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How to Quilt>memory quilts
A Memory Quilt with Comments
Before you even think about carving the turkey this year at your Thanksgiving dinner, ask your holiday guests to jot down a favorite holiday memory and sign the sheet. Provide blank pieces of paper and black fine tip felt pens for them to use. Can you guess where this is going? Of course you will use the comments to make a special holiday quilt. There are many ways to do this. The easiest way to turn these comments into part of a quilt project is to scan them into your printer and print them out onto transfer paper. You can do any necessary editing at this point, making handwriting larger or pulling a signature closer to the comment. Once printed, you can cut the comments out and arrange them any way you would like on the back side of your quilt. Make it a solid, light colored fabric to insure the comments and signatures will show up well. Once the comments have been transferred to the fabric backing, quilt as usual. The quilt top can be any pattern (or sampler) of your choice and the back side will be full of favorite holiday memories from your family and friends that will last for many years to come. Another way to preserve these memories is by incorporating them into your quilt top. You can select a quilt block pattern that has a square center. Use the square as the place to either transfer or embroider the comments. If you think you might use this technique, provide your guests with a piece of paper just a little smaller than the fabric square will be. If using a 5 inch square in your quilt, provide them with a 4 inch square piece of paper on which to write. This will account for seam allowances. Give them a fine tip felt pen and have them write their thoughts. They should fit nicely into your five inch square when done this way. You can take this quilt idea a step further by using much larger blocks. For instance, use a 9 inch block and incorporate photos into the memory blocks. Provide participants with a 4 or 5 inch block on which to write their memories, then snap a photo of them, too. As you make your quilt top of 9 inch blocks, scatter the memory blocks among them. Add batting and a backing and quilt as you normally would. What do you do with a quilt like this? You can keep it for yourself or give it as a gift to a favorite family member. If your entire family loves it, why not hold a raffle for it? Decide on a ticket price, then have all the family members pay to have their name put in the hat for a drawing to give away the quilt. Use the money raised from the family raffle to buy gifts for a needy child during the holiday season or use the money to offset any expenses that are incurred by the family reunion like facilities, catering, etc. If you would like to make a small gift for everyone who participates, quilt a small wall hanging for them using their memory. Be sure to make a hanging sleeve or loop on the back of the quilt for easy hanging. You might also decide to make pillows for each participant in a similar fashion. It is always nice to preserve family memories. The current generations enjoy the recollections and the generations yet to come will appreciate the history and sense of family that your holiday memory quilt will surely create. Happy Quilting!
Penny Halgren www.How-to-Quilt.com
©2010, Penny Halgren This article courtesy of http://www.How-To-Quilt.com. You may freely reprint this article on your website or in your newsletter provided this courtesy notice and the author name and URL remain intact.
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