Earlier this fall I decided that a quilt would be the perfect gift for my Grandpa. He has been living in a retirement home for the last year since he’s had some health issues, and his room needed some color and warmth. I decided to use a range of fabrics to make this lap-sized quilt for him for Christmas.
I pulled a bunch of blue, green, and brown fabrics from my stash to make this quilt. It includes a number of Heather Bailey, Amy Butler, Sandy Henderson, and other random prints. I went with the same sort of blocks I made for the filmstrip quilts in the past, and balanced the colors by pairing a lighter value with a darker one to make each block, and then trying to evenly distribute the light and dark colors throughout the quilt. Without realizing it, I was using some of the rationale behind making a values quilt, and since I’ve read up on that lately I’m thinking it would be really fun to try to make one of those and to be a little more deliberate in evaluating the value of each fabric in laying out the quilt.
For the back of the quilt, I used some extra blocks sashed in white, surrounded by larger strips of coordinating fabrics with the front. I love making pieced quilt backs!
Sadly, I was sick over the holiday break and couldn’t make the trip to see my Grandpa this year (I had the stomach flu, and didn’t want to infect him with it!). Luckily, my family set up the skype so I could see him open the quilt, and he seemed very happy with it. I hope it keeps him warm through the rest of the winter!
What a perfect gift for your grandfather. I’m sure he appreciated the love that went into making it. I especially love the back. Those fabrics are great for a man-quilt, very beautiful but not too feminine.
[...] of print! I still love all of these prints, and have used them in a number of quilts and projects. (like this. and this. and this. I also quickly decided that the jellybean print from the freshcut line was [...]