Kinda Brave

What is an appropriate gift for a young woman who is celebrating her high school graduation, her 18th birthday and is on her way to a prestigious college?

Kinda Brave

A quilt, of course.

Pieced Backing

Did I mention that she did all this while she was fighting a debilitating disease with multiple doctor visits and hospital stays? And she also wrote a book about her experiences and published it too.

Kinda Chronic by Ashni Sethi

Meet Ashni. Better still read about her book here.

Ashni's Mom is my friend, Manveen.
I conspired with Ashni's parents in making this quilt.
Ashni likes dogs and loves the ocean. Her favorite colors are blue, gold and red.

Pattern Sketch

This was helpful, sure. But Ashni's quilt needed to be more, much more than just a compilation of her favorite things. She needs to covered with love, support, good wishes and blessings from her friends and family as she celebrated her book, and embarked on her journey to college - a whole new chapter in her already challenging life.

Blues

The pattern was easy. I chose Scrap Happy by Amanda Jean Nyberg.
Of course I had all the fabrics.

Backing Fabrics

I had all the ingredients for the body of the quilt.
I just needed to infuse it with soul.

The opportunity came at Ashni's birthday party.  I arrived at the party armed with freezer paper rectangles, a traveling iron, felt blanket, archival pens, and background fabric rectangles. I bullied (urged, cajoled and encouraged) the attendees to write messages of love, encouragement, support and best wishes for Ashni.

From Grandma

I roped in two guests to help with peeling and re-attaching the freezer paper to the background fabrics. The pens were a bit tricky for non-quilting folk and not everyone stayed in the center of the rectangles.

From Auntie

I was conspicuous as I flitted from one guest to another, asking them to retrace their letters so that the ink was dark enough, leave room for seam allowances, and are you done with the pen?
But there was no way Ashni could have known the full extent of the conspiracy.

From a friend

Some messages were simple birthday wishes, others celebrated Ashni's accomplishments, and others promised her love and support. Some were simple, others were funny and some were deeply touching. I am glad to have been part of the journey.

Quilting in process

Ready to Bind

Zebra binding

Almost done

Here are some pictures showing the completed quilt.

Light & Shade - A metaphor for life?

So cool!!!

Twisted

Fabric Rose?

Folded

Puppies YAY!!!

The messages are not visible at first glance, just like the adorable puppies are rather subtle.
But come closer and the warmth of the messages and the cuteness of the puppies will engulf you.

Love the red fabric

I had just enough red fabric left over from Enchanted Lake to border the puppy fabric to make this pieced backing.

Labelled

Showing off the Label

Of course, I am showing off.  Just in case any of Ashni's friends from college want a personalized quilt, I want to make sure that they have no trouble finding me :-)  Just search for "Sew Preeti Quilts" and send me a message.

Rolled up

Sunshine and Puppies = Perfection

So many Good Wishes in a Bundle of Comfort

I gave the completed quilt to Manveen last month. She happily posed for some pictures.

You are hiding behind it.

Much better

Together!!!

I am told that Ashni LOVED her quilt. And here she is confirming it with a gentle smile.

Ashni with her quilt

As usual, I'd love to hear from you. I will be sharing with all my favorite linky parties. See full list on the sidebar.

Seashore Rails & Jewel Box

These are quilts 3 & 4 from the Sugarland Fall Festival.

Meet Seashore Rails, the simplest rail fence pattern.  This is the pattern I pick when I do not want to think, when I do not have the patience to measure once, leave alone twice, when I do not want to cut fabric.

Seashore Rails

This is the holy grail (and the savior) for all those (me included) who like the concept of handmade but may not always have the nine yards of patience.

Take two strips of color, one strip of white. Stitch them along the length, with the white in the middle.
Cut into squares. Voila, you have your blocks!!!

Black Border, Green Binding

Arrange your blocks - one horizontal and one vertical, add a border to make it all come together and you have a quilt top!!!

When Eleanor Burns said - Quilt in a Day, I am sure this is what she meant.

I chose this mushroom fabric for the backing.

Do you like Mushrooms?

I had to choose easy and quick patterns since I really cranked out 14 of these in four weeks (My craziness is now well-established).  Therefore, choosing bright happy fabrics was really the key!!!

Matching binding to both the front and the back was an essential ingredient in making the quilt appealing.  I think the green binding in the front works only because it stands out against the black border, whereas it appears a bit blah next to the teal/aqua blocks.

Quilted and Bound

As far as the back, well that green really adds to the mushroom fabric, even if I say so myself (blush).

Green Binding - Multicolored Shrooms!!!

Can you see the quilting? Me neither.

The blocks finish at 6", the quilt without borders is about 36" square and with 2.5" strips border added, it finishes at about 40" square.

I quilted using a decorative stitch (looks like the letter C), making the appearance of clouds, as one line looked like Cs and the next being a mirror image.

Ooh, like a day at the Beach!!!

And one more picture...

Labelled!!!

Once Seashore Rails was done, I had a few blocks leftover...leading to the next quilt - Jewel Box.

Seashore Rails was definitely boyish. Therefore, I chose to add some non-blues (greens/purples) to make Jewel Box, so that it was a more gender-neutral quilt.

Remember, while I am making these, I wanted an even split between boy and girl quilts, so that the quilts could appeal to all.

Can you see the rail fence blocks in between the green and purple box blocks?

I chose a bright purple border for Jewel Box, to highlight the purple and take the attention away from the teal/aqua blocks. 

However, the exact same green binding works against the purple too.  Happy coincidence, indeed.

Ok, are you ready for this? This is big and scary!!!

Backing - Funny and Colorful!!!

And see, the green binding works beautifully with the backing too. The quilting gods were smiling upon me!

Quilted the same way as Seashore Rails. Jewel Box also finished at about 40" square. 

Finally, I can see some quilting in this picture.

Scary & Adorable

 Did you think that I forgot the label? No, I am too vain for that.

Labelled!

OK, just one more picture.  Can you see the cloud effect quilting in the picture below?
Looks like this monster is peeping from behind the wall to yell - BOO!!!

BOOtiful!!!

 

I will be linking up with Let's Bee Social, Needle & Thread Thursday, Whoop Whoop Fridays, Link a Finish Friday, Thank Goodness Its Finished Friday, Finish it up Friday and Monday Making.

 

I hope these simple patterns and bright fabrics bring some measure of joy and inspiration to your day. Your bright comments definitely bring joy to mine!!!