Completed Project, memory quilts

Both measure around 51x77.



It will be three years come November 26th that one of my husband's brothers passed away.  He was only 42 at the time of his passing and completely unexpected.  He left behind a daughter and son--his daughter started her first year of college this month and his son started high school this school year.  They always hold their memories of their dad nearby.  I offered to make memory quilts a couple of months following his passing, but with personal items it is so hard to let go even when they know what it is for and would return.  Grief has no limits.  I did receive boxes with sorted shirts this summer, and this week  I finished the project.



I wish they were perfect, I always have issues with some stretching even though the shirts were interfaced.  There are a few puckers on the back.  These are the times that I wish I had a longarm, but I will just continue to do my best.



I held back to shirts to make into pillows so that they could have that hug or shoulder to rest on.  I hope they like their quilts and pillows, I will be getting them in the mail in the next week.

Graduation/Memory Quilt, Pink Lemonade Finishes

I finished up a few projects over the weekend, here is one.



I am going to try and ignore that now (literally "now"! after downloading photos) when I look at the picture, I think I put the rabbit applique in the wrong location.  It's too late now, it's been mailed off... Why is it that I have a hard time seeing things until I look at photos?  Why can't I see the placement without having to do that.  ugh!  The good part is that it can be removed since I put it on after the top was together.  It might take a little time to remove it, but it's up to my niece.

On a note about sewing baby clothing into a memory quilt, I don't plan on doing that again.  Yes, I have seen some very cute ones, but after several needle breaks, I'm going to decline those.



My next finish was a new quilt for my grand daughter.  After making the "Pink Lemonade" pattern that came in a Quilty Box, I knew this was what I would be giving to her.  I amazed myself by sewing the binding down in one day (usually I give myself 3-4 days).  I am not very good at machine sewing the binding, so that was out.




Anyway... with so many irons in the fire, I have been feeling paralyzed.  I hate that feeling of being so overwhelmed.  My next project I must finish is Daniel's Boy Scout Eagle quilt.  I already have the pattern, and though there is time, this is something that is going to sneak up on me if I'm not careful.  He thinks he'll reach Eagle by June, but I think that's pushing it.

I can't get over the applique placement I did, I'm really upset with myself.

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.

A Father's Day Quilt

A few months ago, Kevin and I did a major cleanout and donation run with all the clothing neither of us wear anymore.  Kevin literally has hundreds of t-shirts... many freebie's from work or trade shows he attended.  Some were actually purchased.  From the ones that he culled, I pulled aside the Mariners or sports-related tee's that he was ready to get rid of to make into a quilt.  I have made one other t-shirt quilt using my college sweatshirts, t-shirts, my high school grad t-shirt, and when I needed some more material I printed off my diploma and my picture from graduation.

College quilt, not a great presentation but it's from the "archives":


That was a learning experience.  I used pieces of material as filler, and then framed it with some Robyn Pandolph fabrics that worked with the crimson.  Finished in 2006.  I used a fleece backing (a Washington State University fabric) and it has a batting.  Along with the sweatshirt material, this is a heavy quilt.  AND the preferred quilt by all the guys in the house.

So with that learning experience under my belt, I went for a more planned version for Kevin's Father's Day quilt:


Though most of the shirts were from the Mariners (we had season tickets for a couple of years, so there is a freebie or two along with purchases), I included a shirt from our honeymoon in 1996 (we went to a Giants game, they lost), a shirt from when he was a coach for Daniel's little league team, and then the Texas shirt? I am not sure where that came from, but we'll say that represents Daniel's birth state :)


I'm not really sure how the shadow effect worked, I'm wondering if I should have used half square triangles in the corner where the white squares are, or maybe framed the blocks first.  The best looking one, imo, is the red with the shadow.  The white shirts don't look as good.


The quilt ended up being literally a "(almost) quilt in a day" quilt.  I worked on it for the day when Kevin and the boys were at cub scout family camp (yeah, I am feeling guilty about not going, but boarding the dog was not something I wanted to do.  I need to see if any neighbor's might want to check in on him next time).  My binding got a bit stretched when I was sewing it on, so it has a slight wave to it.  I am attributing that to the fleece mainly, that takes some getting used to.  At least with the t-shirt material, it had a stabilizer ironed down so the stretch and curl did not happen.

Two issues I had:
1) rubbery screen printed shirts are hard to quilt with, using a foot that isn't metal may help with the "glide" factor.
2) I used a very lightweight interfacing that I also used in my first quilt--well, I think it was a bit too lightweight compared to the other lightweight interfacing I just bought.  The shirts that had the newer interfacing quilted much better and they hardly stretched at all during the quilting process.

And our happy customer: