I can only imagine how difficult it must be to clean out the closet of a deceased loved one.  What makes this quilt so special is that a group of women helped streamline the process for their friend by taking (with permission) his collection of college t-shirts and turning them into a quilt for her.  The quilt combines his Florida State University shirts, his name on the bottom right corner, and an embroidered message from her friends on  the back.  I'm so glad to have played a part in this and hope the quilt brings a bit of comfort to her.        

It never ceases to amaze me how emotionally invested I become in projects without even knowing the people I am creating them for.  This has never been more true than it was for my most recent project.

​My client contacted me looking to have small wall hangings made for her niece and nephew of their mother's clothing.  Their mother had recently died of lymphoma (see foundation info below).  We based the design for each hanging off of one of the items listed in my Etsy shop but elaborated in order to incorporate as much clothing as possible. In addition, she sent me fabric photographs of the children with their mother to include and also requested  a hand embroidered quote that her sister would say to her children at bedtime each night.  

I sorted the clothing and decided which items to use in each hanging for the child's first initial, background, and border.  It's amazing how many articles of clothing and memories are packed into each mini quilt.  I truly hope that seeing these hanging on their walls each day will fill them with memories of happy times with their mother.  

To honor the memory of this special woman, her family has created a foundation to raise money for causes that were close to her heart.  I value many of these causes myself (education, arts, community) so I'm happy to share the link for any of you who are interested in supporting the Lisa Rego Horne Memorial Foundation.  Or follow along on the Facebook page 

This is a truly unique newborn baby gift because it's made for baby from mom and dad's meaningful clothing!  In this case, the birds are made from wedding and bar mitzvah yarmulkes and the wings are textiles with shared importance to the couple like fabric from their first apartment together.  The clothing bordering the birds is a combination of baby clothes, events, college and travel memories.  The baby's gender is a surprise so I worked hard to keep it as gender neutral as possible.

Some of my favorite quilts to make are quilts that will be gifted as a surprise.  This giant, queen sized, quilt was just given as a college graduation present.  It has approximately 50  (YES, 50!) t-shirts representing a ton of activities their son participated in since childhood.  My client was hoping for the main colors to be red, white, and blue.  Since so many of the shirts were white, I added red sashing, and blue binding.  It's quilted with a flame pattern to represent his current passion, race car driving.  I'm really pleased with the manly look we accomplished on this.  

Thanks to the family for sharing this awesome photo of the big reveal.  

WARNING: POST WILLL BE LOADED WITH PHOTOS.  I CAN'T HELP MYSELF THIS TIME...

This was one of those projects that just spoke to me from the start.  I was given a box of clothing that belonged to a very loved and missed grandma and grandpa.  After carefully taking apart the clothes I divided them as equally as possible in order to make three separate quilts; one for each granddaughter.  The designs were intricate and it took a long time but I'm so happy with the results.  I hope these blankets will be cherished for a long time and will keep these families feeling even more connected to their past, especially since each one will be shared with the couple's great-grandchildren!