Another graduation quilt

This evening I finished another graduation quilt for a recent graduate. This young lady really liked the hand quilted designs on the blocks, and requested a black backing with white thread, so the designs would be more visible.

This quilt's finished size is 76w x 72h, so it's finished cost is $370 + $15 for an embroidered block with name and graduation date, for a total of $385.

Graduation Quilt

Tis graduation season!

I just finished one graduation quilt and have started working on another.

When I sent the picture of the finished quilt to the grad, she responded: "THIS IS ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE. It brings tears to my eyes seeing it and I cant wait to finally cuddle with it. What a special thing I will have for the rest of my life and I cannot thank you enough for all the time and effort you put into making it!"

This is why I love doing this particular craft so much. It really is a meaningful project that I do believe people will keep and cherish for their entire lives.

Front

Back

Since I often get asked about price, I'll start listing the prices of the quilts. This is a finished size of 76 x72 and so it's finished cost is $370.

UPDATE - Here is a picture with the new grad and her quilt:

Imitation Craft: Owl Quilt

I am a Chi Omega, and our symbol is the owl. One of my very best friends is my Chi Omega sister. We met through XO almost 15 years ago. We've been sisters, roommates, BFFs, bridesmaids in each other's weddings, and became mothers around the same time. In fact, we got married months apart from one another and both subsequently had two sons. (I had my twin boys and she had two single sons a year and a half apart.) But now she is pregnant with a little girl and I'm over the moon happy for her to have what we in the sorority world refer to as a "Legacy".

I have made quilts for all of her children (her two sons and her step-daughter), so I knew I was going to make a quilt for child #4. It only took me a few minutes of browsing through pinterest before I happened upon the perfect design!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/barabooboo

What a perfect, sweet, little baby quilt for a Chi Omega legacy!

I wanted to find some owl fabric to incorporate, so I started at Spoonflower.com. One of the things I love about Spoonflower (other than the ability to customize fabrics!) is that you can search pretty specifically for the design and color you want. I was able to search for owls patterns that used bright pink and green. And many patterns (including the one I settled on) have collections that go together. (However, I ended up just getting the owl fabric because it does add up quickly, but if I had unlimited re$ources, I would have ordered from the collection). Some Spoonflower owl fabrics

Once I got the perfect owl fabric, the rest was easy. What do you think?

And, following with my recent tradition, I also made Baby P a XO legacy onesie to match my BFF's alumni tshirt (that I also made).

And, I realized that I had never made a legacy tshirt for her step-daughter (because she came into our lives a little older), so I went ahead and made one for her too. So now their whole family has matching letters. :)

And because we have another sister who is also expecting a little girl, I made one for her baby too. :)

Treat yo' self

I'm always making things for other people. But this one was just for me...

I graduated 12 years ago this spring...and I've been wanting a XO alumni sweatershirt ever since.  I finally got around to making one.

I scored on a super soft Hanes sweatshirt on sale for about $5. What a lovely way to dress it up. :)

Update: And because I'm not totally selfish. Right after I finished this, I made this for my "sister"'s daughter who turns 5 next month.

Baby Quilt

If you have some spare time and a half dozen fat quarters laying around, you can make my new favorite baby quilt (Fat Quarter Baby Quilt Tutorial) like the one I made for a beautiful new little girl...

If you make one, you should add a picture of it to their Flickr group.

Also, because the baby girl was born to one of my sorority sisters, I couldn't help but take the opportunity to make this darling onesie to match her quilt.

Update: Here is a picture of baby Avery wearing her XO letters (with my two lovely sorority sisters!).

Chi Omega Quilt: Completed

As I mentioned before, I've been working on a college/sorority tshirt quilt for one of my Chi Omega sisters.  Well, it's finished!

Katie sent me 33 t-shirts (actually, I think it was 8 sweatshirts and 25 tshirts!) and her White Carnation formal gown to make into a quilt.

The final dimensions came out to 84 inches long x 68 inches wide.

ODU Sweatshirt.  Go Monarchs!

One of Katie's baby shirts.

Chi O forever.

Another shirt from when Katie was a kid.

Close up of some free motion quilting.

Katie asked that I include a block that shows that this was made by one of her sorority sisters.  I thought the white carnation was a subtle touch.

The back.  I chose a blue back with silver trim, because those are ODU's colors.

Close ups of the back view of the free motion quilting.

I hope she loves it and cherishes it for years to come!

Update:  Katie loves her quilt!

Chi Omega Quilt

About a month ago, one of my Chi Omega sisters saw my college quilt on Facebook and said: "Ew, would you make one for me?!"

Then a few weeks later, I received two boxes of tshirts in the mail.

It was really fun working with Katie's shirts because there were so many that I remembered!  Some were shirts I had myself and had put into my own quilt (like the bid day shirt from the rush where Katie officially became a New Member (aka Pledge)) and some were just shirts I can vividly remember her wearing in college.

But Katie likes to keep me on my toes, so she sent not only her favorite tshirts, but a few sweatshirts, and her White Carnation formal gown!!  It was fun (and a little challenging) to work with the jersey material with the sweatshirt material and satin and lace.

The top is now all sewed together.  The next step is finding the perfect backing material, and then quilting!

Click to enlarge

Voila!

So, as I said before (and before), I have been working on a tshirt quilt using my old tshirts.  The oldest one dates back to 1997, my freshman year of college. Most of the shirts are from my undergraduate years, places I worked, clubs I was in, etc.  Then I have a few from graduate school and different universities I've worked at, a few from family reunions, and even scraps from a favorite pair of pajamas. :)  The quilt includes 25 tshirts in all, and the finished size is approximately 60 x 85.

Here are the pictures of the completed tshirt quilt.  I'm so happy with how it turned out!

Completed Quilt

Close up of block

Close up of block

Close up of block

Back of Quilt

Close up of back (you can really see the detail of the free arm quilting