Whale of a Good Time

Jenn and Aaron weren't the only ones being celebrated at the recent Lake George gathering. My brother and his wife are expecting their first baby in August. Kathryn sent me a few pins of quilts featuring whales and anchors and I was able to duplicate one pretty easily:

Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo of the quilt before wrapping it up. But here's a photo of Jake and Kathryn opening the gift.

And Kathryn was kind enough to send me a photo of the quilt, ready to go, in the nursery. I CAN'T WAIT TO MEET MY NEPHEW!!

Updated to add.... the other day, I saw this fabric at Jo-Ann's. I almost want to redo Kathryn's quilt just so I can add this to it!

Diabetes T-Shirt Quilt

Well look-ie there, it's another t-shirt. This was a commission project that I made for someone who had collected t-shirts from several diabetes awareness events.

I met with the owner when she handed off the t-shirts to me and I asked for her thoughts on what she wanted. She shared this photo of another quilt that she saw on Pinterest and she asked for something similar with blues, using the front and back of the shirts.

 

I have to say, I LOVED making this t-shirt quilt. I started by cutting down the shirts and then measuring the graphic of each shirt.

Then I drew a diagram to figure out where everything would go.

It was a challenge to keep the front and backs of the t-shirt together while factoring in the colors of each shirt. Most of the shirts were gray and white so I wanted to spread out the colors. Cutting the shirts was nerve racking. I would double and triple check the measurements before cutting them. I was paranoid about cutting one too small and throwing off my whole diagram.

I loved putting together the blocks.

And here is the finished project. I was able to utilize all the shirts and make them fit. I'm so pleased with the outcome.

Flower Buds

Another finish for 2014. I'm on a roll! I can't take much credit for this quilt though. It's a baby quilt for my husband's cousin's daughter who is expecting in August. (Did you catch that one?) My mother-in-law pieced and appliqued the top. I layered and quilted it and attached the binding.

This lovely quilt is going in the mail tomorrow, just in time for the baby shower (which I can't attend) that is being held in Detroit.

Michigan Blue

I'm in love with this quilt. It was tough to give away but fortunately, it was for a good cause.

My cousin, Aaron, and his lovely fiance, Jenn, are getting married in August so of course, I wanted to make them a lovely creation. I asked Jenn to pick out a color scheme and pattern. She definitely gravitated toward squares within squars. As for colors, she said that they liked blues.

I had purchased a fat bundle of awesome Lotta Jansdotter Glimma fabric during a visit to Crimson Tate in the fall so this project was the perfect excuse to cut in to the bundle.

The teal and gold mixed in with the blue reminded me Lake George in the summer. (My grandparents had a home on Lake George and my cousin Aaron and I spent many weekends together at Lake George.)

Here's a photo on progress. I added several of my own scraps to make this a a bigger quilt.

 Here are some photos of Aaron and Jenn at their wedding shower. It was held at Lake George on Independence Day weekend. (Check out the blue and red quilt used to hold the presents. I made that quilt - Anchor's Away - for another family member.)

Emily's T-Shirts

Tenacity wasn't the only person to receive a quilt for her high school graduation. My husband's cousins daughter - Emily - also graduated this year. Her mom had been sneaking t-shirts away from her over the years and asked my mother-in-law and I to put them together in to a quilt for Emily. Bobbie and I jumped at the chance. Emily is such a beautiful, strong, kind, and funny person; we were honored to make her a t-shirt quilt.

We started the project this winter, during a quilting retreat at my house. Bobbie put together most of the top and I finished the top, did the backing, and quilted it. Bobbie then did the binding.

Here is the finished project.

The back was particularly special because it featured a t-shirt that Emily and her grandfather (Bobbie's brother) designed for a fishing tournament they were in. (Uncle Tom passed away a few years ago and we all miss him. We especially miss seeing him and Emily together. They had a special bond.)

This t-shirt makes me laugh so I had to include a special photo!

We traveled to Hazel Park, Michigan this weekend to attend Emily's graduation. Bobbie and I were excited to give her the quilt. She LOVED it. It make her cry which of course made us cry. Her mom was thrilled and insisted on hanging it up to display it during the party.

Emily is headed to Michigan State this fall where I am confident she will have a successful four years of college as a Spartan.

Fragments

One of the great things about quilt camp at Camp Tecumseh is the fact that they always host a vendor who sets up a mini quilt store for the quilters to use in the lobby of the building. The quilt shops will have fabric, books, fabric, notions, and more fabric. It's fun to go shopping at 3 am. Or if you're in the middle of a project and you run out of something (or need additional fabric), it's nice to walk up a set of stairs and have lots of options to help complete your project.

At the January camp more than two years ago, I came across a fat quarter bundle that I fell in love with. I bought the bundle and it sat in my sewing room, untouched, for about year. I finally found a project for the bundle and started putting it together. Because it was an "extra" project - as in it wasn't designated for anyone - I worked on this project in pieces, finally putting the top together in April.

I wasn't sure what I was going to do with the quilt but when I received an invitation to my dad's, wife's, granddaughters high school graduation open house, I knew I wanted to finish the quilt for her. (I guess that makes her my step-niece?) I was able to layer and quilt this project in a weekend so that I could finish it in time for her party.

Tenacity is pretty cool kid and she totally deserves this beautiful quilt. 

It was hard to part with it - especially since I loved the fat quarter bundle so much - but I'm happy Tenacity was the recipient. Especially after receiving this text from her:

Tenacity is headed to Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis this fall. She'll make a great Jaguar!

The Stars Align

When I first jumped on the Pinterest bandwagon, I saw a quilt block that I loved, loved, loved from Ellison Lane Quilts. I finally got around to making my own quilt with this starflower block. (Which is more than I can say for most of the other quilts I've pinned!)

(I just looked at the above photo and realized how awesome my piecing looks. Go me! I feel like a grown up quilter.)

I made several blocks and laid out the quilt. Of course, it's never quite as big as you want.

Luckily, I had plenty of the white on white fabric that I was able to use for sashing and a border. I love the floating stars affect of this quilt.

I'm donating this quilt to a cancer survivor walk in honor of a friend from work. So it's only fitting that I took a photo of this beautiful quilt on campus. 

One last photo.... I completed this project over spring break. My mom was visiting me and although I only had one finish for the week; she had THREE. Go mom! Here's our collage of finished projects:

I did spend a good amount of time over spring break working on a massive quilting project. The quilting is now completed - yay! - but I'm finishing the binding. I can't wait to show you that quilt.