Grad Quilts to Make

It's Grad Quilt time of year! Do you have any graduation quilts to make this year? I've made grad quilts for each of my daughters as they graduated high school. Heather graduated in 2003 from Hammond High School and the school colors had just been changed from brown & gold to marroon and gold. I made the one above for her using Talking Quilts Quote blocks (they are the center of each of the snowball blocks). The center of each of the ninepatch blocks is a fabric that represents something that Heather likes, ie. hiking, musical instruments, and sports she played. My other two children and I had quite a "treasure hunt" looking for all of the fabrics we needed!

Funny story about Heather's grad quilt: My old Kenmore sewing machine died while I was making this quilt and I went out an bought my Bernina ~ hey I had a deadline to meet, right! Well I had to pay for the new Bernina, so I went looking to see if there were shops in this old mill near me that needed things sewn to sell, and And Sew It Goes Quilt Shop was just opening up there...I was hired as her first employee and the jouney began! You just never know :)

...Anyway, this quilt was Lisa's, she graduated in 2006 from Hammond. Her quilt is actually quilted and finished now, I had just taken this picture while it was still a top. Lisa's quilt also has a couple of Talking Quilts Quotes in it, and I added her graduation picture and one of her pitching (I didn't think to add pictures to Heathers). I made Lisa's during a Crooked Cabin Sew Along that Pat Sloan was hosting online. The Maroon and Gold borders and spacer blocks are "made fabric" from lots of small chucks sewn together and cut into blocks and strips. The frames and some of the center focus fabrics in the crooked cabin blocks are things that interested Lisa.

Now it's time to be making a quilt for Bobby. Guys are a little different. He tells me he doesn't really want me to put in the different picture or interest blocks. I'm thinking to personalize his, I may make some T shirt blocks for the backing, but I'm looking for some other ideas. I do have a pattern that I've designed to make for his quilt top, and I plan to make one for Nicoll too.

However, I'm on this next magazine deadline, so they already know they won't get them by graduation! I've pulled a stack of maroon and gold fabrics, so while I'm trimming about a gillion half square triangles today for my magazine quilt, I think I'll cut up some marroon and gold block pieces...more ideas may flow just from cutting and handling the fabrics, but send me ideas from grad quilts you've made, I'd love to hear about them!

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn