In a constant effort to keep this blog fresh and interesting, I’m going to start a new series called “I Made This” Monday. I try to do arts and crafts projects often during the year, and when I get home from work most nights, I pick up my crochet hooks or glue gun. Since it’s getting chilly and temperatures are dropping, I thought the perfect first “I Made This” Monday post should be about cozy blankets I’ve made…
I made this t-shirt quilt three years ago. T-shirt quilts are a great way to display all the old t-shirts you love, but don’t wear. As you can imagine, after spending 26 summers at camps, I have tons of t-shirts on my shelves, and I just couldn’t bear to part with some of my favorites. Here are the steps:
1. Collect t-shirts and lay them out on the floor to arrange an order – I needed 20 shirts for this quilt.
2. Cut out a square of fabric from the front or back of the t-shirt – my squares were 12×12. Cara (who makes a lot of awesome t-shirt quilts out of old Canadensis shirts) has a great trick for cutting even squares…she lays down a precut piece of plexiglass on the t-shirt so that it’s easy to cut around it.
3. Sew the t-shirt squares by column first, so you have four long strips. Next sew those four columns together, and your blanket is almost done…
4. Finally, I sewed on a fleece blanket lining to the back, but you can also use another sheet on the back and stuff it with batting like a quilt.
This quilt really represents different stages from my life – and it is the perfect light weight blanket to keep me cozy at camp. There is a Hewlett High School shirt from where I grew up, shirts from a meaningful trip to Israel, shirts from my college sorority AEPhi in Arizona, shirts from when I was working at the New Orleans JCC, and most importantly…shirts from Camp Canadensis!! I used the 2003 Color War shirt from the Gold Hippies, I was a counselor captain for the team, so I have very good memories of it!
Without a doubt, my favorite craft of all time is crocheting!! I’ve been crocheting for almost 10 years, and I’ve made lots of different projects that will be posted here weekly, but this blanket was for my best friends son, Aiden. I’ve known this best friend for so long, that I made up a new term to describe her…”TBF” for The – Best – Friend. She is such an amazing mother, and I hope that Aiden enjoys snuggling with this blanket, that has cables, a dark blue border, and a “A” in the middle.
Crocheting is similar to knitting, but I think it is much easier and more creative. I don’t like to follow patterns, I just make up my own through trial and error. I love teaching crochet to anyone that wants to learn (including Maya above) but you have to be dedicated to learning! It’s hard to get the hang of it, but once you spend a few hours learning, you’ll have a new activity for life!
Above is a photo of me teaching a group of campers how to crochet…
Below is a picture of gifts I’ve wrapped for kids & friends for Chanukah. I used this AWESOME new tool that we bought for Arts & Crafts this summer. We’ve had the Accucut for a while, but we recently added a 4 inch alphabet set, and it’s so easy to use! You can cut fabric, scrapbook paper, and even aluminum cans! What you see below is scrapbook paper, which I used a glue stick to attach.
Stay tuned to see more of my crafts in the coming weeks, and if you want to see what we are planning for the Canadensis Arts and Crafts program, check out my boards on www.pinterest.com!
