I decided sometime in 2016 that I wanted to make graduation lap quilts for my great-nephew, Jimmy, and great-niece, Rachel, who are graduating from high school and turning 18 later this month. The name of this blog post is in honor of the title of the invitation for their graduation/18th birthday party that will be held on June 24th which I am thrilled that I will be able to attend.
Most of the quilts I make are more appropriate for females, so I started looking on Pinterest for quilts that a male would like. I ran across a blue ombre baby quilt and on a whim sent the pin to my friend, Sarah of Sarah Goer Quilts, who decided to use it for inspiration to write a quilt pattern for an Ombre Quilt in two sizes. I decided the lap-size Blue Ombre quilt would be perfect for Jimmy. My Quarter 2 Finish-A-Long Goals, One Monthly Goal April 2017 , and Blue Ombre HST Quilt Top Finished posts provide information about the process from fabric choice to completed quilt top. It was quilted by ThreadBear using a jagged shards motif. I machine stitched the binding to the front last weekend (not without a very big problem–see my solution at the end of this post ), and I finished hand-stitching the binding (same as the backing fabric) a few days ago. Here are pics of the front and the back:
I’ve had two fat quarter bundles of Katarina Roccella’s Imprint collection for over a year waiting to use it for a special person, and lovely Rachel definitely meets that criteria. Though I love traditional Half-Square Triangle (HST) configurations such as stars, hour glasses, and diamonds, I wanted this quilt to have a more spontaneous feel. Initially, I randomly picked the two-square combinations for the HSTs out of a bin but later made intentional choices to give the quilt a more balanced look. My A New Work in Progress and March ’17 OMG Finish posts talk about this project in more detail. Michael at ThreadBear and I discussed several different quilting motifs but eventually decided on a mazes motif that echoes some of the Mazes fabrics in the Imprint collection.
The back of Rachel’s quilt is a Dogwood wide fabric I’ve also been saving for awhile. I chose to feature the Bari J Stitched Road binding in granite by making it a little wider on the back than traditional binding.
Many of my blog followers know that I’ve been sewing and quilting with an inexpensive Brother sewing machine I purchased from Amazon in 2014. Apparently I used that machine well beyond its limits. I had it in for servicing in May and was told it really couldn’t handle sewing through much thickness any more. When I started to machine sew the binding on Jimmy’s quilt and couldn’t even get 24 inches sewed, I decided it was time to buy the Juki sewing machine that I’ve been thinking about for awhile, so I drove to Albuquerque and came home the same day with my new baby. She’s absolutely amazing!
Linking up to My Quilt Infatuation: Needle and Thread Thursday and Crazy Mom Quilts: Finish it up Friday. Also linking up to 2017 Quarter 2 Finish-A-Long Finishes.
Quilting is in my Blood 
Both quilts are beautiful. I’m sure they will be treasured.
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The quilts are fantastic and I hope you have a great time at their celebration gifting them. Eek! I love my Juki and the fact that we are sewing on twin machines. I hope you two get to know one another quickly and you enjoy it, too. 🙂
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I adore both quilts and I think young people will appreciate these modern HST quilts far more than anything traditional. At least the people I know would. that includes 56 yo me! I love the backing on your great-nephew’s quilt – what a perfect pattern and color combo to complement the quilt top!
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I forgot to ask – if you are comfortable saying so, how much did it cost to have the quilting done? I’ve never sent a quilt out for quilting before. My go to is straight line or straightish wavy line quilting. 🙂 My neck and shoulder can’t handle FMQing, as much as I’d love to learn.
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I really love both of these quilts. I like the semi spontaneous placement of the half square triangles.
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They are so pretty! I’m sure they’ll be treasured always!
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Both very pretty!. I just made a mini green version of the Ombre HST quilt for a swap – 20″ by 20″ – so I added two more ad-libbed rows.
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I’d love to see a picture of your mini!
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Oh my, love both of your HST quilts; they’re now on my Pinterest HST board for inspiration! I have that Juki machine and ♥ it to bits! Best investment ever. Feel free to link to Finished or Not Friday on my blog. I’d love to see your colorful quilts!
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A bit late to the FAL party… Those are two amazing quilts! I love both – a similar blue one – maybe the inspriation is on my pinterest board and the other one – so modern, lovely fabric collection… I am sure they will be treassured! Have a great graduation party:)
xo Melanie
http://www.mell-meyer.de
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Lucky Jimmy – I’m sure he will be very happy to have such a handsome quilt! Congratulations on your fab finish on behalf of the global FAL 2017 hosts!
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Your finished Ombre HST quilt looks great! The backing is perfect and I like the quilting you’ve chosen. 🙂
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Hi Mary! I was just prowling around on Pinterest and found your quilt and how Sarah made/shared a tutorial. Very cool, my friend. I hope you are enjoying yourself and having a bit of sewing time this long weekend. ~smile~ Roseanne
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