Keeping the Memory alive- quilting

So... the memory quilt is almost complete.  I spent another Sunday with my Mom while H was working an extra shift quilting the "sandwich".  I had started quilting it on my own, but the weight of the quilt (top is sweatshirt material, cotton batting, and flannel backing was a bit too much for me to wrestle on my own, so we tag teamed it with Mama Waffles helping to move the bulk of the quilt while I "drove". with the two of us working on it it was a much quicker and smoother process, definitely recommended for any one else out their attempting a sweatshirt quilt.

I managed to get the quilting completed and one side of the binding attached. However, typical me I got so focused on the job at hand that I once again forgot to take pics during the process.  Luckily for me Mama Waffles snapped a few "for the blog!".

Hah, check out that intense face, that's what happens when I sew with my slave driver Mom who wouldn't let me have lunch until the binding was attached ;)

So now it's just a few evenings of hand sewing and name patch making ahead of me, and then I'll officially be able to call this bad boy done!  And yes, before it gets packaged up for it's recipient, I'll take lots of detail pick of some of the fun things we incorporated into the quilt.

Keeping the Memory Alive- the top

A while ago now, I was asked a special favour from a friend of mine.  A friend of hers (that makes her a friend of a friend to me) brother had died unexpectedly at a young age (~30), and was looking to have a quilt created from some of his old hooded sweatshirts.  To be honest I both was totally honoured and scared to be trusted with such an important task.  In my previous quilts I've always used material that was easily replaceable, but this time I had to get it right the first time... not to mention if the recipient hated the design etc.  Not to mention trying to work with Sweatshirt material, eek!

But, I was happy to help her out, and accepted the challenge.  And then, I am ashamed to say I sat on it and sat on, it finding lots of excuses to not make those cuts into the sweatshirts and risk failure and an upset/unhappy recipient.

Finally, my mom took pitty on me and said she'd help me get started.  As two heads are better than one (and her brain being a much more experienced one), it was an offer I couldn't resist.  So while H was at work yesterday, us ladies knuckled down and got started.

After pulling out the 2 garbage bags of sweatshirts, I was paralyzed with fear and indecision..... how do I make this look nice, interesting, and aesthetically pleasing, while still use the logos and patterns of the sweatshirt?  We debated layout etc, but had a hard time visualizing it, so we went with the plan of cutting out the logos and graphics in as large pieces as possible, and then laying them out to get a better picture of what we were working with. 

After playing around we decided to incorporating the 5 black, 2 grey, 3 white, and 2 navy sweatshirts into stripes.  Several hours, coffees, and Timbits (a.k.a. doughnut holes for any of you non-Canadians) later, we had the plan, did some final trimming and adjusting, and then sewed the pieces together.  Now we have a quilt top that is ~52 x 57", which should be a perfect lap quilt.  So, note to self ... a dozen large sweatshirts is the bare minimum for a small quilt if you don't want a lot of "blank" fabric squares.

We were able to incorporate some fun features, which I'll save for a later post (due to my sad iPhone pics, since I bad blogger, forgot to bring my camera to the quilt party, duh!).  I think it turned out pretty great considering the anxiety just thinking about this thing was giving me.  I was worried about how the sweatshirt material would be for sewing as it is a bit stretchy, and the materials were of varying thicknesses, but it all went pretty smoothly.  I just took my time sewing the raw material, no interface or anything, and made sure I didn't stretch it out. 

Now comes the backing and then...... the quilting (dum dum duuuummmm)..... I can only that hope quilting through such a big "sandwich" goes as smoothly as the sewing of the top.  I think I might need you all to cross your fingers for me!