Oxford Shirt Quilt Top

I’ve mentioned our church’s Prayer Quilt Ministry before.   We make lap quilts from donated materials to give to members of the community when they are facing a trial of some sort, such as an illness or loss.  Before being presented to the recipient, strings are secured around the quilt.  The quilt is laid across the altar rail and the congregation is invited to come pray for the person and then tie a knot in the string.  The knotted strings are a tangible reminder to the quilt recipient that they have been remembered in prayer.  The  purpose is to bring the peace, hope, strength, and comfort of Christ to them during a time of anxiety and suffering.

Being a part of this ministry is one of the greatest blessings of my life.  It allows me to use my God-given talent of sewing for His glory.  Getting to work with some very talented, loving women in the ministry is a blessing as well.  I’ve spoken of my mentors in several previous posts here, here, here, and here.

Designing and piecing is my favorite part of creating a quilt.  The ladies of the ministry are so gracious to allow me to do that part while they do the (boring and tedious to me) tasks of basting, quilting, and binding the quilt tops that I piece.

Definitely preppy, this quilt top is made from thrift store oxford cloth men’s dress shirts in pastel colors.

I first found this quilt in a home decor magazine (can’t remember which one, sorry) probably 15 or more years ago.  It is actually one of the first quilts I ever pieced. (Yep, I’ve been thrifting and recycling for a long time!)  I started it anticipating a room make-over for one of my sons.  It was about half way finished before laying it aside for a number of years and going in a different direction with my son’s room.

When the ministry started to run short of an inventory of quilts, I thought of this pieced top stuck in a drawer in my sewing studio.  Almost finished, it would be a quick job to get it to the point that I could pass it along for quilting.

Various shapes were cut from the thrifted shirts, so this quilt top is a sort of a “farmer’s wife” type of quilt.  I even used squares that were cut from the button placket and chest pocket of the shirts.

Here is a square of the designer logo from the chest of one shirt.

Don’t look too closely where all the corners come together as you will see that they don’t perfectly align.  Oops!  This was one of my first attempts at piecing but still something I need to work on.  It sure helps that I now have a rotary cutter to cut the pieces uniformly – something I didn’t have when cutting these pieces out.

I’m happy that this quilt top is finally going on to be finished and given to someone who will hopefully enjoy using it.

Do you have any old forgotten projects that finally make their way to completion?  Sew on!

xo, Faith