Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Memorial Quilt: Firefighters Family

I was given a large amount of material for these quilts. These quilts are made for two 5 year old twin boys whose father (a firefighter) passed away.


In the basket of materials I was given were t-shirts, mens white vests, bandanas, football jerseys, sports shorts - a whole lot of materials that you would perhaps never dream would go so well together into a quilt. I mixed all the different materials together in their color groups and they look amazing.





The family requested a large bold patriotic design and for the quilts to be similar.




(The quilt design is adapted from the Stars & Strips pattern found on McCalls Quilting.

The entire quilt from the front to the back to the binding is made from the clothing. The project did take me a longer longer than I had planned. But I think it was utterly worth it. The firefighter was an owner in a local bar - so the back of the quilts are styled in the way that you might find signs and registration plates tacked on a sports bar wall. Scattered - but with a purpose. A large proportion of the backs are made from his bandanas - cut into quarters and sewn on point.


 
  
Various badges and emblems from the t-shirts are also sewn to the front of the quilts. 

 



Also - my favorite part of the quilts is the denim horseshoes - taken from the pockets of his jeans.

 
The stars and stripes section of the quilt fit perfectly on a queen sized bed. 

The biggest shocker for me with the project is how I quilted the quilts. No fancy quilting. Just simple in the ditch.

And of course some matching pillows which have his football jersey number on the back.



And while I enjoyed taking these quilts for a photo shoot at my local fire station with some not too shabby firemen - I have to admit that I got rather teary when I was sewing on the labels for these quilts. A wonderful family man - a man who saved and protected - lost all too soon. 


4 comments:

Thimbleanna said...

Wow Rachel. Just Wow. You keep getting better and better. And your choice of quilting is perfect here -- anything more would have been distracting. I LOVE LOVE LOVE how the quilts are sort of a reflection of each other. You're a Star!!!

driftwood said...

these are incredible Rachel x

Andrea said...

Brilliant work, Rachael. I think the designs you chose were strokes of genius. Really beautifully done.

Claudia/Ompompali said...

I am so amazed at what you manage to make from a bundle of fabric and clothes. Such beautiful work! You obviously have a big talent there.