The Last Gift...

Okie Dokie.... first of all for those who have emailed me or left a comment about the tutorial links on the left hand side of my blog (I guess I am such a slacker I let my 4share account expire!!!) The tutorials are all back up and working!! Whooo Hoooo!!!! I actually "upgraded" my account and that should make sure that they don't disappear again!!!! I am sooo sorry about that!!!

Ok moving right along... I know that there are SEVERAL of you that are waiting on my "LAST CHRISTMAS GIFT" that I made.... (What???!!! You were not waiting on it?? Sheesh!!! Well here it is anyway!!!)


For Christmas this year I really wanted to make my hubby something that he could take overseas with him on his deployment that he would absolutely love and cherish BUT that he would also actually use! After a bit of pondering I decided to make him a quilt!

Now you need to know I am NOT a sewer. I mean I do own a hand me down sewing machine and I do know how to sew the basics - but that is about it. Lucky for me my Mother in Law is an expert sewer and quilter!!! Whooo Hooo!! So when she was here back in Oct I told her of my plan and she graciously agreed to help and mentor me!

So this is what I did - I went and purchased 18 different fabric that represented things in our life. Of course I had an Army/Solider print. I found a manatee print (since we have gone to swim with them twice now). I had a dog print to represent our two puppies.... well you get the gist!


I then picked out 23 of our favorite photos... from our wedding photo to a photo of hubby with each of our families, a photo of our dogs, a photo of our house... just 23 photos that when he looks at them he will think "HOME" and all the things or people that are important in his life.


I then took those 23 photos and I printed them out on commercial grade iron on transfer paper! The local T-shirt shop then helped me heat set them with their heat presses! I figure hubby will not have the best laundry facilities in wilds of Afghanistan so durability of the photos was a must!

I then took those photos and cut them out to make my squares that I then randomly spread out through the quilt!

After I completed sewing all my squares into blocks and then all my blocks into rows and then all my rows together- low and behold - I had the top of my quilt!!! Whoo Hooo.....

I then sent my top to my dear mother in law - who had a dear friend of hers quilted the top of my quilt to the bottom fabric that I had picked out and purchased! Once the layers were quilted together - my MIL then sewed on the binding for me and low and behold I had my photo quilt!

My mother in law and I had a bet that my hubby was going to cry when he opened it..... She said he would - I said oh no he wouldn't.... and I am happy to report I was right (happy cause that means I WON!!! Hmmmm speaking of winning... I am not sure what I won - and I know I haven't collected yet!!! Oh Anne!!! Bahahahaha).

Hubby did love the quilt though. Everyday that he was home after Christmas he napped with it on the couch and he did indeed stuff it into his duffel bag before he left for pre-deployment training!! So all in all I have to say this was the hardest project I have ever taken on - but it was definitely the most rewarding!!!!

I wouldn't have been able to do it without my MIL or her friend along with the local quilt shop and t-shirt shop! So thank you all sooo very much for your help! I can honestly say it will bring me great comfort in the long year to come to know that hubby is wrapped in pieces of home while he sleeps millions miles away!

Here is a close up of part of the quilt..... FYI - you can click on the photos to get a bigger picture to pop up!

So thats it! A run down of all the handmade Christmas gifts I made this past year...the list was quite long if I do say so myself! Next year I am going to try not to do as much.... Bahahaha - yeah right!!!

Hope you are having a GREAT week!!!

Until Next Time!

Cya~


Lori McDonald, Designer

My cutter files work on many machines. Some examples are the: Klik-n-kut, Pazzle, Wishblade, Silhouette, Cricut, Craft Robo. Some of the most common softwares involved with these machines are: Funtime, Scrapbooking, WinPC/Signlab, Inkscape, Create & Cut, Illustrator, KNK Studio, and Robomaster. These file are available exclusivly at Paperthreads.

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