Baby Clothes Quilt from Simplify and Quilt

Awesome baby clothes quilt today from Andra who blogs at Simplify and Quilt.  I want to do this with my children's clothing someday.  Such a beautiful way to preserve them!! Except I think my boys would have to share one quilt with all the handing down :)  This quilt is beautifully quilted to boot!  I had fun looking at all the little details.  Stop by Simplify and Quilt to see other great finishes by Andra on her sidebar.  Thanks for sharing!

This quilt was created, for a family friend, with all the baby clothes from their one child.  I received a huge, moving box full of clothes, in the mail.  The mother was having such a hard time thinking about getting rid of her daughter’s precious  clothes that she decided a quilt was in order. 

I tried to preserve all the cute appliques, iron on pictures, embroidery, ruffles and buttons that were the focus of most of the clothing items.  

I also included pockets from little pairs of jeans, some pieces of receiving blankets, and even a bib.  Almost all of the pieces had to be backed with iron on interfacing so that they would not stretch, just as you would use with any T-shirt quilt. 

The quilt went home with its family on July 5^th.  They were very pleased and I have heard that the extended family literally spent hours looking at each block.  The little girl, who is now five, delighted in seeing her old clothes.  I think she specifically liked the frog “princess” in the middle. 

Our Ten Memory Quilts

Last September our brother-in-law passed away.  Many many of you shared your hearts and prayers with us and we were so grateful.  Our sister and her husband have 10 children.  In the weeks and months after his passing we decided we wanted to make memory quilts using his shirts for the kids.  Greg was a Junior High science teacher and had a huge amount of button up shirts.  We didn't use any of his knit t-shirts, lots of the kids have taken those over as PJ's.  

Our mom was the major force in this project.  There were a couple nights with cousins and sisters-in-law where they were cutting squares but it was a huge amount of work from our mom.  Once the squares were cut our sister, Amy, separated them for each of her kids.  Certain shirts in the quilts they all remember and some shirts were special to specific kids.

All the squares for tops were spread out, I did 3 in Arizona and I know several more family members and friends helped here.  I don't know exactly who so my apologies for not recognizing you specifically.  From there our phenomenal amazing Aunt Wendy quilted every one of these.  Seriously.  We love her, she is so kind and generous.

None of these quilts have been washed.  Some shirts still smell like their daddy and we want to keep it that way for as long as possible.

I created a few bindings for these quilts but another step to label the quilts was supposed to be part of my contribution.  However my massive somewhat sudden move left me with no time.

I contacted Jennifer from Jennifer's Jewels.  She created the most beautiful personalized tags for our nieces and nephews.  All 10 have the child's name and then have the same personalized saying that our sister decided on.

I wasn't able to be there but Heather and my mom delivered the quilts to the family in their newly finished home.  9 out of 10 were there, the oldest is working up at school for the summer.  From what I was told it was a happy time and not sad.  That's good :)

Aren't they gorgeous??  That picture warms my heart.  Now they each have a piece of their dad forever.  They can snuggle it when they're missing him.  Each shirt may hold a memory of him.  I'm so happy I was able to be a small part of this project.

Also for any of you concerned please know that our sister Amy is getting her own memory quilt of her husband. She wanted a little more time and wants to really make it special with the shirts and design.  We also made her a quilt as an "I love you" a few months back.

I wanted to quickly again say THANK YOU to Jennifer.  She so generously donated her time and product for these kids, without asking for a single thing in return.  I would encourage you to use Jennifer's Jewels for your quilts labels.  Not only is she kind and generous but she creates beautiful custom tags.  Thank you Jennifer!

Fairly Merry-Hannah's Garden quilt...

Mary created this quilt for a friend who lost her pet. What a great gift. I love the Sunflower burst your eyes are drawn to. I also love how the color values match their pet.  You can read more of the story here. What a great gift to a friend. Mary is a fabric lover and quilter. She blogs at FairlyMerry, cute name. Here are her quilt finishes, amazing! Be sure to visit her blog...

I promised some photos of Hannah's Sunflower Garden quilted.  I didn't get photos of the completed quilt before gifting it.  They kicking and yelling graciously let me have it back for a few days for photos.  The husband had asked me to make his wife a sunflower quilt and a reminder of their pet who had passed on.  He was going to pay me, but as I took almost an entire year to find my rhythm with this quilt, I decided to gift it instead of taking payment.  (they are friends, so it wasn't too much of a stretch)

The sun hitting the quilt just so made it look especially bright.  Sunflowers should be happy, bright, fun, and make you feel good inside. Somewhat like a quilt.

Some of the quilting is grid style, I like to use that for stability.  I used FMQ to make sunflower petals through the panel pieces of the sunflower.  I also made small sunflowers in the center of the lighter blocks, you can see them well on the back.  

For the back I used a sunflower batik, and I was just a tad short of having enough for the entire back.  But, I used that to my advantage for something I wanted to add at the bottom.

