T-Shirt Quilts

My first 1,000 miles & ten years~

Years ago a friend told me about a quilt she was making using t-shirts from all the states that she had visited on vacation.  I had a huge stack of ride t-shirts put away & the idea was born!  That same friend took those t-shirts & made them into the quilt above.  It represents my first 1,000 of endurance.  I didn't have shirts for every ride & so we had some printed up with photos & for the additional blocks we needed.

Second 1,000 with Khari

When I started riding Khari, I began saving up for the day she would reach 1,000-miles & I'd have enough for a second quilt.  As it turned out, this quilt also represents Khari's entire endurance career with me, since I sold her right after that twentieth, fifty-mile ride.

I'd been looking for a fabric for the background, something Western - when my cousin & owner of the Quilter's Fix in Sheridan, WY called to say that she had found something that I'd like!  The print looks like tooled leather.  I cut out the patterns on all the shirts, ordered some for the rides that hadn't given out shirts & laid them out from our very first fifty at the Bryce XP, to the last at the Milwaukee Rail Trail.

Next was finding someone to do the work!  Again - Jackie came to the rescue & found a super talented seamstress in Sheridan to do all the blocking, binding, etc.  Deb is booked up months in advance, so during the wait, we ordered in the flannel for the back.  I love using flannel - it makes the quilts a little heavier & warmer.

When the finished quilt arrived in the mail last week & I opened the box, it was like opening years full of memories! 

First T-Shirt Quilt ~

First 1,000 miles

Here's my first quilt, using ride shirts, Arabian horse shirts, team shirts & a couple photo shirts that we had made.  Shirts from the charity ride that used to be held down in the Capitol Forest for American Diabetes Association & a shirt from our local Centennial Trail . There's one ride - (the red block) that only happened once, Kahneeta Oct. of 1999.  There, I rode a horse named "Rosebud" - who definitely did Not fit his name!  It was the perfect example of the AERC's motto;  "To Finish is To Win" as we did finish the 50 in a three-way tie for last place, with Charlene & Marie :-)  We had a ball!  

Charleen on Booker, Marie on Sir Prize, Connie on Rosebud

I was riding for the Fish Creek Team - who - with that last ride earned enough points to be #1 for the year!  Another, "Fire Mountain" that same year, was only held once or twice.  Rides that I didn't have shirts for - I didn't think to have made up - but will do that if I make another.

2002 Ride logo For Home On The Range

The above photo shows the stippling that I had done to each block after the quilt was pieced.  It needed the extra reinforcement.  The blocks weren't placed in any kind of order - this time I they will be.  Didn't add any dates or placements - the new quilt will have some of those too.  The overall size of four blocks across & five deep worked out great for our queen sized bed.  The strips are 2-1/2" & the borders total 16" all around.  Blocks are 12" square.