A Vancouver client came to me not long before Christmas a few years ago to inquire about a sports quilt. She decided not to make the sports quilt, but when she saw that I made bereavement quilts she decided to have me make three Christmas gifts for relatives instead. Her beloved grandmother had just died after having reached the age of 100. She brought me a load of her grandmother’s colorful shirts and left it up to me to decide what design I wanted. The shirts themselves determined the patterns, in a way, for I had to discard some designs due to fabric constraints.
The quilt above was the throw I made for my client. Actually this one was the last one of the three and I had almost run out of material. The spokes are made from grandma’s clothes, whereas the red, white and blue background is fabric I bought. Note that the border is made from a colorful striped seersucker shirt.
The quilted throw above was made for my client’s sister-in-law. Except for the small purple and aqua corners, the borders and the backing, all the material on the front was from the grandmother’s clothes.
A third throw made from grandma’s bright and sassy knits and polo shirts was given to my client’s mother, the grandmother’s daughter.
Each throw had the appropriate label at the bottom:
and
I was told that this family had a very poignant Christmas, as the “grandma throws” were a surprise.