In the quilting I wanted to add a small outline of 'Hannah' who was the pet of this quilts new owner.  Hannah was ill and went on to heaven before her time.  I traced a photo of Hannah and stitched over the outline on the back of the quilt.  You can barely see her on the front - as if she is hiding in the garden.  They had wanted a reminder of Hannah, but I didn't want the quilt to be sad, and this way, I feel as if she is there if they want to see her, but not obvious.  She was a very handsome dog!  

Here is the photo I used:

Hannah 

I received a very nice note from the quilts happy home, that alone was enough to make me all warm and fuzzy feeling inside.  But as we had talked about Hannah when I gave her the quilt and she said how sad she still was.  I encouraged her to make a home for a new dog - as that is what kept me going last summer when I had to let go of my own old girl.  In her note she told me that she was inspired to move on from her sadness and will bring home two boxer puppies later this month.  I will need to remind her later, that I did NOT in anyway encourage her to get two!  

Black and white showing value in the quilt.

25-patch and More Quilt from Julie's Quilts

Every quilt has a story...thus why we created Quilt Story! :)  But some have more than others, this quilt is the perfect combination for me!  Sweet simple story entirely incorporated into the quilt.  Sorry you'll have to read to find out.  This quilt was made by Julie from Julie's Quilts...stop by and see some great quilt and block inspiration, and check out this sweet story of another quilt she made for another child in need.  Go Julie!!

Back in 2010 while I was pregnant with N, my cousin was also pregnant with her first child.  Our babies were supposed to be about 5 months apart.  Little did we know that her daughter would be born just 2 months after N weighing in just over 2 pounds and 14 inches long.  K spent almost 3 months in the NICU before she was able to come home.  

During her stay in the NICU, her parents decorated her incubator with receiving blankets.  Just after her first birthday, her mom asked me to make a quilt out of the receiving blankets.  The large squares in the quilt are K's receiving blankets and the 25-patch blocks are made with Twirl by Me and My Sister Designs.  I quilted with white thread in a meandering pattern.  The quilt is all washed up and snuggly and will be delivered to K next week.  I can't wait to see photos of this happy, healthy, almost 2-year old with her new quilt!!

The quilt is twin sized or a double coverlet.

Sweet quilt from The Days Dewings

This is such a sweet and personal quilt from Jennifer of The Days Dewings.  What time she put into this for her grandma, her whole life in a quilt!  So sweet!  Jennifer is the mother to 7 children under 10 years old.  Yes you read that right!!  She loves to be a mom, create, sew, craft, and quilt :)

My Grandma turned 90 this summer, in July, and she was having a surprise birthday party on July 9. I have always loved the idea of a memory quilt and so I wanted to use pictures from everyone in the family to make it. I used the quilt pattern Summer Squares, found on the Moda Bake Shop page, because I thought the pattern lent itself well to look like picture frames. I found the perfect fabric for her, which was “Summer Breeze” by Sentimental Studios. (I realize that they have since put to market a Summer Breeze 2 and I would love to get my hands on that! I loved this line!!)

I knew getting those pictures was going to be the hardest part of all, since no one lives near me, not even in the same state. So I talked to my family member in April about this.  I didn’t hear any thing, so I though they weren’t interested. At the end of May, my mother tells me that yes, they are all interested and they would indeed all send me pictures. I was anticipating having some trouble getting pictures from my mother. She mean well, but she’s a bit of a procrastinator. I am not.

And I was right. The last of the photos came a week before her surprise birthday party. Remember, those are the photos that are in the quilt? Yeah.

This is just the beginning of things not going smoothly.

I didn’t want to buy the pre-done fabric sheets you can print on, for I know that over time, they will crack and peel, not to mention they are horribly expensive (at least when you have 40+ pictures!). So I did some research and decided upon a product called Bubble Jet Set 2000. It is a solution you soak your 100% cotton or 100% silk in and it makes it possible to print on fabric.

I ordered it but it was taking F.O.R.E.V.E.R. to get here from Eugene, OR. (I guess that’s what I get for paying for “economy shipping”). 7 days before I was due to send the quilt out, I learned that the ETA was July 6 when it needed to be in the mail no later then July 7! Not good.

So I did what any other quilter with a fast approaching deadline would do: I panicked!! I called around to various quilt stores to see if they carried the solution Bubble Jet Set 2000. Please keep in mind that we live in northern Wisconsin, aka “the middle of no where”! So it was no real surprise that no one did. The store in Rhinelander did have supposed pre-treated fabric, so I bought 3 yds of it, even though I thought it was way more than I needed. At almost $9 a yard, it’s not cheap stuff.

The said fabric didn’t work! We printed out 42 pictures and the ink came out!! My heart almost stopped. Thankfully, the Bubble Jet Set 2000 and Rinse arrived the day after I bought all this yardage, which was earlier then supposed, and I was able to do a test run on some muslin to see if it would work. It did!!

So I used the rest of the not-cheap fabric, followed the directions, and let them dry over night.

