22 September, 2009

Operation Quillow

It started off simple enough. A huge trunk-load of donated fabric samples, all solids, all rectangles; and a request for a dozen dorm quilts for our congregation's most recent high school graduates. The two fit together beautifully, the timing was perfect. Last week, during our Quilt Ministry meeting at church, a few of us sorted through the huge stack of fabrics; I trimmed the fabric pieces to size and we grouped stacks together. I volunteered to stitch a few tops at home. This photo, "A", is the results of what we had first envisioned. Yuck, I thought, we can do better than that. I slashed the three rows in half and rearranged the rows to scatter the color blocks and add more visual interest, see "B". Better, but still plenty of room for improvement. I slashed apart the remaining two tops that I had stitched together earlier yesterday morning (using the "A" model of construction) and switched and swapped until I had all of the colors mixed into all three tops; "C", much better, I decided. This "good, better, best" method made the construction easy and my rows stayed together, I think I'll continue to put them together employing this technique. The plan is to back these with polar fleece and add a pocket on the reverse side so that these gifts can do double-duty as either a throw or a big, puffy, pillow. They turned out to be a good, usable, size; 44" X 66". Hopefully they will remind their recipients, every day, how much their church back home loves them and misses them. I'd better get back to work...


...stitch, slash, shuffle, sew...
Life is Good!

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14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Fantastic ideas, I love the colors too. Well done, Mrs. G!

I'm still way behind in blog reading and will return soon to read up about your travels and more. Hugs xoxo

Paula, the quilter said...

I have always liked the Quillow for gift giving. Good thinking on the construction.

Teresa said...

Nice project for the kids and the fleece backing will be great. Thanks for sharing the developing process - always interesting to see how others do things.

Laura said...

Great idea! I really like reading about your thought process for improving the look of the project!

Domestic Designer said...

What a great idea. I know that the kids will love them. It is like sending them a hug from home everyday!

Marianne Penner said...

Great idea! I think the young adults will love them.

Quiltdivajulie said...

Marvelous idea for gifting the hs grads/first year college students . . . just wonderful!

Three Birds Inspired said...

Great idea for college students!

*karendianne. said...

Oh I totally dig your thought process, how you work it out!

Zlaty said...

Those will be fun quilts for a good cause!

Happy sewing!

Zlaty

Meggie said...

Well Done! Lovely idea!

LizA. said...

Love the visual pictures. Our church is fairly small and started a similar program back in 2000. Every year the high school kids fill out a questionnaire about their interests etc. Then I go on the great fabric search to find fabric that reflects their interests. We use that in the border of the quilts and wrap the kids in them every June. I've been coordinating this program for the last 8 years. It's a lot of work, but so rewarding.

julieQ said...

Nice work! I know that the kiddos will love them so much.

Tanya said...

Good, Better, Best and Fantastic!