A signature quilt

Five weeks before my niece Callie's wedding I received a call from her, asking if I would make a signature quilt for her wedding.  She was wanting to do a quilt for the guests to sign (since signing a book is so old fashioned).

I pulled out my books and patterns and found a block called just that, Signature!

Sept 19, we met at the quilt store. I had in mind that she was wanting old fashioned fabric, such as these 30's & 40's reproductions. 

However she was wanting more muted colors that would match her wedding theme. 
She picked these 6 fabrics by Moda. She is such a good shopper (being a Textile and Apparel Management graduate helps). All of these fabrics were in the sale bin. Several were all remaining on the bolt and so we got got an additional discount.

As I started cutting the selvages off (I collect them), I noticed something very interesting. There was a theme going on, "Best Wishes", "Together", and Women of Courage".  Could she had gotten anything more appropriate?  She didn't even realize it.

This is the pattern that I first laid out and emailed the photo to her. It's 140 blocks or approximately 50 inches by 70 inches.

I got this reply from Callie, "Aunt Patti, can you add some birds to it? " I said sure, I think I can do that.

"Ok", she said, "How about our names?" Sure I can do that.

"And how about the date too?"  Sure, anything else?  

"No, I think that is all", she replied.

So I found a paper piece pattern for two birds, reversing one so they would look like love birds. 

Here is the finished piece.

If you enlarge the picture you can see I took some of the selvage and sewed it in the birds mouth to represent straw. 

Here is a picture of the finished quilt after I sewed on the binding. 

And here is a picture of the beautiful bride!!!

Here I am with the quilt as it hung at the reception. It worked great for signing. Two ladies attended and supervised the signatures. I had sewn in a pocket to hang it from PVC pipes. It had cardboard against the back for stability.

Soon she will return it and I will hand quilt it. I've also asked Callie's Grandma who is 87 years young to help. 

Best Wishes, Callie and Aaron!

My week so far

The birthday came and went. It was a fun filled day. BT took me out for brunch and a gun show at the same time.

We had a couple of hours to kill after that. It was then on to my bosses retirement party. It happened to be a full catered meal. So BT was off the hook for taking me out to dinner.

Here is Maureen pictured with her co-workers. She worked at the same place for 42 years. 42 Years! Can you imagine?

Good luck in your retirement.



Sunday, we shoveled snow again.

Monday I worked at my paying job. The grand kids spent a couple of hours with us in the evening, while their parents had their taxes prepared.




Today I worked on the borders. This is what I came up with. I
think it will really tie the blocks together.

If you haven't entered my birthday give away, you better hurry! It ends sometime tomorrow night.

Some of you mentioned that you never heard of Wade collectibles.
I drink Red rose tea. It's my favorite hot tea. The company used to give away a Wade collectible in every box.

You now collect the UPC's and send them in. Every UPC gets you one collectible. So for you gals and maybe one guy, I have consumed 480 cups of tea to give you these sweet little monthly figurines!

January - Snowman
February - Cupid
March - Leprechaun
April - Easter Bunny
May - Mother's Day Flowers
June - Graduation
July - Uncle Sam
August - Sandcastle
September - Scarecrow
October - Pumpkin Kitty
November - Turkey
December - Christmas Tree

They change the offer ever so often. I collected this set several years ago.



And so that is my week so far. How has yours been?