T-shirts full of memories

On March 12, 2008, my sister-in-law, Angel, lost her youngest son Colton (15 at the time, 1 month shy of his 16th birthday) to complications from pneumonia and ARDS. A few weeks ago she had gone through some of his clothes and picked out a stack of t-shirts she wanted to make quilts out of for herself, and her other 3 children. She asked me to apply the fusible interfacing and cut out the t-shirts for her. She had also pieced blocks from this great guitar fabric she bought at Gracie Lou's. She wanted to have the quilts for her kids done by the 1-year anniversary, but was afraid she wouldn't make the deadline. A group of family and close friends banded together and had a sewing night to help her out.



Jenny and Angel deciding which fabrics to border the blocks with.

Carrie and Vicki (my mother-in-law) sewing the blocks and borders.


Lola chatting with the rest of us after using the iron.

Vicki making borders and blocks.

Carrie ironing.

Jase's Quilt:

The initial layout of Jase's quilt. Each quilt had 5 pieced blocks and 4 t-shirt blocks. They hurried and finished this quilt top first so that I could get it loaded onto the machine. Unfortunately, by the time it was done it was 10:30 PM, my little boy was tired and ready for bed, and my DH had just come to pick me up! I found out later that the rest of the gals stayed until around 11:30, but got the rest of the tops and backs pieced.

The finished quilt: (sans binding)

Several summers ago Colton was bit by a black bear while working at a scout camp. The center of this block was made from the shirt he wore from that camp. Above it I quilted "Bear Bait" in the bear paw print, in red thread.

This picture came in a little fuzzy, but it says "Jerry Finn", which is a nickname for Jase.

Underneath the Flogging Molly graphic I quilted "Honkey the Hooligan", which was one of Colton's nicknames.

And under the Playdead Movement graphic I quilted "Dirty Harold", which was how Colton signed all of his text messages.

The back of Jase's quilt is this really great red minkee.

Lynsey's Quilt

This quilt was for Lynsey, Angel's oldest.

Her nickname for Colton was Dody, quilted here in a tan colored thread so it would show up on the black fabric.

Dirty Harold

Honkey the Hooligan.

The back for her quilt was this beautiful black minkee with the paisley pattern in it.

Zack's Quilt

Honkey the Hooligan.

Dirty Harold, again quilted in tan.

Bear Bait, also quilted in tan.

The back of his quilt was this black minkee with the diamond design in it.

I finished quilting all three quilts on March 11th, and was surprised at how difficult it was for me. Angel, Lola, and Gayle bound the quilts. Between all of us helping, Angel was able to get all three quilts done for her kids in time.

Thursday was a rough day, and needless to say I didn't get much done. That night, those of us who were available, went to dinner at Los 4 Amigos, a local Mexican restaurant, in memory of Colton. We are having a bonfire at the lake on Saturday for the whole family.

We love you Colton, and miss you very much! I think Lola's post says it all. The song she posted is so beautiful, and if you get the chance, go to rhapsody.com and listen to it there (you can find it on the Weeds Season 1 Soundtrack).