Steve's Christmas Gift

This is a picture of the quilt that I made for Steve for Christmas. This quilt includes the names of 4 generations of his immediate family. I really enjoyed making it for him and he was truly surprised. I attached hangers on the back in case we want to hang it in the house some day. This is the second quilt I made in this style. The first one was a gift for my parent's 50th wedding anniversary. They have it haning in their living room.

When I found this pattern in a catalog I told Steve that I was going to order the pattern so I could make the quilt for my parents for their anniversary party in 2004. His comment was that I didn't need a pattern, I had enough experience to figure it out. So I began the search for letter templates. I ended up using our grandson's alphabet magnets from the refrigerator. They worked well. Then I made up a graph on a very large sheet of paper and began writing the names in. I used a pencil because I did do some erasing. Once I had the layout of the quilt I began making the letters on individual blocks of fabric. I used a fusible web and then machine appliqued around each letter. Once I finished with the machine applique I followed the chart and began sewing the blocks together. I machine quilted both of the quilts. While we were in Houston in 2007 I found an alphabet template that worked really well for Steve's quilt. The letters are a bit bigger but they worked well. I traced all of the letters for Steve's quilt onto the fusible while I was visiting Heather and Allie on Mackinac Island in May. Then while at a Quilter's Retreat in Gaylord, Michigan in November I began the task of machine applique. I finished his quilt a couple of weeks before Christmas.