I took up a new hobby recently and have surprised myself with how much I enjoy it!  My mom had several shirts that belonged to my step dad who passed away about 4 years ago.  She wanted to donate them and I asked if I could have them.  I had heard about memory quilts made from men’s shirts.  I did some research (mainly on Pinterest) and then asked a cousin who is an experienced quilter for help. She steered me towards a pattern that matched my experience level-NONE!  And then gave me a lesson in how to cut and lots of great tips on sewing the pieces together.

These shirts were similar in material probably cotton/poly blends and I used the blue, green and yellow ones in the quilt.  The pattern is called simply squares.  The light blue material I selected thinking it would complement the shirt colors.

With help from my sister and Mom, we picked a red material for the border and then added some spots of red in the quilt.  Red was one of his favorite colors.

I made LOTS of mistakes on this and was thankful for a good seam ripper so I could start over.  For me, the trickiest part was sewing everything precisely and getting the seams to match up as I added the pieces and the border.  I completed the top and plan to have it machine quilted.   I never thought I would enjoy quilting and was so wrong.  

I love how the top turned out and can’t wait to see the finished product.