On Sunday morning, we started to print out the pictures only to run out of ink half way through. Of course! Why not? The only thing to do was go to Rhinelander and get some at Wal*mart (we combined a little grocery shopping then too, so it wasn’t a totally wasted trip just for ink. Rhinelander is our “big” town around here, about 8,000 people and is 40 min away.). 4 hours later, we printed out the rest of the 45 pictures (by this time, I got the last 2 remaining photos), and held my breath.

  

The one with the cranberry border was taken about 2 years into their marriage in San Francisco. It’s my favorite picture, which is why it’s center stage! If you look real close, you’ll see that the cranberry ribbon bled on the white. But it’s only around the perimeter, so I’m okay with it. It adds a little bit of dimension to it, I think.

  

My Grandfather’s picture has the yellow border and my Grandmother’s has the blue one. Their wedding picture is in the quilt, but the photo is dark and faded, which is why it’s not in the middle.

On Monday morning, I started to sewing the blocks together, but I only got half way through and we needed to go to a family birthday party at noon. We didn’t get back until about 8 o’clock. I then proceeded to stay up until 4 am striving to get the top all together. I didn’t get it all done, but it was really close. I was able to cut all the Summer Breeze fabric up while I was waiting for the Bubble Jet (and pictures!) to get here. And I’m so glad I did!

I decided it was time to go to bed when I was clipping threads and nipped the quilt top a little.

On Tuesday, July 5, I was able to finishing all the applique, put the top completely together, add the borders, piece the back together, sandwich the quilt with the batting and back, and get it half quilted. I then took a break to go watch Adam play softball…..

We got back home around 8 pm and I stayed up ‘till midnight, in which time I finished the quilting and sewed the binding on.

  

The center strip was quilted with an over-all meander (but not over the borders and pictures) and the rest of the quilt was quilted following the seam lines, both vertical and horizontal. I chose this to make each “picture frame” separate from it’s neighbor.

I love pieced backs! Just because it’s the back, doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be pretty too! Never mind all that puckering and pulling. This actually was only my 4th quilt, with 2 of the previous 3 being baby quilts. I’ve learned a lot since then.

The morning of my deadline to get it in the mail, July 7, I finished a little hand sewing that was needed and I was able to get it to the post office before 1 o’clock! I paid for the 2 day guarantee so it would arrive in time for her party. Whew!! Believe me, it took me about a week to catch up on sleep.

The end result was a quilt that I was quite proud of and was happy to send to my Grandma. She loved it!! It was the star of the party and people who come to visit her ask to see “the quilt”. That makes me feel good! 

Did I mention I was 9 months pregnant with my 7th child?

Wonderful memory quilt from Nancy Noodle...

Nancy from Nancy Noodle made this wonderful quilt in memory of her Uncle. The details that went into all the embroideries is amazing! What a great gift to give to the family who lost their father and husband.  Be sure to visit her blog, and she has a cute etsy shop as well...

Quilt of Shaun

My final post of 2011 is dedicated to a quilt that has taken me most of the year to complete. I first envisioned a quilt dedicated to my uncle Shaun a little over a year ago. In October 2010 he passed away suddenly, leaving my aunt and her 3 kids heartbroken.

I enlisted the help of my sister Amber and my mom in the project. Amber, who is great with design and drawing helped me figure out which aspects of Shaun's life we should include and how to do so. She drew most of the images that became the stitcheries. We divided the 10 blocks between the 3 of us. A few months later I collected the stitchery blocks. We collaborated on fabrics/quilt designs, and from our collaborations I created this quilt. Just in time for Christmas too!
I love how it turned out. The colors, the design, the fabrics, the stitcheries, the straight line diagonal quilting, even the back.
Fabrics used in this quilt: Kona Cottons (Lemon, Banana, Medium Grey & Ash); Michael Miller's Dumb Dot, Peacock Lane- Meadow and Going Coastal- Sea Kelp; Free Spirit's Soliel and Silent Cinema- Iris Yellow; Ary Gallery's Modern Affair; and Cloud9's Cut Out & Keep- Poplin Avenues.

Now for a brief look into Shaun's life:
Family was always the most important part of Shaun's life. His wife, his children and his extended family.
Shaun married my Aunt Karen in the Idaho Falls LDS Temple.
He served a religious mission to Japan.
He was a farmer, and operated a red combine. He was one of the hardest working men I've ever known.
Shaun attended and graduated from Brigham Young University.
He taught his kids to ski when they were small and it was always a favorite family activity.
He loved scouting and was involved in it his whole life.
Shaun enjoyed read, and I always remember that there was stack of books on the table beside his chair.
He was raised in and lived his life in a small town in Idaho.
He went to Oakley High School and enjoyed sports.

My uncle Shaun was a great man, a man whom I want to try to emulate in my own life. Creating this quilt about him has helped me to remember that and I hope that it will have that same affect on others, especially his children and future grandchildren who won't have met him but can still benefit from his example and love.