Just a Minor Diversion

This is just a minor diversion in today's events. I hope you will not think me light-headed when I shift abruptly from my previous post to this one. It is a wonder of today's time that we pack a laptop wherever we go and hence, even in the midst of the most unusual day, we can do the usual. (She said with a smile.)

I've been quilting for nearly twenty years. There were a handful of quilts prior to that but I didn't yet consider myself a "quilter". In those twenty years I've made a ton of quilts...mostly of my own design...mostly using traditional blocks. It's not that I don't admire the patterns and the new ideas of today's quilt shops...it's just that somehow my favorite quilts are those that look vintage. And about seven years ago I began a series of shirt quilts.

I think it all started one afternoon at a garage sale. There were four men's dress shirts hanging on a rack. The fabric was 100 percent cotton and I sez to myself, "Why not?" Since then I've purchased a ton of shirts...shirts made by name brand companies and whose fabric is the finest.

This 4-patch in a square in a square is based on a vintage quilt that I found on eBay. I didn't buy the quilt...but the pattern was simple enough to recreate with my shirt stash. The stripey border? Yep, a man's shirt. Such a simple pattern to make such a lovely quilt.

P.S. Check the armpits on those shirts. If they stinketh, pass them by!