Another Photo Quilt

A short time ago I posted about photo/memory quilts. I would like to share a personal project I completed for my Mom. She gave them as gifts to the Aunts and Uncles (my Late Father's brothers and sisters). The quilted wall hangings were made from a photo T-shirt from a family reunion from about 15 years ago in Bemidji, MN. We made them in several color themes. At my Mom's 75th Birthday she shared them with all of my Dad's brothers and sisters (my aunts and uncles). To see more photos check out the media gallery, under Memory Quilts.

This is a wonderful way to preserve a T-shirt from a special event. It doesn't have to be a photo t-shirt. It can just be a favorite T-shirt.

A photo quilt

I am catching up on some posting and want to take the next couple of weeks to highlight some of quilted projects and quilts that I have worked on over this year. I don't have the capacity to post about every quilt I work on, therefore I aim to post things that I think might inspire your own creativity, like today's post!

This quilted wall hanging was a creative way to cherish and preserve memories using fabric photos! This was made by Thankful Sanftlefben. Thankful's daughter asked her to make this special memory wall hanging her in-law's anniversary celebration. She used dark and medium fabrics to create a shadow effect on the fabric which essentially framed each photo. The rose fabric was framed as one of the pictures to represent the roses from their wedding. I quilted on each frame with wiggle/squiggle lines and then the background with meandering leaves and swirls. I used three different thread colors to match each fabric. Using a double poly-batting makes the photos puff and not sag as there is no quilting on the photo (just on the frames). This way they stay smooth. For more pictures check out the Memory and T-shirt Quilts on the media gallery.

Newphew's Graduation Quilt

My nephew Spencer is graduating for High School on Sunday. I made him a water waves quilt as he is a swimmer -- oh and a musician and a runner; and an all round nice young man. He won a local 5 mile race on Friday!, which has competed in since he was in grade school.

I used the free "Warm Wishes" pattern, from the Better Homes and Garden site. I changed the center strip of the pattern to a wider piece as I had more of the black fabric and less of the other colors. I used a blue-green batik that has fish swimming in all directions. I chose a tie-dyed looking blue fabric for the back of the quilt. Using a variegated blue thread I proceeded to quilt waves through the entire quilt! I love the effect it created -- kind of a soothing feeling of comfort; hope that that is exactly how he will feel! I used Hobbs 80/20 Batting, a cotton and poly blend to keep you warm and cool at the same time.

More pictures of this quilt can be found on my website in the Media Gallery, under Examples - Waves.