In May of 2011, Lauren contacted us and we began the design of the quilt. Her key desire was to incorporate as many pictures as possible yet not make the quilt into a static grid-like design. Lauren constantly reminded us that the pictures needed to appear to be random and not align at all – a very difficult requirement when one works with straight seams! This project became a real clandestine task too, with Lauren sneaking photos and other items of clothing from her parent’s house to add to the quilt. She even volunteered to do the task of getting each photo printed onto fabric before the project began in earnest.

This was a real technical challenge for us! Seventy pictures, Matt’s digitized signature (Sew It Out-by Andrea W.), embroidered designs ranging from a mimic of a favorite kitchen towel saying – actually a favorite quote of Matt’s, a monogrammed tie, a Longhorn design symbolizing the family’s devotion to the University of Texas, integration of Matt’s tie and corduroy shirt and even words of a treasured hymn all had to be created and added into a fixed space while making sure that nothing was specifically lined up next to each other.

We broke the design up into 6 separate sections, adding the gold fabric around and between each ephemera, then adding more fabric when things began to naturally line up. Lots of sewing and un-sewing, that’s for sure! When we joined all 6 sections, the prayer was that it would all join well and that the quilt be even and straight. It was not. Then came the measuring and re-measuring on the horizontal, vertical and diagonal, using all the formulas learned long ago in Geometry class – Oh Boy! But finally it was together and straight and an almost perfect rectangle.

Now for the quilting. Chris took over at this point and did her usual superior job, enhancing the photos with her own special quilting designs, making sure not to quilt through any of the faces. She literally cried over the quilt, sharing in the sentiments we now felt about Lauren and Matt and their parents. She prayed over the quilt, thinking of the hymn and scripture passages. And she beamed her beautiful smile when she felt the love of this wonderful young woman for her family.

One final challenge: Lauren wanted a label on the back of the quilt effectively containing a letter to her parents. When I tried to embroider it on my home embroidery attachment, it would not fit – it was over 60,000 stitches! By now, we were getting close to Christmas and I was panicking! Off I went to find someone to stitch out the label for me (Dotz Doodlez). It got sewn on, the binding was completed and Lauren picked up her gift. As we shared a joint moment of peace and pleasure, tears welled in our eyes. We were glad that we were able to achieve the challenging project, but it was a bittersweet moment knowing that this long journey was about to end for us and that the quilt would be going off to its new home.

The best was yet to come – she gave it to her parents on Christmas Eve and sent me a text filled with the joy of her parents. They were truly thrilled and deeply touched. “Gave the quilt last night…lots of joyful tears! Thank you again for making such a beautiful memory keepsake! “ To top it off, she just brought her Mom to meet us and we again got to share in the deep love this family feels for each other. Her Mom is a joy to be around and it is clear where Lauren gets her beauty – both inside and out!

We were honored to be part of this unique gift. Thanks Lauren for allowing us into your life and getting to share a lifetime of memories and family with us.

Susan and Chris

What so impressed me about this quilt is the dramatic use of color, the mixture of fabric patterns. Look closely and you will see that the pattern design is not one usually chosen by a new quilter. I think Carol did a suburb job on this quilt. It is such a happy quilt and that is exactly how it made us feel as we worked on it.

I am sure that Harper will love it and appreciate it more and more as she begins to recognize the talent of her grandmother and her first attempt at quilting!

Susan

In this case, we learned a lot about Renee, Michael and their lovely two daughters.   Renee contacted us in January and asked us to make a memory quilt to celebrate her parent’s 50 wedding anniversary.   She wanted to incorporate an article of clothing from as many members of the family as possible and gathered up everything from pajamas from Japan to yarmulkes from family Bar Mitzvahs.   Yet, in keeping with the decor of her parent’s bedroom, the overall design had to be somewhat formal.   We settled on a single monogram, the ‘R’, in the midst of complementary pastel colors.

