Graduation Memories

Last week my little sister, and Little Man's Auntie Julia graduated from high school, and we had the privilege of going north to spend the time with her and celebrate with her.  In February-ish I decided on the project that I would tackle for her graduation present.  I had been cruising Pinterest, specifically looking for quilt ideas, and stumbled across some memory quilts, and it hit me, that's what I wanted to make, and so it started.

Shortly after I decided on what I wanted to make, I had to start thinking about a pattern, which was MUCH more difficult.  I drafted some ideas, settled on one, and started crunching numbers to know how much fabric I needed to get.  Originally I wanted to do lots of color, but decided that simple is better.  So, we headed to JoAnn Fabrics to look for the fabric that would be perfect for the project.  I stared at the wall of fabric and a beautiful greyish-silver stood out to me, and I knew that it was one of the fabrics that would make it into the quilt.  Shortly after, I was able to find the black and pink fabrics that would compliment the grey.

And, then I started cutting and sewing.  Finding pictures that I would need and printing them onto fabric, cutting those out, and sewing some more.  I wasn't sure that the project would be completed before we left, so I took a Friday off to work on it, without interruptions, while Little Man was at daycare.  Fortunately, I was able to pick him up around lunch, and we shared the rest of the afternoon together, AND I was able to get the quilt done by the time we left.

The night of graduation, we gave Julia her quilt, telling her that the idea was that those that attended her party would be able to sign the back with words of encouragement, and a small token of love for her to take with her to college in the fall.  Almost everyone signed the back of her quilt, some just with names, others with wonderful words of encouragement.

This quilt posed challenges and triumphs for me, and continues to inspire me to do more.  Within days of finishing this project, I decided on the next one.  My husband has TONS of t-shirts that are sitting in storage, the next project will transform them from t-shirts into a quilt.