One more retirement

When I made the four retirement quilts back in June, I ran out of time for the fifth one.  Bill is retiring at the end on August so I wanted to get his quilt to him. 

A few years ago, Bill brought several shoe boxes of neckties into work for anyone who wanted them.  I ended up with a couple dozen ties, thinking that I would ultimately use them for his retirement quilt.  As soon as I heard he was retiring, I started a string quilt, using the ties on a 12.5" muslin foundations, and actually got 4 blocks finished before the June party.  At the party, Bill said he really liked the jelly roll quilt I made for Therona and would like one in blues.  Those neckties had been giving me so much grief that I quickly abandoned them in favor of the simpler jelly roll quilt.

Bill and his partner are world travelers and have been to Japan several times.  When I saw the Satsuki fabric collection by Robert Kaufman I knew it would be perfect for Bill's quilt.  One jelly roll in the "Atmosphere" color palette and  here is the result:

Bill's retirement quilt 64"x50"

And, based on his thank you note, I made the right choice to give up on those ties.

Thank you again for the beautiful quilt!

The fabrics, design and color are all exactly to my taste—it is as if you had read my mind.

Best regards,

Bill

Four at once!

It's been a busy few weeks.  In addition to a week-long trip to Orlando to see Miss Em and several days in Chicago for a meeting, I finished and delivered four quilts for former colleagues who retired last week.  My goal, in addition to creating special gifts, was to make a small dent in all my scraps, so I used Bonnie Hunter's patterns for two of them. 

The first, for Kenneth, is a variation of Scrappy Trips.  Kenneth is a fan of bright Hawaiian-style shirts.  While I didn't use Hawaiian fabric in this, the bright colors remind me of him.

 Kenneth's retirement 64"x48"

Robert's quilt uses the Scrappy Mountains pattern and is backed in a plaid flannel.  His sister said it will go perfectly in his new apartment.

Robert's retirement 61"x50"

Therona's quilt used one of my favorite quick quilt patterns, a jelly roll race.  There are lots of videos that show how to make this quilt that uses just one jelly roll (or 40 2.5" WOF strips) and can be put together in just a few hours.  She was quite pleased with it.

Therona's retirement 64"x50"

Finally, Anne's quilt is a disappearing nine-patch made with leftover charm squares alternated with solid white.  It makes a very modern-looking quilt, perfect for artist Anne.

Anne's retirement 66"x52"

All the recipients were very happy and, best of all, no new fabric was purchased to make these quilts!