The ‘R’ was created using foundation piecing surrounded by a deep green narrow border.   It was centered on a field of blue and positioned such that it would be the focal point of the quilt as it lay upon a bed.    All fabrics were chosen by the family over numerous trips to the local quilt store (www.quiltstore.com) .  But it was the fabric chosen by the little girls that was the most fun.    Turn the quilt over and you will see a sea of BBQ signs in very vivid colors.   When I asked the girls why they had chosen that fabrics, their answer was perfect – they knew their grandparents loved BBQ and so wanted them to have that be part of the quilt!

I love the photo of the family in front of the quilt.   The pride and pleasure in this gift made all the many months of debate, design and execution well worth  it.

Audie found his fabric at a wonderful little fabric store called The Stitch Lab (http://www.stitchlab.biz/) who referred him to us.   His colors and design really evoked those of the traditional Amish to us and in keeping with that genre, we chose to do a very linear and minimalistic treatment in our quilting.   Using our APQS Millennium longarm machine, we inscribed a 1/4 inch echo line inside the nine patch design with a highlight of the center square.    That design was then repeated in the empty intermediate blocks.   The setting triangles also had a 1/4 inch outline.  The borders were treated very simply too.   Just straight outside lines with a 45 degree triangle running between them.    Although it looked wonderful from the front, it was even more spectacular from the back where the replication of the design became  really apparent.

Audie loved it.   We loved helping to enhance this quilt and felt privileged to work with such a talented quilter.

Susan

A quilt made from  a wedding dress?!?  Sure.    We can do that.

That’s what we said to Dana when she brought us her almost 25 year old wedding dress, still in the box from the dry cleaners from all those many years ago.  But her request was a little different;  she wanted a wall hanging completely made from the fabric in her gown.  She also wanted a very minimalist design, making the fabric itself the star of the quilt by using as much of the uncut skirt fabric to define the size limits.  We also decided that the flowers needed to be three dimensional. 

Since this was to be a Memory Quilt, she wanted to evoke the colors of the entire wedding, including her flowers. And she wanted us to find a way of including the calla lilies she carried on that special day.  One more requirement:  use only very muted colors.   We were able to meet all these requests, especially the beautifully perfect straight background lines, using the channel lock feature of our APQS Millennium longarm machine.

This wall hanging is the result and we are happy to say that it exceeded Dana’s expectations!  Lots of tears and hugs were shared when we recently presented the final product to her.

But there’s more to the story.  When we first met Dana, we were able to share

 the excitement of freeing her wedding dress from it’s box in our Studio. That of course led to many stories of Dana, her dress (all hand made with beautiful lace and beads) and her current life.   We noticed a very unusual  and colorful tattoo on her leg – it  was of a chef holding a salt shaker with salt drops coming of it in 3D!   We then discovered that Dana has been trained as a chef and in particular as a baker.   In fact, she is developing many creative and intriguing recipes for brownies and expects to be publishing a cookbook with these recipes very soon.  To get a preview of her delicious treats, sign up for her blog at http://cookingwithintensity.blogspot.com.

It was a hot July day in Austin …oh that’s right, all days in Austin have been HOT.. and this wonderful beaming mom came to our studio filled with t-shirts ready to hand them over to us so that we could make a quilt for her son as he leaves for college.

As we usually do, we asked the Mom to give us some details of her son. She painted a picture of one fine young man. Reid is an athlete and a Latin scholar. He has a great love of music and  is a Texas Ranger fan. His Mom wanted to capture all of these interests and put them to great use since he was leaving the sweltering heat of Texas for a northern school.   Mom knew she wanted a large double-sided t-shirt quilt to keep him warm and wrap him in those wonderful journey of life memories.

The details of the layout were carefully selected by both the Mom and son and we were even given a schematic on its layout.  It was a joy to work with a family that had such a strong connection to each other.

When the quilt was finally completed and quilted on our APQS Millennium,   we were ready for Mom to pick it up. She asked to us wait  until she was able to come with Reid.   In came the beaming Mom and the very handsome strong young man.   As we stood waiting for the reaction, we knew we touched a Mom’s heart by the tears that she shed as she gazed upon the completed quilt.  The emotions that flowed at that moment were so bittersweet. Seeing her son’s full and productive young life and knowing that he was about to venture on his own. Frankly, I had tears too!

