In October I posted about a memorial quilt I’d made for friends whose son had passed away (click here for that post). I’ve recently completed a second quilt for their daughter. It’s very similar to the first, but with an interesting change I’ll share at the end of this post. But first I have to share a problem I ran into ~ and how I solved it. I wanted to center an embellishment on an odd sized block.
This block measures 5 1/8″ x 7 5/8″ ~ ugh!
Doing the math to measure half of 5 1/8″ didn’t sound like fun. Niether did 7 5/8″. What to do? The KISS method hit me ~ keep it simple! So I cut out a piece of scrap paper the size of the block:
Folded it into quarters:
Set it in a corner of the block and voila ~ there was the center spot!
I poked my stylus through the quilt at the corner of the paper. The embellishment I wanted to insert in the quilt had a post, so I used an awl to make the hole larger:
And pushed the post through it:
WooHoo ~ it worked!
So, what’s the other interesting thing I learned while making this quilt? Well, one of the shirts Donna gave me had a sharpshooter patch on each sleeve. I cut both off and used one in each quilt.
While at retreat I was making more blocks for the second quilt and I decided the shirt was of no value without the sleeves. So I began cutting the buttons off. You can never have too many buttons.
My friend Cathy walked by and asked what I was doing. That’s when she stopped me and suggested I use a pocket or two in the quilt. Wow ~ what a great idea! You see, Donna had also sent me a photo of a letter Stephen had written to his sister shortly before he died. I wasn’t sure how I could make that a part of the quilt until that moment. So I cut out a pocket:
And it became a block in the quilt. Once the quilt was finished I sewed the button back on and tucked a copy of the letter in the pocket. Thanks Cathy!
Now if I can just remember that paper folding trick the next time I need to center something in an odd sized block 🤣.
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And just a few seasonal photos ~
A week or two before Christmas every year we have our traditional cookie baking time. My mom and I haven’t missed a year of doing this together since I was able to help (so this started a looooooong time ago!) This year schedules have been a bit crazy, so I went to Mom and Dad’s to make the Spritz cookies with them:
And the kids helped grandpa and me make the gingerbread cookies on a different day:
Once they were in the oven, Trey demonstrated his excitement:
That boy can really make me smile!
Cindy Boyd says
I’ve used the paper folding trick to find the center of circle designs too!
Rose Duchniak says
Chris,
What a beautiful memory quilt. You can just feel the love that went into sewing it. You are an amazing and talented woman!
Rose
Cyndi says
Well said Rose! So thoughtful and inspiring!
Mary Wedor says
Turned out wonderfully!
Hugs
Laurie Neubauer says
It is so delightful to see all the fun and traditional ways to make a quilt, including Memory Quilts…. Baking Christmas cookies are a must, too. I can even smell the gingerbread baking just like Trey…. Merry Baking Christmas… Laurie
Lynn Stephens says
I made a memory quilt using a pocket but I put the favorite slinky in it. The mom cried
Betty S says
Can you draw diagonal lines over the block to find the center?
I just got back from making Christmas cookies with my daughter, something my mom and I started way-back-when too! Every year I say we should cut back, but it’s tradition…
Merry Christmas. May the joy of the Christ Child brighten your life.
clkquilt says
Ooh! What a great idea! And even simpler! I love learning from other quilters!
Shellie says
Your method is clever and the cookies look delicious! But I wonder- how did you manage to get the letters in your sweatshirt to be reversed? Did you do some sort of fancy photography? I read it in the mirror and I like what it says!
clkquilt says
Actually – it was a selfie, and the reversal just happens.
Sandra Robertson says
I would have just creased the block in half each way like you did the paper to get the Center.
The quilt is perfect!
clkquilt says
That’s a great idea if I know that I want to mark center before I put the block into the finished quilt. However this time the quilt was quilted and bound, and would have been a lot harder to fold accurately :-).
Lori VandeHoef says
Beautiful sentiment with the quilt. I will add one detail I noticed. The lance corporal patch is upside down. Google Lance Corporal USMC to see how it should properly be displayed. I am so sorry for the loss of this Marine.
From the mom of 2 Marines.