Waiting for Sandy, the SuperStorm....and a tShirt Quilt

Ok, so this big giant superstorm is headed our way.  Sandy has cancelled school for 2 days and disrupted everything.   Right now we have high winds and lots of rain.  We are expecting flooding soon.... Thankfully I don't have a basement!

So I decided this was the perfect time to start a LONG project.   Last time I made a tshirt quilt it took for-EVER!   This time, I am either much better at it, or less distracted because I am rocking this quilt thing!

And this is also an in-process blog post.   No finished project yet -but hopefully (if the power stays on!) I will have something great to share soon!

I have committed to running 12 5Ks in 2012.   In my quest to get healthy and strong, this is just one goal I have set....and I am about to reach it.   :)   I have 11 races done and one more in November.

Now, all these races (but one!  GRR!!) have given me a tshirt of some sort.   SO this is where my 12 shirts are coming from.

First, I cut the shirts apart - sleeves off, sliced the sides and the shoulders.

Next, I bought value packs of iron on interfacing (get a light weight one) and cut it into 12" squares.  I ironed this onto the insides of the shirts.

Then I cut them into about 13x13 squares (so I have seam allowances this time!)

Next is the most fun - laying out the design!   Most of the shirts have a back-side with their sponsors.  I can't decide if I'm going to use them in the quilt front and make it huge OR make the back quilted from the backs of the shirts.    Right now they are laid out separately on my living room and dining room floor:

Now - I have one more race to run AND one race that didn't give a shirt.  I'm going to take a pic of the "plastic cup" we got instead of a tshirt.   That is why there are two spots left.   I wish there was a way to put my race bibs in the quilt without it being too much...   I thought about scanning them and printing them on iron-ons.   Hmm... Maybe this will be what I do next!

Last time i made a quilt like this it was a Queen Size quilt with my college, camp and sorority tshirts in it.  It took me forever!  This time I am going much faster!  I used a Fiskars Rotary Cutter and it is beyond amazing.  Everything is cut straight and so quickly!!

AND I have all these beautiful tshirt scraps left - so I googled projects with tshirt quilts and found this.  SOOO easy!  I made two wide headbands and one thin so far.  I anticipate making more because they are so super easy and fun!