Family Tree Quilt

I have been wanting to publish this post for almost a month! This is the super secret project I have been working on which pretty much delayed all posting and all other sewing activity in late July and the first part of August. Mid July I realized that my parents would be celebrating their 60th wedding anniversary. I texted my sister and said hello, did you remember this and are we doing anything (OF COURSE we are!). She then texted all the sibs and a party was born. Then on a whim (Oh, those whims always get me in trouble! LOL) I thought, wouldn't it be cool to have a quilted family tree? . . . and I started searching. . . . and searching . . . and searching. . . The only quilted family trees I could find were AAAK-plique (new quilting term stolen from Sandra). I have never done it and quite honestly, it scares me :) Then I saw a very simply drawn family tree (on paper, not quilted) wherein the trunk and branches were simply names written in script. No leaves, no fillers, just the names. It looked SOOO cool! Inspiration. I wondered how I would do just a simple script writing and then started playing on paper. And searching the web for a font. I knew I wouldn't be doing script but still did not have a clear picture of how this was going to turn out.

Then I transferred the concept that I had on paper to fabric.

The fabric has embossed diamonds, the 60th wedding anniversary is known as the diamond anniversary. I had to look it up, so I thought I'd share that little tidbit ;)

And then I sandwiched the fabric (36"x38"), took a really deep breath and started quilting. . . I used metallic thread on the front. I have written an entire post just on using metallic thread - it is not scary I promise :) Some of you may have read a part of this post over at Lorna's blog. I have expanded the information and added a little more about my metallic experience in this post.

Whew, got all the names outlined. . . now what????

It is at this point I realize that having a plan for the rest of the design probably would have been a good idea. . . At some point while I was quilting the names I decided I was going to attempt to actually make a trunk and branches. . . . and started with the main trunk.

Oh yeah, going with that :) Making the trunk look like a tree wasn't quite as difficult as I had imagined and it didn't take quite as long as I had imagined to do it - double bonus!

OK, plan is fully developing now! Branches. . . and leaves as a filler. . . lots of leaves. I did the kids in dark green, grands in a shade lighter green and great grands in a slightly lighter green than the grands. Started with the branches on the right side, did all of them to the top branch and then filled in the leaves - OMG the leaves. . . I was seeing leaves in my sleep! I transitioned the color of the leaves from the color I used for the kids to the color for the grands and finally to the color for the great grands. I was making progress and was satisfied with where it was going :)

Half way there!!

I'm glad I decided to do one entire side and then tackle the other side - gave me a break from the leaves :) And here is the finished product!

It might be awhile before I quilt leaves on a quilt again ;) Picture taken by my friend Loretta.

I added the Happy Anniversary message to the binding and yes, I did a label which included a statement "Current as of September 1, 2014 - no, I won't be adding more great grands to the quilt and there will be more, one on the way actually. I was asked the question on more than one occasion, that's why I put the message on the back ;) Picture taken by my friend Loretta.

The label. I wasn't impressed by the pens that are 'supposed' to be used on fabric. It seemed like it was running out of ink from the very beginning. Picture taken by my friend Loretta :)

We had the quilt hanging on the shop door where the party was held. When my mom came in she looked at it, didn't say much and moved on. . . I don't even have words to express my feeling. I texted my husband "I don't think mom was impressed" and got this text back "Of course she was... tho probably the first time she has seen it plotted out like that and is a bit overwhelmed. "Lord, what have I done?" OK, I was laughing so hard and realized he might just be right and I might need to get over myself! Dad had not noticed it when he walked into the party. After eating (LOTS), it was time for gifts and pictures. Mom took dad over to show him the quilt:

I think he's in shock too! LOL This picture was taken after he had closed his mouth, which had been hanging open, a little! :)

Getting a closer look at the mark they have left on the world :)

Yup, I think they like it :)

And, in my last post, I said I might actually post a picture of myself. . . gulp ;) The picture below is not so bad so I'm going to do it LOL The picture taking session included mom and dad with all the grands and the one great grand that was there at picture taking time, mom and dad with their kids and spouses, in attendance, and then each of the kids took pictures with mom and dad with their kids. Here's the picture of me and Cally (my husband was not able to make the trip with me) with the happy couple ;)

OK, that wasn't so painful ;)

It was an awesome week with lots of family time and time spent with my high school friends that still live in the area. Several of my best girlfriends still live there and my constant childhood side kick (she grew up on a farm very close to ours and had 3 brothers and no sisters) was in town visiting her father for several days. She (Loretta) is the friend that took the pictures of the quilt on the grass. She is an amazing photographer! It was great to see everyone again and we had a wonderful time. . . late nights, lots of laughs and probably too many adult beverages ;)

If you are curious about using metallic thread, check out my post here or for a shorter version, Lorna's post on fabric and thread here.

Linking up with Design Wall Monday, Linky Tuesday, Fabric Tuesday, Let's Bee Social, NTT and Finish It Up Friday. Check out the parties for lots of inspiration!

Until next time, keep on quilting!