T-Shirt Quilt is done!!!!!!!

This labor (tons of labor) of love is all done!!! It took me two days of pressing and only a few hours sewing the rows together.
Craig is sorely missed and I hope this quilt will wrap my Grand daughter, Arika, in his old t-shirts and tons of love.
It measures 75" X 90". It is very heavy! I am thinking it is too heavy for me to wrestle the quilt through my DSM. I love doing straight line quilting on my Janome 6600P. Yet I may contact my favorite long arm quilter, Lisa Olinger, and have her work some magic on this monster. It needs to be made a bit more feminine. Maybe some girlie quilting will make it more soft looking.

 We set another high temperature record today. 83 degrees!!! See the daffodils? They are lush, plush and beautiful. All the wildlife around here are either mating or making nests.
And when I woke up this morning my Hubby was washing the ceiling in the kitchen. Then he went and bought and replaced our front doorbell button that has been broken for 20+ years! Then went back to the store and bought new outside lights.
So...in between the mammoth task of sewing this quilt I made him a great fried chicken supper. I am really thinking he is so close to being completely recovered from his kidney cancer.

 You can see the colors a bit better here in the kitchen. I was concerned about a couple of the t-shirts that represented death. But Arika assured me that she remembers her Dad wearing those t-shirts and they are "him". So they are included.

I cannot wait to clean my machine, insert a new needle and do some quality sewing. I want to sew on some good old quilting cotton.
I am done with t-shirt quilts! Perhaps this was my first and last one. HA!

 This is the wooden sign I bought last Saturday. It fits perfectly on the picture frame of a kitty on a quilt. Back in the old days I was a cross stitch addict. But I ran out of wall space! HA!!!!

And here is our Macy Gray trying to ignore me taking her picture. She just looked so beautiful on that quilt. She almost looks as if she is hugging it!

T-Shirt Quilt & how do I clean my iron????????

There was an unexpected result from all the ironing on of interfacing. I used three pressing cloths. The interfacing NEVER touched the iron. The t-shirts and their respective designs were never touched by the iron.

Is this iron/minerals from my water????? I have never had this happen before. I have been ironing since I was a child and I am now 62. Guess there is a first time for everything. This is a $$$ Rowenta Iron. It has a stainless steel plate. So what happened????
Maybe the more important question is: How do I remove this?
I tried running the iron over a dryer sheet. It smelled good but nothing happened.

Sarah Martin had the tip that worked for me and my poor iron!! See below!!

I wrote back to her:
Sarah,

It came off with the white vinegar!

You are fantastic!

I am thinking there must have been starch on the muslin pieces I was using as pressing cloths. They were cut offs from backings. I did not use any starch today but it must have been on the pressing cloths.

You are one fantastic lady!

Thanks so very much.

I owe you something for that great tip.

 I bought a 40 yard bolt of Pellon 911FF interfacing. I used a 50% off coupon and with free shipping the entire bolt cost less than buying 20 yards at retail price at Joann's.com. I am so glad I did buy the whole bolt because I used gobs of it making these t-shirt squares stable. And the bolt end said no pre-shrinking needed. And it was right. I did do some research on the internet and some have had wrinkle issues with using this technique'. I did a sample and it does not ripple, shrink or distort. WHOOHOOO!! So I pressed away and have a great size stack of t-shirt squares.

 I stabilized some blank squares to add some embroidery if I need more units to make whatever quilt size this is going to end up being. Right now I do not know.

These shirts belonged to my former son-in-law who passed away last year. He was a Police Detective and a  great father to my Grand daughter Arika. It was very hard to cut in to his shirts. But it was also a labor of love and respect. This quilt will be much loved no matter how it turns out.

 Yesterday I had some retail therapy. I attended a Gathering of Quilters. The speaker was Edyta Sitar owner and co-founder of Laundry Basket Quilts. All I can say about her is WOW! She uses all the colors I love. And has some great books and fabric for sale.
I can feel the urges of becoming a fan of hers as I am of Our Bonnie Hunter. But I do not know if I can afford to be in love with two quilt designers at the same time. HA!

 I bought this quilt kit for GD Zoey. She loves purple and loves cats. Her BD is late in November so I have plenty of time. And she also has this LOVE of Minkee. I found a pre-cut hunk of purple Minkee and bought that too! And the wooden sign that says "Quilting Queen".

 I did not need but had to have this group of fabrics. Brownish/pinkish gorgeous fabrics with a pattern called Radiant.
I left the quilt show after I could no comfortably longer carry everything I had bought.
HA! Time to go home!

 And some more pink and gray fabrics that I did not own...what can I say?
And some Civil War fabrics. After Edyta's lecture I was on a tan/brown high and had to get some fabrics. She mixes batiks with regular cottons. The same as I do. They do play well together.

I also bought this quilt kit for newest GG child due in September. BUT...the panel was NOT in the kit! ARGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!! I did call the seller after I got home and was touching all my purchases but had to leave a voice mail. Darn it! I guess I should have looked through the sealed bag before I left. But who woulda' thunk???? It may be a blessing in design. But dog gone it!!!!!

XOXOXOOX Subee