This is the part that we love so much about what we do.    It is not just about a finished product but of a completion of the circle of life, a moment of closure, a symbol of time passed and cherished. These are the things that bring us joy knowing that the finished product is oftentimes  a journal page of one’s life.   Here is Reid at school, moving into his next phase of life, with this wonderful quilt to comfort him.   

Chris

We are always so honored when someone comes to us asking to have a quilt made out of their loved one’s clothing.

Harry deeply, deeply loved and cared for his Mom, Muriel.  He was her protector, companion and loving son for the last years of her life and needed a way to continue to honor her after his loss.     Into our studio came a big box of Muriel’s shirts and even a cherished winter coat.    We were asked to create a quilt out of these fabrics being sure to make the best use possible of the  colors.   Harry decided on a traditional log cabin pattern which allowed us to use the flowered fabrics as a counterpoint to the solids including the grey wool of the coat.

But what made this quilt sing was Muriel herself.   She loved birds and Christmas.  She loved the Detroit Tigers and Michigan.   She loved God and bible verses.   All those thoughts and motifs were included in the borders when we were able to find an incredibly evocative green fabric with beautiful renderings of a variety of birds.  Inserted into the side panels were two of Muriel’s T-shirts of special note.  The bottom panel has one of Muriel’s favorite bible psalms.   However, it is the topmost panel that IS her.  The center is a digitization of her actual signature!   The embroidered bird on the left is her favorite species and the Christmas wreath with the single white candle depicts her devotion and the joy of Christmas.

Chris and I know that Harry will cherish this quilt forever.  He has already hung it in a place of honor.   May it bring him peace and joy, just as he brought to his Mom.

Susan

It is hard to decide who or what is more lovely, Alexis or the quilt!    Her grandmother was the one who commissioned us to produce this quilt.   Linda, working with Alexis’ Mom Cynthia, gathered these T-shirts unbeknown to Alexis, but at the last-minute had to make a substitution since Alexis was frantically looking for one which her grandmother had stolen away!    We used a dramatic black and white cornerstone design, with pure white fabric as the backing, to complement Alexis’ activity as a dancer.   We received this note and photo the day after graduation – “Hi, the quilt is beautiful….  Thanks so much! I think it was her favorite gift!”

Caryn had us work on this quilt for Josh, her musical son attending the very prestigious Boston Conservatory where he will continue his study of violin.   Just working on Josh’s shirts uplifted us and made us want to find a way of listening to his quite apparent musical talent.   Our Mom, in particular, so enjoyed working with Josh and choosing just the right musical fabric for the backing.

  This quilt, made for Beth to give to her son, was a long distance experience.   Beth and family live in Iowa and through a mutual friend, asked us to complete this quilt.  Her son just loved it and we had the fun of learning about another state’s school and activities (guess what, high schools in Iowa and Texas are quite alike!).

As quilters, we are privileged to develop a real relationship with our clients.   And when they leave our studio with a big smile on their faces and a promise to see us again, we beam because we know that we have pleased them.   When they come back after a few years to have another quilt made for a 2nd child, we welcome them back out of the joy of that friendship.   That is what happened with this next quilt (as it did too with Caryn’s quilt – we did one for Josh’s brother two years ago).   Patty contacted us and wanted this lovely quilt made.  As an ‘old pro’ at this, Patty arrived with T-shirts in tow as well as with her fabric all picked out – all wonderful batik colors, with the backing chosen specifically to represent the colors of a Monet painting.    Jenna too was a volleyball player and has had a stellar career, on travelling teams which allowed her to experience even Florence Italy.    Even though Patty came to us early, we had to wait to complete the assembly of the quilt until Jenna decided on her college of choice – DePaul University – so we could include that T-shirt into the quilt too.

Although I am now way past high school or college graduations with my son and Chris is 4 years away from her daughter’s high school event, we are so thrilled to be able to share in these auspicious occasions even vicariously through working with Moms and Grandmoms  and Aunts on these lovely remembrances.

