Mr. Bug's Navy T-Shirt Memory Quilt: Finished

Better than honor and glory, and History's iron pen,
Was the thought of duty done and the love of his fellow-men.
–Richard Watson Gilder

One week before his birthday {which is two days before Christmas} I had the brilliant insane idea to make a quilt for Mr. Bug using old t-shirts from when he was in the Navy. Five months and one week {not to mention a fair amount of unpicking} later and it is finally finished!

There are six t-shirts, four sweatshirts, a turtleneck and the leg of a pair of sweatpants in the blocks. The sashing is made from the work shirts he wore on board the ship. I also used a bit of one of the shirts in the center of the quilt and also for the label on the back of the quilt. The label has his dates of service and his rank. I also put the emblem for a QuarterMaster on the label; in the Navy the QuarterMaster navigates the ship.

Below is the front of my favorite t-shirt {it sits in the bottom left corner; the back is in the bottom right corner}. The scroll reads We men of the USS Clark crossed the Royal Relm {someone forgot to spell-check} of the Honorable King Neptune, known to all land lovers as the Equator. When a ship crosses the equator, there is a big to-do aboard {read hazing} for all the sailors who haven't crossed before. Those who have set up an obstacle course and if you have to go through the course, you're guaranteed to be wet and miserable. Not only did they cross the equator, but they also went through the Panama Canal {denoted on the back of the shirt}. Mr. Bug was the navigator on duty when they went through. He says it is a bunch of hurry-up-and-wait, because you have to go through a series of locks and each one has to fill when you enter it, but I think it sounds really neat.

Mr. Bug wanted to include his insignia and some of the patches he collected over his years in the Navy. I used the front of one of his work shirts because the little emblem above the pocket was a pretty big deal to earn. I kept the pocket on just for fun. Below that I used part of a sleeve that has his insignia printed right on it. I pulled the navy blue insignia just below it off of a jacket; it would also be used on a dress blue uniform. The white insignia {which includes the QuarterMaster emblem} would be used on a dress white uniform. There are patches from the two ships he served on and the others are some he traded with servicemen from other countries.

I started this quilt with the intention of finishing it in the week before Christmas as a birthday surprise. It would have been a very different quilt had it happened that way. Because I ordered the wrong fabric for the sashing and back and had no hope of getting an exchange and finishing the quilt in time, I showed Mr. Bug what I was up to. As I worked on it, he gave input and pulled out the work shirts and a couple of other t-shirts that we put in the quilt. He also helped me with the placement of the blocks in the quilt. And I think it really turned out great! I'm so glad to have it finished and am excited for Mr. Bug to be able to have a tangible object to associate with those memories.

Here are links to each of the posts about the creation of this quilt.
Last-Minute Gift
Fabric S.N.A.F.U.
About the Blocks
Half-done is Well Begun
Quilt Top
Quilt Label in Progress
Ready for Quilting
Teaser

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