Dear John and Takako (this reads at times like I am writing to only John but that’s because Takako was in on the scheme from the get go so she is aware of much of this):

The idea to create this quilt began during our move when I discovered a stash of calligraphic T-shirts stuffed away on a shelf in my closet. I don’t wear T-shirts other than when I’m at Cheerio  so I had this pile of stunning works of art that I could not bear to part with. That is when the idea of making a quilt from them was conceived and, indeed, it took a small village. 

First, I had to employ Takako to see if she could covertly rustle up the majority of shirts necessary to make a quilt. Having helped my sister, Lisa,  (an accomplished quilter) in the construction of a T-shirt quilt for Camden the year before, I knew we needed at least 20 shirts. I felt fortunate when I received, rather quickly, a fat shipment from Takako (in a tiny box!) of a wide variety of t-shirts worn by each of you. She fretted about rips and stains but I assured her they would be buried in my artistic wizardry 😂. I know she didn’t believe me. 

Martin and Karen were instrumental in tracking down and securing the final shirts necessary to fill in the remaining squares. They located and mailed the shirts faster than the speed of light. The pressure was on! They became passionate about the quilt once it started taking shape and this spurred me on! Lisa directed the entire process, coaching me from the start: from selecting the red Japanese sashing that attaches to each shirt to helping me hand sew the final binding (also from Japan!) around the perimeter. [p.s. the print fabric just inside the periwinkle trim is an aboriginal print as is the back].

In the beginning (December 10, 2018) I was not making any promises because I knew this was going to be a big project and I had little quilting experience. With everyone jumping on board so quickly and cheering me on as I shared photos of my progress, it was easy to stay inspired. I kept Takako abreast of the progress by teasing  her with photos of a corner here and there. I only exposed her to enough to let her know the train was headed toward the station and traveling at a good clip but I did not want to spoil the surprise of the final result. She was precious in her excitement ♥️ which encouraged me. 

All in all, it was a FANTASTIC journey filled with frantic emails and multiple cross country shippings! The whole undertaking was more fun than I ever imagined (not like a calligraphy project where I usually want to blow my brains out half way into it!) What a pleasure it was to build this for you! I hope you enjoy it as much as I did making it. 

Much love,

Teresa