Our granddaughter Hanna just graduated from High School. She’s planning to go to the University of Washington, Seattle. Their colors are purple and gold, and their mascot is the Huskies. So grandma decided Hanna needed a new quilt!
Rather than purchase licensed material online, I decided to enlarge the school’s logo and repliqué it as a block for the center of the quilt.
One of the challenges with doing this is finding a way to enlarge a photo in order to make a pattern. Going to a copy shop involves driving and cash, and I’ve found what I think is a better way ~ if you have Microsoft Excel on your computer, and a printer. I did a post about this years ago, and I think it’s time for a refresher. You don’t need to memorize these steps, you can simply search for “the Big Picture” on my blog whenever you need them ~ that’s what I do 😁.
Open Microsoft Excel, and open a Blank Workbook.
In the “File” menu at the top of the screen select “Page Set Up”, and then “Margins”. Set the footer and header to “0”, and set the margins to .5 on all four sides. Select “OK”.
In the “View” menu at the top of the screen select “Zoom”, and change the magnification to 25%. Then select “OK”.
In the “Insert” menu at the top select “Picture”, select “Place Over Cells”, select “From File” and then find the drawing or photo you want to enlarge from your computer. Click on it and then select “Insert”.
Your photo/drawing will now be in the upper left corner of the Excel document. Click on it to select it, and then place your cursor on the bottom right corner of the square and drag the image to the desired size.
Each rectangle in the Excel program represents an 8 1/2″ x 11″ sheet of paper and when you press “print” ~ it does…. and all the sheets that print can be taped together to make your enlarged image.
Once the logo was printed and taped together, I grabbed a ruler and traced the lines through to the back so my pattern would be reversed for repliqué. Then it was pinned to the wrong side of my background fabric.
I was pleased with the way it turned out. Repliqué is such a handy tool to have in my “toolbox”.
Next I needed to choose a pieced pattern for the rest of the quilt. I really liked the charity quilt Ruth made (shared in a previous post). So I found the Missouri Star video on how to make it with a jelly roll, and started stitching blocks.
I didn’t use a jelly roll, and since my fabric palette only contained 4 fabrics, the blocks were not as “interesting” as Ruth’s. Then, when I laid them out as above, I realized I had placed the white fabric in such a way that the quilt would be covered with “X” blocks. Ugh.
So I did a bit of rearranging and discovered I could make “M” blocks 🤪.
And upside down “M” blocks make “W” blocks!!!
This was going to work! With the logo block in the midst of the “W”s and a few borders added, it was ready to quilt ~ and take to Washington to be a part of Hanna’s graduation celebration!
We had a lovely time with Hanna, Will and all the family. It was such a blessing to celebrate her graduation with her.
And…
She loved her quilt!