My friend loved his memory quilt.  It's kind of funny to see a grown man tear up and almost cry when they see a quilt.  When he was able to speak, he said "how did you know?" and of course my respondance was "Know what?  He said I made the two stars in the middle, representing his parents, out of their favorite shirts.  I didn't know that...but someone did... someone above...

 

I love making memory quilts.  I know I don't charge enough, but that's not why I do it.

 

This is one is on the frame now and boy did I mess up.  I had a design for the stars and then to speed everything up I was going to quilt some feathers and stippling in thread to match the background color.

 

Instead I got in a hurry or lost my mind temporary,  because before I knew it I was quilting everything with the darker thread.  Not happy with it but don't have time to rip it out (and don't want to)  I'm using flannel on the back so I'm hoping it will shrink enough to cover up some of my not so good, but shows up real good with contrasting thread quilting.  This is a huge quilt, 88 x 109.  It is for a friend dying of cancer that has spread to all areas of his body.  Only been given a couple of months, but he has given up so I don't know if he will even last that long.  I don't give all of my quilts a name, but I have this one...The Big Hug.  Soft with the flannel back and large quilting.  Now if I can get it finished for him to enjoy for a while. 

This was the only picture I took of the whole quilt and this was before I added sashing and borders.

 

The stars are 24 inches.

 

On a happier note,  this is on the design board.

A birthday present for a little girl.  Still have to sew blocks together and add small borders and then it will have a pieced border.

 

That's all for now.

Work tomorrow.

 

Thank's for stopping by.



This close

I am this close (I know you can't see my fingers held almost together) to finishing my friend's memory quilt.  A little background...My friend at work lost his parents within 6 months of each other.  I had offered to make him a memory quilt from his mother's clothing.  He was hesitant about asking his father.  Then about six months later his father past away.  He asked me if I would make him one quilt out of both of their clothing. 

 

Not finished completely, hopefully will finish tonight, but I can't stand it any longer.  You can click on the picture to see them better.

 

 

I always try and make a memory quilt special.  I like for them to tell a story about the person.

The two touching stars in the middle represent his parents, touching and sharing two points.

The nine smaller stars present their children (yes , nine kids)

His mother passed away in the spring.

 

 

What represents spring more than a daffodil.

 

His father passed away in the fall.

 

When the leaves fall to the ground.

 

They were married 56 years. They married in 1956 and was married 56 years.  I thought that was kind of special.

 

 

They were devoted Christians.

 

His father loved and raised horses.

 

They were love birds.

 

They were the Salyers.

 

I know I have to fix that "r"

The children's names are around the center of the quilt, my battery died so no more pictures outside.

The quilting showed up much better in the pictures outside.

I'll take more before I give it to him.

I am so excited for him to see it.

I think it tuned out beautiful and I hope he thinks the same.

A lot of work, thread and bobbins.

 

More on the details next time.

 

 



Another memory quilt

Now that January is over and the rush at work is pretty much over I can get back to what I love....

quilting and sewing and being creative.

I went on my very first retreat and had an absolutely wonderful time, so wonderful I forgot to take pictures.  I did start and finish DH Christmas quilt, still not quilted, but a flimsy.

 

A friend at work lost his mother and father last year within 6 months.  I offered to make him a memory quilt when his mother passed away, but he never found the right time to ask his father for some of his mother's clothes.  Then when his father passed he wanted me to make one quilt from both of their clothes.

I had a hard time coming up with any ideas, the clothes he brought was... well not the best selection for a quilt. The other problem I had was there were 9 children, an uneven number.  I like for memory quilts to have a story, so I had to come up with something.  I didn't take any pictures before I loaded it on the frame, wish I had so I could see the whole quilt while quilting.  Live and learn.

Just a few pictures of the quilting so far..

 

 

I purchased a few

of Judi's templates,

http://greenfairyquilts.blogspot.com

and used one on this quilt.

 

 

 

 

 

Well, better get back to work having fun and finish this one, I have several more to work on. 

 

Linking up with Sarah at http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com

Christmas Quilts

Grab your favorite drink and maybe a leftover piece of Christmas pie and let me show you what I've been up to and why I've been so quiet.  I finished piecing the Texas Star quilt (sorry no picture yet), but decided after it was finished that my DH probably wouldn't like it.  Not the design, the colors, although it is a beautiful quilt.  I will quilt it and keep it for myself, and no I didn't plan it that way.