Susan

Before we even begin to look at the clothing, we like to get to know the client and the recipient. The difference here was the recipient for  this quilt was the dad. His wife wanted to honor him by chronicling their daughter’s  extensive and impressive volleyball career. Ruthie came to the studio with bags of volleyball jerseys and t-shirts. She  knew that she wanted a little something  ’more’ within this quilt. It goes along with the drive that was evident in the volleyball journey.   Holly didn’t only play recreation volleyball and various local and national tournaments, she had attended the Junior Olympics so this quilt had to reflect that hard effort.

While working with Ruthie on this project, we got a sense of how she challenged her daughter as she challenged us to think differently and work at a level that we hadn’t before. We had plenty to work with, many colors and images that would make the quilt shine. But Ruthie wanted it to ‘pop’ a bit more and so we designed a Ohio Star block using various shirts. We were urged to use this unorthodox T-shirt quilt design to make the quilt quite unique – the same  uniqueness that was displayed in this young woman’s very talented journey.

These are the moments and clients that make our job more than ‘creating and sewing’  but turns it into a life lesson. A time to stop and truly learn and listen to the client and the purpose of the project. A time to reflect inward to dig deep to see what else can be done. It is not about sewing, it’s about personal growth.

We wish Holly much continued success as she moves onto her next part of her life journey, attending a fine college, continued playing challenging volleyball but living a life of growth and success. We will miss working with Ruthie; she is one of those people who you cross paths with and know that you have met someone who can change lives.

Best to Holly and all the 2011 graduates!

Chris

Jeff's Memories

My mom always says Mother’s Day is a silly holiday, made up for the card industry.   As a child I felt a sigh of relief, I never knew what to get mom, I never had money to get anything, so I believed all that she said -  it’s a holiday for the card industry. Fast forward quite a few years to my own motherhood.   I cherished the small handmade gifts from my children: handprints, paper flowers and the ubiquitous macaroni necklace.   I wore them, posted them and saved them.    As my children got older I said the same to mine, it’s a made up holiday so that I would save them the anguish and the difficulty in buying mom ‘something’.  Now that my children have grown, what I would give for another macaroni necklace.

So when this gentleman called us at Over the Top Quilting Studio, saying that he wanted to make a special Mother’s Day gift for his wife to mark the upcoming holiday, I had visions of those lovely thoughtful gifts of past.  Susan and I met with Don to talk about this special quilt for his wife, Jajuan.   This was going to be a quilt made up of her son’s memorabilia and clothing.   This was going to be a Mother’s Day present to further preserve the memory of her late son Jeff.

This quilt was to be composed of so many personal milestones of Jeff’s life. The Mickey Mouse t-shirt that proclaimed its resolution to “make it”, which he did as a young successful lawyer.   The winter vacations that the family spent in Grand Cayman. The Scrabble tiles that proved a bet that TUNIS was a real and playable word!  We were privileged to take his small Cub Scout uniform and transform it to a quilt block that preserved the shirt and allowed his mom to see him as the little scout that he once was.

Scrabble

We fingered the tiny blanket and baby pillow that was once so precious to both Mother and Son.  The Mother’s Day before Jeff’s tragic death, he wrote a message to his mom, which we embroidered into the quilt.

So many memories were shared over the many weeks Susan and I worked with Jeff’s Dad Don that we came to know Jeff, and see the journey of his life. Sewing this quilt was heartbreaking,  joyful,  prayerful and peaceful. We were filled with so many levels of emotion as we handled each piece of fabric with respect and reverence.

Saved baby blanket

This Mother’s Day is more than a manufactured holiday.  It is a day to connect with mother and child, cherishing the moments and memories that are intertwined making the bond that can never be severed.

If you have the blessing of being able to share Mother’s Day with your Mom, do so, because you never know when for you it will no longer be a mindless, contrived holiday.   It is a day to proclaim your love and respect of the woman who bore you.

Chris