Quilt #47 :: Sibling Neighborhood

The last quilt I shared was my niece's mermaid quilt. It reminded me that I still haven't shared the quilt I made for her mom, my sister, Carisa. I just started my 7th year of quilting, and there are several quilts from my third year of quilting (2015) that I never shared in a post. I'm not sure what was going on back then, but I vaguely recall that my brain was pretty fuzzy a lot of the time and it was easier to quilt that write about quilts. But this year, I'm going to catch up!

I often joke that my family tree is more of a family bush, because of a few divorces. One of (many) things I love about Carisa is that she strives to have a relationship with each of us in our own way. I don't live physically close to any of my siblings (or Niels' sister), so I have made each sibling's family a quilt. 

The pattern I chose for Carisa's quilt is inspired by Welcome to the Neighborhood by the prolific and uber-talented Elizabeth Hartman. It's included in her book Modern Patchwork. Elizabeth made this version of her quilt for another of my favorite quilt designers, Violet Craft. 

Quilt made by designer Elizabeth Hartman for Violet Craft.

I love the Eichler-inspired houses, and the design worked well with my idea of including a family photo and monogram with each sibling's house. I did have to adjust the block to include a door.

I printed photos of each family on Kona white fabric. 

I didn't have a photo of my sister Liz and her husband with their fur baby, so I added Meryl by the front door. 

With all the applique, I was able to see how teeny tiny my Pfaff was able to make the stitches. (Spoiler alert: VERY tiny!)

I used images of my house and Carisa's house for the label.

I often forget to take pictures of the back of my quilts, but I'm glad I remembered with this one. 

 It was fun to tell D about his aunts and uncles and cousins when he looked at the finished quilt.

The best part of this quilt for me is that we were able to deliver it in person on our way to Russian Camp.  Liz came over and got her quilt, too.

It was so fun to see D and his cousin play together with the quilt. 

When Carisa and family came to spend Thanksgiving with us the following year, they brought the quilt with them. The cousins had a sleepover and I about died from cute.

And with that, I have shared all of my sibling quilts! To recap:

For my brother Chris and his wife, Kelly, Divided in Football, United in Love.

For my brother John and his wife, Mary, Tool Tattoo.

For my brother Jake and his daughters, Sew It Forward for Jake.

For my sister Liz and her husband, Chris, Love Burds.

And for my sister-in-love, Ingrid, Floating Fireworks.

One of my goals this year is to finish writing posts for each of my quilts. This quilt was finished in 2015. You can see what I'm currently working on by following me on Instagram at deJongDreamHouse.

Linked to:

Monday
BOMs Away @ What a Hoot
Design Wall Monday @ Small Quilts & Doll Quilts
Main Crush Monday @ Cooking Up Quilts
Monday Making @ Love Laugh Quilt
Moving It Forward @ Em's Scrap Bag
What I Made Monday @ Pretty Piney

Tuesday
Colour & Inspiration Party @ The Clever Chameleon
Linky Tuesday @ Free Motion on the River
To Do Tuesday @ Stitch All the Things

Wednesday
Midweek Makers @ Quilt Fabrication
Wednesday Wait Loss @ The Inquiring Quilter
WIP Linky Party @ Silly Mama Quilts
WIPs on Wednesday @ Esther's Blog

Thursday
Needle & Thread Thursday @ My Quilt Infatuation

Friday
Finished or Not Friday @ Busy Hands Quilts
Off the Wall Friday @ Nina Marie

Whoop Whoop Friday @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Saturday
Scrap Happy Saturday @ So Scrappy
Show Off Saturday @ Sew Can She
UFO Busting @ The Madd Quilter

Sunday

Oh Scrap! @ Quilting is More Fun than Housework

Quilt #48 :: Love Burds

Recently I shared the baby quilt I made for my new niece. The little stinker hasn't arrived yet--I was hoping she would be my little birthday twin. While I wait for her grand entrance, I thought I'd share the wedding quilt I made for her mom and dad.

When my sister and brother-in-love were married in September 2012, I was not yet a quilter. That would come about six months later when my 3-year-old son ask for a Thomas the Train "blanket."

It took another two years before I felt confident enough to make them a wedding quilt. Since there last name is Burd, birds are a common theme in their house. 

My inspiration was this fabric I bought at Joann shortly after they got married. As it turned out, I only used it on the back. 

This quilt marked my first time paper piecing. The LOVE pattern is from Kelly Sews. I knew I wanted to do something with love birds, so when I saw her pattern, I knew how to get started.

I put the letters together with a white background.

For the tree, my inspiration came from this adorable guestbook from Custom By Bernolli on Etsy.

Credit

I'm sure there was an easier way to make my tree so I won't revisit my process here. Once I finally was happy with how it looked, I appliqued it down.

My favorite part was adding their initials in the tree trunk. So tiny!

Then I added the two love birds on the branch. I used my Silhouette Cameo a lot on this quilt! 

Finally,  I added heart shaped leaves.

After placing the leaves, I got really comfortable with applique!

Finally, I added borders in colors matching the original bird print that inspired the project.

For the back I used extra fabric from the borders, and the bird fabric.

The label is one of my favorites. 

We had a few days after I finished the quilt before we delivered it, so D had some time to test it out.

The impetus for finishing this quilt was that our family was headed from our home in Ohio to northern Minnesota to fulfill a childhood dream of mine to attend camp at Concordia Language Villages. On our way to camp, we made a quick stop at my sister Carisa's house. Liz came over and I was able to deliver my quilt in person. (I also made a quilt for Carisa, which I still need to share). 

It's hard to live so far from family. It makes me happy to know that there is something of me with them.

One of my goals this year is to finish writing posts for each of my quilts. This quilt was finished in 2015. You can see what I'm currently working on by following me on Instagram at deJongDreamHouse.

Linked to:

Sunday
BOMs Away @ What a Hoot Quilts
Oh Scrap! @ Quilting is More Fun than Homework 

Monday
Design Wall Monday @ Doll Quilts & Small Quilts
Main Crush Monday @ Cooking Up Quilts
Monday Making @ Love Laugh Quilt
Moving it Forward @ Em's Scrap Bag
What I Made Monday @ Pretty Piney

Tuesday
Color & Inspiration Tuesday @ The Clever Chameleon
Linky Tuesday @ Free Motion By the River
To Do Tuesday @ Stitch All the Things

Tuesday
Color & Inspiration Tuesday @ The Clever Chameleon
Linky Tuesday @ Free Motion By the River
To Do Tuesday @ Stitch All the Things
WIP Linky Party @ Silly Mama Quilts

Thursday
Needle & Thread Thursday @ My Quilt Infatuation

Friday
Finished or Not Friday @ Busy Hands Quilts
Off the Wall Friday @ Nina Marie
Whoop Whoop Friday @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict

Saturday
Scrap Happy Saturday @ So Scrappy
Show Off Saturday @ Sew Can She
UFO Busting @ The Madd Quilter