Grandma Gifts: Lap Quilt and Pillow

I made a throw pillow for my mom out of white minky. I embroidered "Grandma" in the center and then embroidered all of her grandkids and great grandkids names on it. Not all 13 names are my kids, some are my neices and nephews, but they are all her grandchildren.

I had a lot of help embroidering the grandkids names. My six year old chose all the colors, fonts and typed the names into the embroidery machine. She loved helping! It was pretty fun to do this project together.

Can you believe it? I didn't take a picture of the finished pillow before I mailed it. 

I also made a lap quilt for my Grandma. My intent was that this would be a Christmas gift, but we had one little guy who wasn't born before Christmas, so it became a January gift. 

I used some shirting fabric that I thought was a nice light color for the main panel. I wanted the embroidery to stand out and not get lost on a bright color. Turns out, it's hard to see anyway. I should have gone with a larger font, but the list was long and I was afraid it would be a mile long if I enlarged the printing. 

It says "Great Grandma's Favorite Days" and then lists each day that she became a grandma, great grandma, and great great grandma.  I did not list the years, just the month and day. She has 17 dates listed on her quilt and she knew exactly what the list was and who had a birthday on each date. She has a great memory for birthdays! 

I made 9 patch blocks and used some colorful prints and put it all together. The back is a turquoise minky. I did add a light layer of batting in the middle; that's all it needed with that warm minky backing.  It turned out to be much brighter than I had imagined, but that's fine. It looks happy!

Both Grandmas seem to enjoy their gifts! I sure had fun making them!

Grandpa's Quilt

When it comes to quilting, I am just winging it.  This was my first quilt. It took me a year to make it.

After my grandpa passed away, my grandma gave me a big box of his shirts and pajamas and things he wore daily that would not be suitable to pass on to anyone else.  These were shirts that he wore day after day, year after year, while working on his ranch or relaxing at home.  She told me to do whatever I wanted with them.  I assume she meant to sew them into whatever I want.  

After lots of thinking and searching for a quilt top pattern, I made this pattern up myself.  I wanted to showcase the shirts and not lose sight of the fact that they were Grandpa's shirts. If I cut them into pieces too small, they might look like worn fabric, but not necessarily look like his shirts.  I wanted to keep the pockets and yokes in tact.  I ended up making rectangles with small squares in the center for the blocks. 

I tried to lay the blocks next to each other, but then decided I liked a border between each block to frame them all. First, I used a striped pajama pant as the framework between the blocks.  It didn't look right when I backed up and saw it from a distance.  I ended up using this dark blue, which wasn't part of his box of clothing items, but it framed it in so nicely and it was a nice strong bold color.  I like the strength of it as it reminded me of my Grandpa's personality. 

Honestly, I don't remember what the back is.  It is probably the same blue as the borders on the front.  I think I bought a set of sheets to use as the back and borders, but I can't recall.  I made this quilt 15 years ago and my focus was the shirts on the front, not the insignificance of the back.  Nobody sees that part anyway.  

I know I put two layers of poly-fill in it though. I like my quilts to be fluffy and heavy.  If anyone is ever going to sleep under this quilt, it will be warm and snugly!

After a year of sewing (and sometimes just gazing or feeling it or thinking about it)  I gave this quilt to my grandma.  She enjoys it very much!  It lays on her bed. I am more proud of this quilt than any other sewing project that I've ever made. I miss my grandpa a lot, but I feel so good having made this tribute to him and sharing it with my family.  This quilt warms my heart!