I did finish the quilt for my oldest son and for once he loved it.

The pattern is Bleachers, an Angela Walters design for Empty Bobbins.

This is the lap size.  My DH saw this and ask for one, which is very unusual.

I bought his fabric but was unable to make it because something else came up, more about that a little later.  So my DH received fabric in a box. LOL

My son holding his new couch quilt.

He has a red couch (yes, red leather couch)

so I thought black, grey and red would look great in his new apartment. 

One more because I just love it.

Secret, I bought Little Black Dress fabric to make me one.

Thanks Angela for a great design.

You might want to grab another drink, because this might be a long story

Now for that something else that came up...

 I received a email from a lady, around Thanksgiving, asking if I could make

10 quilts, yes 10 quilts, for her.  Her FIL passed away very suddenly this year and she wanted quilts made from his clothing for his children, wife, mother and sister.  She wanted them as Christmas presents.  Okay did your mouth drop like mine did.  My first reaction was...

WHAT??? You want them when??  I was trying so hard this year to do my shopping early so I wouldn't have so much stress.  Relax and enjoy family time.  But (there's alway a but) as I went to sleep that night I dreamed about those quilts (I say dream but I know it was message from someone above).  I emailed her back and told her I would attempt it but I didn't know how many I could finish but I would do my best.  I knew I had to use a pretty simple pattern, so I choose Amanda Jean's Fair and Square pattern. 

 I had 6 pieced, enough for the children, and I decided to quilt those before I pieced the others.  I had told her I would only be able to quilt them with pantos because of the time issue.  Well something happened when I went to sleep that night, yep you guessed it, I had another awaking and knew how they should be quilted.

Forgive me now because I think there are going to be a lot of pictures to follow.  I love how they turned out. 

    

This man was a husband, a son, a brother, a father and a grandfather.

I wanted these quilts to reflect that, since these were memory quilts made from his clothing.

 I quilted the words "son", "brother", "husband",

"father", "grandfather" in the borders. One has feathers, another I used pebbles and swirls, another had a motif.  The quilting on the bone fabric doesn't show up very well but it did look good.  I think the sun has forgotten to shine in Tennessee so no outside pictures.

I love how they all turned out.  The one I was working on was my favorite until I worked on the next one and then that one became my favorite.

Each one has his birth year and the year of his death.

I have so many more pictures, I'll show more in my next post. I had to make them in three different background colors.

Just one more of the whole quilt.

How did I do?  I was only able to finish 3, I was disappointed I didn't finish all of them, but I thought it was worth the extra quilting.  She was surprised and happy with them and understood why I couldn't finish all of them.  I will get back on them right after Christmas.

As one of my Christmas presents I get to go on a Retreat this weekend.  My very first and I am so excited.  It is actually a 4 day retreat but I have to work on Monday, so I will go for 2 days.

Thank you for visiting with me and I hope you enjoyed your drink and pie.

See you next year.

Linking up with Sarah at http://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/

and AmandaJean at http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com/

Thanks AmandaJean for a great pattern.







Made some progress on my Texas Star quilt this past weekend.

 

Just three more blocks and the pieced borders.

 

 

A friend ask me to make her granddaughter a tutu

 

and t-shirt for her birthday pictures.

 

Can you guess how old she will be?

 

 

I didn't get a picture of the tutu, maybe later.

 



 

PEEK

Just a peek of what I have been working on.

 

This is what is on the frame right now.

 

 

 

I have finished most of the background fill.

 

Now working on the sashing.

 

Loving how it is turning out.

 

I love it most of all because it will be MINE!

One of those "to me from me" presents.

 

This is up on the design board

 

 

I bought this kit in Paducah.

If I can get it finished it will be DH's

Christmas present.

The pattern is Texas Star by Whirligig Designs.

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

 

 

 

 



Connecting Threads' give away

Connecting Threads, a super great online quilt store, is giving away a $50.00 gift card.

All you have to do is set up a wish list and e-mail it to Santa or since he is busy, maybe a good friend.

Share on your blog or Facebook. 

Here is the link if you are interested

 http://www.ConnectingThreads.com/cfCart/viewWishlist.cfm?wishlistid=E1D567FB-0831-2643-0A5E4B0645A1AA0F&media=WLBL. 

I put EQ7 on my wish list, it will probably still be there after Christmas,

but of course it is a "wish" list. 

Connecting Threads  has great shipping (no shipping cost if your order is $50.00 or more),

great customer service.  Check them out.