Tuesday, September 1, 2015

Family Reunion Quilt: A Custom Finish


My mother-in-law and her brother were in charge of the family reunion this year.  They decided to have it be honoring the ancestors we all have in common (their grandparents).  We participated in activities they enjoyed and were good at: sawing boards, hammering nails, making butter, making quilts, and eating good food.

My mother-in-law printed pictures of our ancestors on specially treated fabric and purchased fabric for the rest of the quilt.  She came over one day and we cut out the quilt and laid it out on my design wall.  All of the blocks finish at 4 by 6 inches except for the vertical pictures.  We added a one inch border around them to make them finish at 6 x 8 inches.

After she left I pieced it in columns, sewed the columns together, pin basted the quilt, and added the binding by machine.  All in one day.  It went very quickly.




Then the night of the reunion tying the quilt was one of the activities.  Everyone who came, shared things in common with the ancestors, and participated in the activities earned tickets.  Towards the end of the night the quilt was raffled off.  My mother-in-law's cousin won the quilt and loved it!


This is the only picture I was able to get of the finished quilt.  Cheetah is holding it up right before they had the drawing after dusk.

It was fun working on this quilt and learning more about the ancestors.  My husband and Monkey both have his name for a middle name.

XX,
Jasmine

P.S.  I will be linking up with some of the fun parties on my sidebar.  Check them out for lots of great quilty inspiration.

11 comments:

  1. What a great quilt and story to go with it!

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  2. I really like that stories were shared about your husband's great-grandparents. Did many people help in tying the quilt?

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  3. What a great activity for a family reunion. The finished quilt is really lovely!

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  4. A beautiful way to enjoy a family reunion and a wonderful memory quilt. Sweet idea, Jasmine!

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  5. That is a great quilt along with it's story, thanks for sharing Jasmine!

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  6. How fun! Love the colors and story of your quilt.

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  7. Sounds like a fantastic time with family and the quilt is fantastic! I am sure that quilt will be treasured forever.

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  8. love it!! I'm about to start a photo quilt as an order. have done several, but each one is special.

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  9. This quilt is a great idea. It makes me want to gather all the pictures of my parents and siblings and make each one of us a quilt for Christmas. You did a beautiful job. Love the colors. They don't over power the pictures. Well done!

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  10. That is such a cool idea for a reunion! Not only the quilt, but having it all ready to go after being hand tied at the event - super excution! I love the layout and the colors, as well.

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  11. What an awesome idea! I love it and so fun to be raffled off :)

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