Back To The T-Shirt Quilt

I had to quit work on my Federal Express T-shirt quilt over the holidays.  No time, and really , no interest when I had a house fuLL of family.  Family gone, Christmas decorations put away, time to finish the quilt.

I did something to my back so I can't stand for any amount of time, but sitting seems to work, so I went back to the quilt.  I already cut up the T-shirts I had and affixed them to some fusible inner facing for stability.  T-shirts are stretchy things. 

 

There weren't enough T-shirts, so I downloaded some pictures of Federal Express planes off the internet.  Lee worked in both the San Diego office and the Los Angeles office and I found images of Federal Express planes flying in or out of those airports and downloaded the images on to fabric that you can run through a printer.

 

After 15 minutes, or in my case, a couple of weeks, you can peel off the plastic backing and soak the pictures in room temperature water. 

 

I set them on a towel to dry, ironed them on the wrong side and they are ready to add to the quilt.

 

Then Lee found ANOTHER T-shirt and an old ball cap with an embroidered Federal Express truck.  I put the T-shirt on the stabilizer and cut out the truck.

 

 One of the used T-shirts has a stain on it and I will put the embroidered truck over that.  After I cut out the back of the T-shirt I noticed that the front had a pocket with a FedEx logo over it.

 

I cut out the pocket with the logo and stabilized that.  I used an applique pressing sheet.  This keeps the glue from the fusible inner facing from getting on the iron.  It also keeps the paint from melting on the iron.  You have to wait for it to completely cool before you remove it from the project.  I tried to do it too soon and some of the paint wanted to peel up on the pressing sheet.  I placed it back down and pressed it a bit more, let it cool and them carefully peeled the sheet off the T-shirt. No paint.  Other than the stupid stuff I do, I must be a genius!

 

 

Lee rummaged around in the closet and found an old Fed Ex uniform shirt.  During peak season, i.e. Christmas, FedEx managers would frequently be found driving or helping in some way in the field.  He liked getting out in the trenches!  I took the sleeve with the logo and the pocket and I will find spots for them.

I laid the whole thing out on the dining table and moved things around to suit.  When I had it the way I wanted it I took each row up in a pile.

 

Next I will put purple and orange fabric ( FedEx colors) around the T-shirt squares and start to assemble this thing.