A New Finish, A Remembrance

After I finished Kevin's Father's Day t-shirt baseball quilt in June, I asked my friend Julie if I could make her a quilt using some t-shirts from her son.  If you don't already know Julie, her son passed away too young from really unknown causes (though, related to his heart).  He was a remarkable young man, follow this link to his obituary. Further, he was honored this past July for his work in the wheat breeding program at the University of Idaho: link to article here, and one more.  I was very happy when Julie said yes!  Now, she is a very prolific and wonderful quilter, so there was a bit of pressure I put on myself to try to make sure it turned out well.  I had a few issues here and there, but I think most quilts do as they are being constructed.

For Kevin's t-shirt quilt, I did not frame the shirts.  I think the effect would have been much better if I had.  So for Brad's quilt, I did frame them and I am pleased with the outcome.

I remember meeting Brad when he was about junior high age.  He wanted to collect pine cones from our trees because they were different than those where he live in Idaho :)  He had an interest in science at a young age, that was definitely apparent.

The back of the quilt is made from two flannels, one dog paw print to represent his dog Kenobi, and a fabric that has depictions of the outdoors.  I also had an extra John Deere shirt fabric that I set within:

When I was making Kevin's t-shirt quilt, I had an idea in mind for Brad's quilt (this was before I even asked Julie), but in the end, I did not do the wheat quilting design I doodled.  I did find wheat fabric though, perfect.  It is a directional fabric, so I was glad that I didn't mix up my strips.  The wheat is all going in the same direction :)

I had a helper when I was sewing down the binding:



Julie and Doug received the quilt today, and I hope it gives a bit of comfort to have something to hold on to that was Brad's.