With 12 years (!) to prepare for my niece's high school graduation quilt, of course I decided to wait until the very last minute to finish it!
I will say I did start the quilt when she was a freshman. My niece has taken lessons and competed in dance since she was 3 years old. My original plan for her quilt was to make a quilt made entirely in pieced dance terms.
This block had been waiting for three years for more to join it but only about one a year was made.
I always felt I had lots of time to work on this quilt!
Then about a year ago I bought/won these fabrics and decided to make her a quilt from them using my all time favorite block - Rolling Stone.
I immediately made up a few and fell in love!
So I would occasionally get them out and make a few more blocks. Mostly so I could play around with them!
And then I received her graduation announcement in the mail...Yikes! I still had a lot of blocks to go.
My sister soon let me know that rather than a graduation party, they were planning a college send off party at the end of summer. Whew! That gave me a few more months to sew this up!
Well, I admit I procrastinated a bit more but the quilt top was finished and was loaded up on my longarm last week. Which was when I noticed this....either two different colored solids in the background or dye lots of Kona Ash were quite different.
Thankfully I didn't dwell on it long. As a scrappy quilter, I can just say it has a scrappy background!
Here is the quilt all finished up! It is a large twin size should she want to use it at college. I wanted to add some length to the quilt so I pieced in a thin horizontal sashing between the rows and added some colorful squares to just the top and bottom. I also made a scrappy binding to tie everything together.
I wanted this quilt to be extremely durable so I quilted some stacked swirls all over it in a light gray thread.
On the back, I wanted to remind her to always make time to Dance, Love and Dream...
...and most importantly, Call Your Aunt!
To remind her of what this archaic form of communication is, I drew old school phones in the hands of Thing 1 and Thing 2. Even included the cord!
My niece will be off to USC this fall. I am so excited for her and know she will do great things in the future. I am delivering this quilt in person and look forward to seeing her to give her a big hug.
Beautiful and Brilliant!
(And let's not forget getting to see my nephew who will be a freshman in high school next year. Maybe I should get started on his quilt soon! )
I am also rolling in at the last minute to link this finish with Sew BitterSweet Designs. I achieved my July goal!
Linking Up:
Crazy Mom Quilts
WIPS be Gone
36 comments:
It's fabulous! Perfect front and back. (And I love the 'call your aunt' part...)
My oldest daughter did her undergrad at USC. Yay for your niece!
Oh my gosh I love it! Love everything about it - the color, the pattern, the binding & sashing. At first I teared up at the dance, love, dream, then I laughed out loud at call your aunt. You did good!
It's awesome!! The back is even more so!!! I love the call your aunt. I might need to borrow that for my nephew's graduation quilt (I have three years). Congrats on achieving your goal.
Love it and I took 17 years to get my own kids college quilts done, made it just in time for graduation...
Funniest quilt back ever! I love it! And the phones in the hands of Thing 1 and Thing 2 are fantastic! Congrats on a great finish!
Very pretty! I am sure she will love it! And she already has her phone in her hand ready to call you!
You really were on a roll getting that done. Great front and back. She will reminded to call every night. Congrats to her!
I love this. The front is beautiful, but the back. Oh the back. What fun for a college kid. Especially the reminder to call you and Thing One and Thing Two! I'm sure this will be a big hit, and I bet she'll make sure that the back side is up at least part of the time.
Oh, I wish you were my aunt! How fun this is!!! Lots of love went into this one, for sure :)
I seriously love the quilt. The messages on the back are my favorite part, but the front looks amazing as well.
I think it was a good thing you put off making the quilt because it looks wonderful, you just had to create it at the right time! Gorgeous quilt for a gorgeous young woman.
I think it was a good thing you put off making the quilt because it looks wonderful, you just had to create it at the right time! Gorgeous quilt for a gorgeous young woman.
The quilt is amazing. The words on the back add to the specialness of this quilt.
I love this quilt and the story behind it. The back is as nice as the front. I'm glad to see someone else call's her aunt. My daughter call's her aunt ( well its my cousin really) so she can break any news I might not want to hear. It aunt is unavailable then my dad is next in line
That back has me cracking up! How fun!!!
Cynthia...what a gorgeous quilt! She is going to flip out when she sees it! The special touches in words, brilliant! Especially the 'call your aunt'! This quilt will make her smile every single day...what more could you ask?! (except a phone call!)
I love the quilt, great choices of fabric and design. I really got a kick out of the 'Call your Aunt' on the back!!
Love this quilt! I have had the same problem with dye lots being different. I just go with it.
I love the quilt! My daughter graduates from high school in May--I will have to let her pick the fabrics and design. Congrats on the finish and to your niece!
What a beautiful quilt!!
Oh, that's neat! I like the addition on sides and fun back as well.
I absolutely love this quilt! Those fabrics go so well with the block you chose and the scrappy additions to the ends as well as the binding are so fun. :) And the 'call your aunt' is such a funny add-in, I'm sure it will always make her smile. :)
I love, love, love this quilt! Every single thing about it is great. I need to use your idea and put "Call your aunt" on the next niece/nephew quilt I make. Awesome!
Congrats on the quilt and the accomplishments of your niece. My dil is a USG alum, undergrad and MBA, super Birgitta, accomplished and happy. I have two extra long tins in the pipeline now, might earmark them for two of the grands, who are 12 and 10. Plenty of time for the others, as they are all in pre-school still!
Susan in Dublin
Sorry, the iPad thinks "bright" is spelled Brigitta!
Susan in Dublin
WOW! so much work on the back, beautiful. I love the rolling stones too and your quilting is great!!
Good things take time and this was worth it - a beautiful quilt for her to treasure! My aunt always made my special outfits such as ball dresses, so I know how cool it is to have special items from an aunt!
Love the quilt and I love the back as well with "call your aunt".. So much fun. I have noticed the dye lot difference in Kona as well.
The first quilt I made was a twin sized quilt to take with me to college, and I hope your niece loves and gets as much use from the one you made her as I did! The back of the quilt is great, and I hope the hand delivery is full of joy and love.
"Call your aunt"--That's great! Good for you, not agonizing over the different dye lots. It happens, and it's probably not even that noticeable. It's a beautiful quilt. I'm sure she'll enjoy it.
Wow, the quilt is very pretty, I am sure that your niece will appreciate it, and hopefully she will call her aunt :)
Terry
THIS is the PERFECT college dorm quilt!!! Love the front...but the back is humorous and well, quite awesome!!! LOVE LOVE LOVE it!
What a great quilt! I loved your story of how it came to be. And all those special touches - so perfect. Congrats on a fab finish. Thanks for linking to WIPs Be Gone!
I LOVE it! What a lucky niece... :)
Very nice! I really like the back. That dance block is great, and the "call your aunt" is hilarious! :) Great work.
The quilt is lovely. Most people won't notice the difference in dye lots after quilting and in the whole quilt. Wonderful gift and even better message on the back. Congrats on the finish.
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