And so the Harley Davidson memory quilt is quilted. I still need to sew on the binding, but if all goes well, that will happen tomorrow. I was thinking that I’d use the charcoal Kona for binding, but tonight I’m thinking that a black Kona would be a better idea. Harley Davidson colors are orange and black but I like the frame of a black binding.
I took these pictures very quickly after I pulled the quilt off the long-arm and trimmed the rough edges off. So typical of the way I do things, I misjudged the amount of backing I would need.
Actually, what I did
was to use one strip of tee-shirts on the back so that the quilt would not be
so large and heavy. Thank goodness I did! This quilt took five days to quilt. Of
course, I did much more babysitting than quilting, and I do have a sinus
infection that has me sleeping late every morning. Oh, and I should not forget
that I visited the in-laws which always takes a couple of hours. Nevertheless, I spent a couple of hours every day this week quilting.
Every tee shirt got its own custom quilting design. One has
stippling with a small Harley Davidson logo stitched in. Another has palm leaves; the Florida
shirt has tiki huts, Texas (maybe) has stars. Memphis has music staffs stippled
in. And so on.
There are several advantages to quilting a memory quilt this
way. First, it adds to the depth of energy in the quilt and, second, gives the
viewer something to look for. Third, it’s great practice for the quilter. Fourth,
(my favorite) it’s an opportunity to create new motifs.
For the Alexandria, Louisiana, tee, I created a new motif.
The focus of the quilt is the Indian motorcycle logo, so I attempted to
recreate the Indian headdress. The first couple are okay but by the time I got
to the end of the tee, I’d figured out a few problems and improved the design.
So why didn’t I rip out the first ones, you ask? Well, it’s too much work but,
also, I avoid ripping out because it so easily damages the fabric. Remember,
these are old tee-shirts that have been worn and washed many times. They come
apart easily if pulled on or poked with the seam ripper. What do you like most about quilt a tee-shirt memory quilt?
Memory quilts seem to be the most requested commissions I get. I'm a little tired of them, but this particular quilt is really special because I made a memory quilt for this mom in 2015. That one was for her oldest; this one is for the middle child. She brought it to me in the fall, but allowed me to push it back to get other quilts done. 
I've been working on this customer quilt top for several days now. The customer's husband must have been a Harley Davidson fan for quite some time now. His HD tee shirts come from all over the United States.
Since my customer wanted me to arrange them in a puzzle configuration, I decided to put these two black shirts together so that they would look like one large block from a distance. I may even quilt them the same since the designs make quilting almost impossible in their centers. Stitching through the rubbery screen printing ink is a mess. The thread shreds as the needle punches through the heavy ink. 
When I have a shirt with a full design, I try to find a line or two where there is no ink. Sometimes, the printer chooses to skip the spaces where the shirt color will suffice.
