Memorial Pillows

I'm sure many of you have completed t-shirt quilts before for friends and loved ones. The quilts are versatile in size, fairly easy to construct and can focus on one or several events while telling a story. I've only made two...one for my daughter that focuses on high school sports that has yet to be quilted and another one...a memorial quilt...for a friend of my SIL who lost her son suddenly three days before Christmas. You can read about Bryant's Quilt for his mother here.

At first my SIL requested pillows for Bryant's family after receiving a pillow from me that was constructed using some of my late Father's shirts. 

You all, I know, are familiar with the process of how projects evolve...Talk of pillows led to talk of a quilt which led to the birth of the above memorial quilt. After the quilt was completed the challenge was on... to make the pillows from leftover t-shirts used in the quilt.  Okay...I'd only completed one other t-shirt quilt...can I do t-shirt pillows too?! 

Yes I can.....!

They turned out quite festive and I hoped they would bring joy to Bryant's family members. The entire front of the pillow and ruffle was made from the t-shirts I received. I've never ruffled t-shirt fabric before so it was a first for me...well...the t-shirt pillows were a first too, so why not have many firsts in a single project!

I used the disappearing pinwheel block as demonstrated by Jenny Doan...

 ...And added some deco stitching from the sewing machine. 

For all you sewing and quilting purist out there...how do you like the way my stripes lined up?! The funny thing is I wasn't even trying to line them up, didn't even think about it, and only noticed it after I took this photo. This phenomena (a true phenomena because I'm far from exhibiting characteristics of a  sewing/quilting purist) occurred on all three pillows that had the striped fabric! 

My only explanation is that Bryant was over my shoulder quietly guiding me as I was piecing the fabric!

The ruffle edges were finished with a loose serged rolled hem to give it a primitive look...

...and I added a side zipper under the ruffle for easy removal of the pillow form. Piecing the ruffle was decided upon because my t-shirt scraps were getting quite low and I didn't have enough of each t-shirt color to complete an entire pillow. 

My last task included a machine embroidered memorial to Bryant on the reverse of each pillow. 

It is my and my SILs hope that these pillows, as they are being hugged or looked upon, will bring a small amount of joy and comfort to Bryant's loved ones. 

So... do you know what you need to do right now...right this minute....???????

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Go hug a friend or loved one because we never know if it will be the last.

Happy Living! Happy Loving!