My shirt challenge quilts

 I haven't done a single stitch of sewing!  So I'm posting about some quilts I've previously made.  These are my shirt quilts.  

A couple of years ago the quilting group I used to be a member of did a shirt challenge.  You purchase an amount of cotton shirts each and then they get chopped up, mixed and redistributed and you have to make something out of the fabrics you're given. I'd participated in one of these shirt challenges several years ago and learned a lot about getting out of my comfort zone as I mostly liked to use plain fabric with perhaps one or two patterns.  Having to use colours I didn't like and checks and prints was really quite terrifying for me but I did it.  And I love my quilt!

Here it is hanging from a fence at the club when we did our big reveal. Now that I'm looking at it again I think I should make another with this design!

Moving on to the next challenge.  I didn't join in with this one because I have so many shirts already but I wanted to play alongside the other ladies. My husband loves shirts but he has a "rule" if he buys a shirt he has to give up an old one.  Who am I to say no to all that delicious fabric?  So I didn't join in with the club challenge because I had my own fabrics I wanted to use. Not all the shirts were 100% cotton yikes!

I wanted to make a half square triangle values quilt so I cut out squares for that and then as a bonus I cut the useable scraps into smaller rectangles.  I used the rectangles as leader/enders and it's amazing how quickly both quilts came together.

I sorted my fabrics into lights and darks for my values quilt and when I took a picture and edited it so that it was black and white I was surprised to see there were very few lights, lots of mediums and some darks.

I sewed together what seemed like a billion half square triangles and then I started placing the fabrics on my design wall.  For my focus part I started with darks, then medium and then darks again because I liked the look of it.  After that the rounds were lights, medium and then dark.  The blocks kept falling off the wall so I decided to sew them as I went.  I figured that I had enough fabric to get away with doing this but I was careful to stand back and check there weren't too many of the same print close together.

I soon ran out of design wall and started taping the blocks to the actual wall!

We were in lockdown when I finished both quilts and I struggled to find backing for them online.  I ended up purchasing cotton/poly blend sheets from Spotlight.  I must admit I was a little worried about the blend and whether the colour would work but I was pleasantly surprised by how well it quilted and the drape on it on the bed is amazing!

This is the quilting design on the values quilt. It's a free design called Fall Foliage from Urban Elementz

I had excess backing and wadding so I also quilted a few memory quilts while it was on the frame.  Here they are laid out on my living room floor before trimming and binding.  We have used these quilts on the beds for months and every time I see them I ooooohhhh and think I should take a decent picture but I haven't managed to do it yet! So living room floor pics is all I have for now.

I stitched the rectangles shirt quilt together as I went along too.  Luckily I ended up with a fairly balanced top at the end.  Here is my design floor. Or is it Minnie's bed?!

Finished and on the frame.

I also used a free quilting design on this quilt from Urban Elementz.  This one is called Lisa's raindrops.

Living room floor shot before trimming and binding.

My husband ran out of cupboard space for his shirts so we bought a hanger from Target.  Here are a few of his shirts hanging on it. Are these my next shirt challenge fabrics??