By Diane L. Murtha, F465708
March-April 2026
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As an RV traveler, think of all the great places you’ve explored and all the amazing sights you’ve seen. How do you remember them? As many RVers do, my husband adds a sticker to our U.S. map every time we overnight in a new state. He also created a rotating screen saver of favorite photos on his phone. That is a cool option, but only he sees it.
We creative types have other wonderful ways to capture and display our RV travel memories. Consider these examples.
Kim collects state-specific or specialty fabric from each state she visits during RV trips and turns those pieces into reversible placemats (pictures 1 and 4). They are a great size and practical for use in the RV.
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Erica and her husband traveled to Alaska for their 35th wedding anniversary. Like many quilters on vacation, she made a point of finding quilt shops along the route. She acquired several Alaska-themed fabrics and quilt patterns, including the “Alaska Photo Album” pattern designed by Lisa Moore of Sitka, Alaska. Rather than filling the “picture frames” in the pattern with pieces of state-themed fabric, she selected 24 of her favorite photos and printed them on fabric designed for use with an inkjet printer. The photos included images of wildlife, plants, a mining town, glaciers, oceans, and mountain scenery. She left the photo corners unstitched so real photos could be inserted later if desired. Erica’s Alaska Photo Album quilt was a great project to help capture memories from a favorite travel adventure (Picture 2).
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Another great idea is to repurpose souvenir vacation shirts into a T-shirt quilt. Every shirt holds memories of places you’ve visited, so why keep them hidden in a drawer? Crafters can find numerous patterns, along with free online tutorials, to learn what this project entails. Pro tip: Before starting, apply a lightweight fusible backing to the shirts to make them less stretchy and easier to work with.
Lee has collected shirts since the late 1970s and used them to create a 96-inch-by-96-inch T-shirt quilt to capture the times of her life. She wanted a look reminiscent of a movie, so she designed the “reels” using black-and-white cotton fabric. Lee assembled and quilted this large creation entirely in her motorhome. Of the many T-shirt quilts she’s made, she calls this one her favorite. She named it “The Dash,” referencing the time spent between birth and death in Linda Ellis’s poem.
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Janet and her husband, Larry, traveled for 19 years volunteering with the RV Care-A-Vanners, working with Habitat for Humanity to construct homes for people in need. Her T-shirt quilt represents affiliates they built with, from New York to New Mexico and many states in between (Picture 3). She also created a quilted U.S. map and added a little button for every location they have been (Picture 5).
Need more ideas? Transfer your travel photos and craft your own applique patterns to create quilted images to stitch by hand or machine. Crafters can also transfer photo travel memories onto coffee mugs, pillows, and other items through a variety of methods, including the easiest — ordering them from a photo center, such as Walgreens, Shutterfly, etc.
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Can you ever have too many quilts or fabric creations from your travels? The answer is no! Relive your RV adventures with items you can use and see every day.
Diane L. Murtha — a fiber artist, lecturer, instructor, and author — has been quilting for more than 30 years. Her quilts have been featured in books and magazines and at juried exhibits and international shows. Diane’s book Artful Insights in Fabric – Quilted Bits of Wit & Wisdom is available online through BookBaby Bookshop and at Amazon. When she and her husband, Tim, are not traveling in their RV, they reside in Iowa. Learn more at dianeLmurtha.com.Follow her on Instagram @dianeLmurtha or email dLmurtha2018@gmail.com.