Niece and Nephew Quilts are Finished and A Recap

I've been sharing with you the quilts I've been making for my nieces and nephews, the ones who have not received one in a while.  I overlooked three of them so thought I'd get caught up on that and do a recap.

The ones I've already posted about are Josh, Ashley, Laura, Nikki, Travis, Paige, Natalie, Emily, Carrie, Karlie, Kourtnie, and Kacie's. (Each name has a link attached in case you'd like to see them.)  All of them were made since 2018.  Thank goodness, I have a fantastic quilter (Shirley Jackson) I can depend on!

Jason is the one nephew who had never received a quilt from me.  When he was born (and I'm embarrassed to tell you how old he is, so I won't) I was crocheting afghans for new babies.  I also crocheted a large afghan for him when he was first married.  (Oops, that hints at how old he is.  Don't pay any attention to that.)  Anyway, it was definitely his turn!  I named his quilt "Long Time Coming".

For Tim I tore into my box of batik strips (again!) and made a variation of the Jelly Roll Race Quilt, using different size strips and pieces (instead of WOF strips) and sewing some diagonal seams instead of straight. It wasn't nearly big enough to suit me, plus I wanted to change it up, so I added strips around it going in the opposite direction.  It ended up plenty big enough, and I ended up with another happy nephew.  

Tina's quilt was Amy Walsh's "Zen" pattern.  Yes.  I used batiks.  I've used this pattern before, but this time I sewed some of it in a hotel in Seattle.  I've set up a little sewing area in many a hotel.  An important thing to pack for that is my Ott sewing light.  You know how bad hotel lighting is.

You may remember that, in 2018, I went a little crazy cutting up my batiks into 2.5" strips.   

Now, that box looks like this .....

Hooray!

Now all the nieces and nephews have new quilts.  (Another Hooray!)  Should I start on the great-nieces and nephews?  Well, I do have all those scrappy squares I cut up a few years ago.....

Linking up with Confessions of a Fabric Quilter, and Super Scrappy.

My New Projects for July and August - Nephews' Quilts!

I did actually start a new project in July, I just couldn't get the blog written within the seven day window in order to participate in that month's 2013 NewFo Challenge.  I do want to tell you about it though, so I'm including it here with the August project.  

The July Project -- When my sister-in-law, Debbie, passed away in 1999 she left behind this embroidered quilt top.  I saved it all these years so I could do something with it for her children.

I cut the center out of it and used some of the border stitching to make this quilt for Debbie's daughter, Ashley, in 2010 and blogged about it in this post.

I have 18 blocks left over to make a quilt for Debbie's son, Jason.  

My friend Shirley, who is a genius with her EQ designing program, came up with several designs for alternate blocks for me and I chose this one. 

Then she designed the alternate blocks for me complete with measurements.

So basically, the work for my July project was done by someone else!  LOL  That's okay.  I'll do the cutting, sewing, and quilting!

The August Project -- My nephew Josh asked me to make a wall-hanging based on the character Link from The Legend of Zelda computer game.  I found some pics online of the items in the game....

....and then sketched them out on graph paper.  

No, I do not know what all the items are.  I had to ask Josh!  I'm going to make a block for each figure and then use them in a border around a pieced center of Link.  

Getting the sketches done and buying some of the fabrics is as far as I got.

But it's a start.  Another start. I need a few finishes!!

I was going to link up with Barbara's Linky Party, but it looks like the deadline was early this month.  I'll be a little more on the ball next month. (I hope....)

Ashley's Quilt

I really believe that each quilt I make is special, but every once in a while I am involved in the creation of a quilt that is incredibly so.  Such is the case with Ashley's Quilt. 
When my brother lost his wife in 1999 he gave me all of her sewing things.  Among them was an embroidered quilt top.  You know the kind -- big flowers splashed across a very thin white top with little blue dots for quilting lines.

I didn't know it at the time, but not only had my sister-in-law Debbie worked on this embroidered top, my brother Ronnie had, too, along with their children, Jason and Cathy.   Cathy was no longer living at the time Ashley was born in 1983, so two of the four people who worked on this project were already gone.
  
I decided to somehow figure out a way to cut up this top and make two quilts from it -- one for Ashley since she was getting married soon, and one for her older brother, Jason.  (You know I love a challenge.)


Even though I only had a very rough plan in mind, I went to work cutting up the original top into pieces I thought I could work with.  Then I got input from a lot of quilty friends.  (Always a good idea!)

This project had its obstacles.  The fabric in the original top was so thin I could actually read through it, so it had to be lined.  Then I faced design issues because I wanted to have enough of the original left for a second quilt.  And last, you cannot just cut through embroidery.  The thread has to be picked out, threaded through a needle and knotted.  Ahhh, but it was worth it.

Ashley was married a few months ago, so I went by her house last week to present her with her gift. 

I think 

she likes it.

So now all I have left of the original quilt top is a stack of 9" squares from which I hope to create a second quilt that is every bit as special.  

Nothing like committing myself to another big project, is there?