Not for the faint hearted

Well, I can almost check "Make T Shirt Quilt" off my bucket list.  

This project has been a bit more than I bargained for.  Originally Renee asked me, "So, do you ever sew for other people?"  I told her yes and she told me that her son had been saving t shirts for years because he wanted them made into a quilt.  She teaches fourth grade and has decided that she's never going to get to this project because, "I'm not a seamstress."  I told her I had never made one before but that I was willing to give it a go.  She brought me all the t shirts back in about May and told me there was "no rush.".  I will admit, there have been serious delays in getting this done.  Partly because of the wedding cake I also agreed to do this summer that ended up being a month long project.  And, partly because I didn't have any idea what I was doing and needed my mother's input on more than one occasion!  And, since there was "No rush" why rush it?  So, I've had the t shirts for about three months or so and I've spent only $25.53 for the decorbond (of course, I ended up needing more and swiped what my mother had at her house).  I've put 14.5 hours into this little diddy as well.  I've finally got the top put together sans a sashing.  I'd like to make it an even 90x90 so that it's easy to find batting and a back for it.  As I've been sewing the rows together however, I've decided that this should be put on the quilt machine rather than be tied.  Obviously it's going to take away from the shirts if there's a tie in the center of each one.  But, if you haven't worked with decorbond before then you have no idea how stiff these shirts are now.  Generally, when you are sewing something the fabric bends and twists quite easily.  Well, because t shirts are made to stretch (and you don't want your squares to be uneven) you must put something on the back to keep them from stretching.  This in turn makes the t shirt fabric stiff and a bugger to maneuver.  I worry that putting it on the quilt frames and tying it is going to cause me yet another headache in this process.  The corners don't all match up because the squares aren't all the same size and where the corners do match up there is a lot of bulk to get through.  I'm hoping Renee will agree that it would be best to put this monster on the quilt machine rather than the frames.  I just don't know that she's going to want to drop another $85 just to have it quilted!  My goal was to have this ready to take to her at our first meeting this month.  Our first meeting is Monday.  Guess I better figure out that sashing soon....