T-shirt Quilt a la Anya

So, after months of having this idea in my head to make a t-shirt quilt, after spotting the idea on Pinterest, I finally took the plunge. 

Stack of 49 squares, cut to 14"

Iron on fusible lightweight nonwoven interfacing to the squares to make it  easier to sew together

Counting them and starting to lay them out, and see which ones need additions

After all the squares are edited and pieced, ironed out, then they get sewn into rows. Then sew the rows together.

Then comes the backing.  It has to be taught before you can pin your quilt top and batting to it. SO that's what the blue tape strips are. It's painters tap and removes easily from the floor and fabric. 

Then comes the quilt sandwich. This one happens to be the first one. I accidentally trimmed too much of the backing, during the first attempt, so, I had to purchase MORE backing fabric and do this again. Needless to say it took me 3 hours total to get to this point. 

You smooth it out and then trim the edges of the backing to about 2-3" from the quilt top. The batting was trimmed to an inch from the quilt top. 

Then to baste it with safety pins.  THIS sucked, big time. My finger tips were sore after doing this for 2 hours. 

Then after basting, you have to trim the backing even more, and I did to 1.75", and folded it over twice to make my binding for the quilt.  Then pinned. 

After binding comes to fun part.  For this quilt, I decided to tie it with embroidery floss.  I don't have a walking foot for my machine yet, but that is a work in progress for my next quilt. This tying took me a few nights to do, working 1-2 hours on it before bed. 

And this is the final  product.

I am looking forward to snuggling up under this during the fall and winter months, as this is super cozy, soft, and just right for a hot-bodied woman like myself. I know it's not perfect either, as I didn't know you were supposed to "Square" up your quilt before you put it in the quilt sandwich.  You live and learn...  After I was finished, and I put the quilt on my bed, my little boy said "MAMA this is like heaven. It's SO comfy. Can we stay here all day?"  I, of course, said YES!!  I mean, who wouldn't want to curl up to their favorite person and watch a movie under this cozy thing. :)