Quilted with Love for Two Very Special People

I realized today that it has been a long time since I last posted. Life as they say has gotten in the way.  It has been a busy fall with subbing, and sewing and travel.

I started a quilt for my niece, Paige, and was planning to make it for her as Christmas gift and was thinking of what to make her brother, Joey, when I was out with a friend at one of the local quilt shops and saw a fabric that just yelled :JOEY!" at me. It was hockey fabric, with a  panel that was perfect for the center.

I had Paige's quilt all planned out in my mind and roughed out on paper and knew that I was going to use the Moda Marble Ombre in Purple for the background of her quilt. I also knew I wanted to do it like a strip quilt but using wider strips. I cut them 4.5" instead of 2.5". I ordered Me and My Sister's flower applique templates to use for the white daisies that I wanted to rain down the quilt.  My idea was clear in my mind, though the final quilt did not come out exactly as I had it pictured I do love it.  I originally thought to hand applique the flowers, but time constrains lead me to do raw edge applique instead.  I kind of like how it turned out as this is  the first times I have done raw edge applique on a quilt. I did do it once on a wall hanging.  I pulled the border fabric from my stash and used a teal grunge on the back which was a great pick as I found out that besides purple she likes teal.  I made the label on the back very special also, triple layering two daisies using the ombre fabric. I am very pleased with the quilt overall.

I have no idea why this picture is sideways. It is right side up in Flickr and in my phone, but it works.

Raining Daisies Label

Paige was very happy with her quilt and pillow cases and immediately put them on her bed.  I caught her later for pictures as I wanted one of her with her quilt.

Sorry that this is on its side, for some reason the picture is coming in this way even though it is right side up in Flicker.

Joey's quilt was a fun one to make using the hockey panel as the center. I bought all the coordinating fabrics and knew I wanted to put the hockey pucks and sticks around the center, but was not sure what to do beyond that, so I emailed a picture to a friend and asked for her help. I questioned whether to use stars and if so what kind or a checker board. She has EQ and put it in her design software and emailed me back several options that would work. I liked the friendship stars best, and the quilt was ready for me to figure out yardage and start cutting after a trip back to the fabric store to pick up a little more fabric.

I used a panel for each of his pillow cases. and the mail print  with the hockey players for the backing. 

I decided that "Hockey Star" was the perfect name for the quilt for two reasons, one because I used stars in the pattern and two because my nephew is a shining star.  I started by adding the two inner borders to the panel and then calculating the number of stars needed to encircle the center.  I used 2.5" strips for the stars and alternated colors between blue and red, which worked out perfectly for me. I bordered it with the hockey player fabric and used the red, white, blue, and black fabric cut on the bias for the binding.

Again I have no idea why this picture is sideways.

I used the extra stars I had made for his label.

Joey was patient as I did not finish hand stitching the binding and label down until Thanksgiving day, but as soon as he got his quilt he wrapped up in it and went to sleep. 

I am very happy that they both liked their quilts and that I was able to give them some love after all they have both been through this year.