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Tuesday, September 19, 2017

Blogger's Quilt Festival #2: Jan & Kitty's Amish Caravan (Quilts 42 & 43)


Amy's Creative Side is hosting a Bloggers Quilt Festival as a fun way to share our work and meet other blogging quilters. Since this has been my year of social quilting, I can't help but join the fun. And, because this has been my year of social quilting, I have lots of quilts in progress, but not as many finishes...yet. 

For my first entry, I shared my latest quilt, Fireworks for Ingrid. For my second entry, I'm sharing a project that I never made time to write up before, a collaboration with my father-in-love we called "Jan & Kitty's Amish Caravan."


My in-laws live in the Netherlands, so when we built our house, we built it with a second master suite knowing that when they came to visit, they would stay awhile. When they came in 2015, they stayed for 6 weeks. 

When you have company for that long, you can't spend all your time on vacation, so while Niels was at work and D was at school, Dad and I decided to make quilts for their new caravan. I had offered to make the quilts, but he wanted to make them together. It ended up being  fun way for us to connect. 


Jan wanted clean lines, dark prints, and an easy pattern. Once we landed on a design, it was off to Joann for fabric selection. It was a fun afternoon stretching my mastery of Dutch as we discussed the nuances of color.


I was able to see my Dutch parents in a new light as I guided them through the process. They are a really good team, and even when they have differences of opinion, they are able to work things out.


Jan wanted to do as much of the actual sewing as possible. He took to the machine like a natural. 


Because we live close to Amish country, we decided that it would be fun to incorporate a bit of our local culture in the quilts. While Jan was assembling the top, I created the Amish horse and buggy on my Silhouette Cameo. I like that as they travel around Europe in their caravan, they are taking a bit of us with them. 


All those curves and tiny parts were intimidating to a new quilter, so I did the applique.


Once the buggies were attached, I handed the reins back to Jan and he straight line quilted the tops before I took over to do the label and binding.


Such a satisfying feeling to finish a quilt.


When Jan and Kitty returned to the Netherlands, they sent me this picture of their quilts in their caravan. It makes me so happy and loved to see them.


Come on over to Amy's Creative Side to see more amazing quilts as part of the festival.

Also linked to:
Design Wall Monday @ Small Quilts & Doll Quilts
Finished or Not Friday @ Busy Hands Quilts
Linky Tuesday @ Free Motion by the River
Let's Bee Social #195 @ Sew Fresh Quilts
Midweek Makers #90 @ Quilt Fabrication
Monday Making @ Love Laugh Quilt
Moving It Forward @ Em's Scrapbag
Needle & Thread Thursday @ My Quilt Infatuation
Oh Scrap @ Quilting is More Fun than Housework
Off the Wall Friday @ Nina Marie
Show Off Saturday @ Sew Can She
Wednesday Wait Loss #32 @ The Inquiring Quilter
Whoop Whoop Friday @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict
WIPs on Wednesday @ Esther's Blog

14 comments:

  1. What a wonderful story. The quilts look great in the caravan and I'm sure they will always hold special memories for the parents.

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  2. The Orange in the quilt is so important. As for the Dutch part, having Dutch heritage that spans back decades, I just love the fact that your parents wanted to make these quilts with you. What an amazing project and what a memory. Pragtig!!

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  3. I love that you made the quilts together. What a great memory to have! And the quilts look beautiful in the caravan. Now you can travel with them throughout Europe! Thanks for linking up to Wednesday Wait Loss.

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  4. I love the beautiful simplicity of these quilts. What a wonderful project for you and your in-laws to work on. And the pillow covers continue the theme perfectly.

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  5. What a great story! It's wonderful how involved they were in the quilts, and they look awesome on those beds! Thank you so much for sharing!

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  6. I think it is fantastic that you and your in-laws had this experience together. Those quilts will hold many happy memories for them.

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  7. Gorgeous quilts! What a fun set of memories.

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  8. How lovely to read your blog on such a fun journey you took with your inlaws, I'm sure it was a bonding one as well you would of learnt a lot more about each other and shared lots of laughter and they ended up with two stunning quilts to take home great memories for them and what great souvenirs. Thanks for sharing it in photos too. Cheers Glenda Australia.

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  9. Lovely story - and so nice that you helped your Dad make these quilts for the caravan.
    We have a caravan too - down here in New Zealand, and love to travel around exploring the country.

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    1. New Zealand! Your beautiful country is on our bucket list! Someday...

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  10. Special quilts made with special people. What a wonderful way to spend time with your in-laws!!

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  11. What wonderful quilts with such happy memories

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