using a design that was created for me by Quilting Pantographs, “Bicycles”.  It was the perfect finish to this quilt. Thank you Quilting Pantographs!

I used some of the scraps from my September Island Batik project to create more of the flange binding for the quilt.  I love the way the lighter coordinating fabric sets of the sides.

I have a Gift Card for the “T-shirt Quilts Made Easy” class by Martha DeLeonardis that I received when I took her class in Houston.  If you are interested in learning this method, please drop me an message here or my Facebook page and I will pick a lucky winner for the gift card. Drawing to be done 04/15/2023.

I look forward to finishing more quilts as the year goes, and I hope you enjoyed another one of my UFO’s being completed.

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