A 2020 Highschool Grad Gift for My Niece...

 The year 2020 sure was one of pure chaos and craziness.  Unfortunately, we weren't able to attend my niece's high school graduation because of the pandemic.  But I did get to watch her open this gift, via Face-time.

This project took me 1-1/2 years to complete, from start to finish.  It was my mom's idea for me to make this, and we are all so happy with how it turned out. 

Name of Quilt:  Photo Memory Crazy Quilt
Techniques Used: Improv-Piecing, Raw Edge Applique, Basic Piecing

Photos were snatched off my brother's and my sister's-in-law FB pages, as well as a few from my niece's FB page.  I did a lot of fun edits to many of the photos, to take them from plain to insane, LOL!  All the photos were then uploaded to Spoonflower, then printed on fabric. 

Once all my insane piecing was finished on the top of the quilt, I took one of my Spoonflower fill-a-yard panels, featuring all of my personal designs, and added borders onto it until the panel was large enough to accommodate the long-arm quilting part of the project.

I then shipped the quilt top and back off to Amy Ellis of Amy's Creative Side to be long-arm quilted.  In the meantime, I also made a custom, reversible pillowcase with my parents’ handwritten notes to their granddaughter on it, which was also printed on Spoonflower fabric. And last but not least, a reversible tote bag with personalized notes to my niece from both Brian and I, also printed on Spoonflower fabric.

I used an iPhone app called Bazaart to create the fun designs featuring the notes on the pillowcase and tote bag.  And I used a plethora of different iPhone photography apps to do the numerous edits on many of the photos in the quilt itself.

This was a true labor of love.  Needless to say, now my sister-in-law wants one.  :)

I told her to start gathering the photos!

To see additional photos, please visit my Facebook Page: Gina's Custom Creations and go to the album titled 2020 Sewing & Quilting Projects.

Photo Memory Quilt Block

It's been awhile since I've had time to write a post...even a small one!  I have been on mandatory overtime at work since November, and I've literally had no time whatsoever in my life to sew for the past couple of months.  It's been quite disheartening, to say the least!
This past weekend I finally had some time to spend in my sewing room.  One of the projects I've just started working on is a photo memory quilt featuring photos from my boyfriend's family's life on the farm from the late 1960's.  We found a poster in the attic from when his parents auctioned off the farm, and I've had that put on fabric through Spoonflower.com.  We also found an aerial photo of the farm from before it was sold.  And his eldest sister scanned in some photos and emailed them to me, since she was the only one with a camera taking pictures way back then.  So anyways...  My hopes for this quilt are to have it completed by July so I can display it at our first ever quilt show during the Rosholt Thresheree.  I want the quilt to represent a piece of Rosholt, Wisconsin history, featuring my boyfriend's family.

Here's the very first quilt block, featuring a photo of one of my boyfriend's older sisters...

... this block is paper pieced, and the reason for the orange color-tone is because the poster is actually orange, so I am sticking with the color theme.

I can't wait to see how this quilt turns out...I have it imagined in my mind, but things don't always turn out the way we think they will.  Only time will tell!

My First Photo Memory Quilt - Pug Themed

My very dear friend, Mary, had asked me to make a photo memory quilt featuring photos of her daughter and future son-in-law and their beloved pugs, for their wedding.  I had never made a photo memory quilt before, so this was a fun and exiting quilt for me to attempt.
Mary helped me with the measuring and cutting of the materials, and kept me company while I sewed the pieces together.
Once the quilt top was finished, we took it to Jannie's Quilting in Weston, WI to be long arm quilted.
Yesterday was Randy's and Courtney's wedding, today was the gift opening.  Mary text messaged me earlier today to tell me that she made them wait to open the quilt last, and that when they did open it, they both loved it, and Courtney even cried when she saw the quilt.  How wonderful it feels to know how much something like this meant to them!
So anyways...now that they've finally been given the quilt, I can finally post photos of it online!  The pug centerpiece of this quilt was purchased on eBay.  The rest of the materials were purchased at our local Hancock Fabrics and JoAnne Fabrics stores.

Above photos are of the quilt top before being quilted.

Below photos are of the completed quilt.