Grandpa's Crown of Thorns Quilt

So, a friend from my quilt guild inspired me to make a quilt for my grandfather, after I saw the amazing quilt she was making for her grandmother for Christmas.  I decided to start this project after Thanksgiving dinner---giving me a little less than a month to get it ready for Grandpa. 

I enlisted help from my whole family.  I thought it would be better if we could say that we all worked on it.  I started brainstorming colors and wanted it to be masculine.  And found this one from my color combo board on pinterest.  And started pulling fabrics.  It was actually really nice to have a stash built so that I could pull fabrics and not have to purchase any... or so I tried. 

 

 

I ended up with a few other Denyse Schmidt prints and some gold, amber and cinnamon Cotton Couture solids (my favorite!!)

 

Then, my friend Emily reminded me about a pattern for a crown of thorns quilt that was in Quilty mar/april 2013.  Cause I had my heart set on crown of thorns.  

We cut everything one night and the next day finished a quilt top!  Mostly just the women of the family helped but my brother enjoyed picking out color combos for the blocks, he even added the backwards one with the dark fabrics on the opposite side of the light ones.

(Don't tell my brother and sister I posted these photos!  In her pjs and he didn't want it ever to be known that he was playing with fabrics.)

Delectable Mountains

I have a couple really old quilt books.  I love looking through the books for ideas. My friend Megan is having a baby boy any day now so I had to make him a quilt!  She likes old quilts with a modern feel so that is what I was hoping for with my delectable mountains.

I used DS Chicopee and Tula Pink's meteor print, Kona Khaki for background fabric and machine bound with FS Designer Solids Bronze Green.  It turned out beautifully!  Backed it with ziggy medallion from chicopee and my favorite solid of the moment... Moda 211.  Free motion quilted a meander line.

 

Sometimes its difficult to give away the quilts I make.  But I know this one went to a family who appreciates art and handmade things.  I hope it gets passed down for years to come, since it is for Caesar the 5th.  I have been testing out several tags as of late and this one was machine embroidered by my friend, To: Baby Caesar, Handmade with Love By: Melissa May 2013