Spring '11 Blogger's Quilt Festival

This is not the fanciest quilt I’ve ever made.  It is not the prettiest.  It isn’t the most expensive.   In fact, it cost very little in dollars.

But it may be one of the most meaningful.

A few months ago, my friend, Judy, called and asked if I would make a baby quilt for her grandchild.  We had just found out her daughter-in-law was expecting.  Of course, I said.  I was probably going to do this anyway as a baby gift.  She went on to say that she wanted to make the quilt from her husband’s shirts.

You see, her husband died in an automobile accident last spring.  She wanted a way to connect him to the baby.

So she brought me some of his shirts and then we waited (and waited - the little one was camera shy) to find out whether the baby would be a boy or a girl.  A baby girl was expected so my friend went through her own clothes and brought me a couple of coral/pink shirts to add to the blue, green and gray ones. 

There were more blue shirts than anything so I made the solid alternating squares from blue and did a simple 4 patch for the other squares.  She wanted this to be a large quilt the child could use as it grew.  The finished size is 60” x 84.”  I had to keep it simple to get it completed in time for the shower.

We managed to keep this project a secret and my friend’s son and daughter-in-law were surprised at their shower and very touched by this connection to “Grampa.”

I am honored to be able to give this gift of time to my friend.  She, my Mother, and I all tied the quilt together that I had sewn and basted.  I did some decorative stitching between the blocks to add a little something extra since I hadn’t had time for a complicated pattern.  Unfortunately, I forgot to get a close-up photo :-(


Here are more entries from the Festival:  

Thank you for visiting today!  Hope you are enjoying the Blogger’s Quilt Festival.  There is so much inspiration here!  Thanks to Amy for putting it together, too.