Bloggers Quilt Festival

I've decided to join in the fun at the Bloggers Quilt Festival over at Amyscreativeside.com. I had such a good time looking at all of the amazing quilts that have been made and seeing how many amazingly talented people there are out there! Makes me want to go sew. And buy fabric. Hmmm. I decided to share one of my very favorite Quilts that I made this year-

The Lamb Family Tree

I made this quilt as a surprise for the 60th wedding anniversary of Richards Grandparents. They are amazing. I had such a wonderful time gathering up handprints from family members all over the country. My girls especially loved opening the envelopes, comparing the handprints to their own, and talking about their cousins. Each hand is entwined with their spouse and connected to the branch of the family they belong to. It worked out so nicely and I loved seeing how quickly Grandma & Grandpa Lamb's decendents were beginning to multiply!

I transfered the handprints to fabric (each hand is a different fabric so itwas definately fun finding fabric and shopping!) and embroidered the names on them before attaching them to the quilt with a fusible backing. After sandwiching the quilt, I quilted around each hand so it popped out nicely and then went crazy with freehand stippling all over the rest of the quilt with my regular machine. This was the first time I did such small stippling and, though it took some time, the results made it completely worth it. I love how the quilting turned out and the wonderful texture and depth it gave the quilt.

Here is Anna comparing her handprint to see if it fits. It will be fun to look back and see how much the little ones have changed and how many more there are bound to be!

And ultimately, Grandma loved it. And that's what really matters.