One Year Photo Quilts

When Lou (our first grandchild) was about to turn one, I got the idea to make her a photo quilt.  I figured that given advances in transferring photos on to fabric it would be easy...and it wasn't hard...edit photos, print, sew, bind, tie.  What I could not have known then was that we would have a lot more grandchildren fairly close in age and that the precedent I set with the first one would need to be carried on.  When Bub was born three years later, I made his quilt for his first birthday...easy peasy...then we had a family explosion.

"Spiderman" with his 1st Year Quilt

Bubba came a little more than a year after Bub, then Superman followed seven months later, SG arrived three short months after him.  Four months after SG, Wubba was born, followed by Spiderman eight months after that.  Then we slowed down...over the following three years, we welcomed Ladybug, GB, and Q.  Then we had a dry spell followed by a deluge...of Bitty Princess, another Super Hero, and Lil Ruthie all born within three months!  Yikes!  Five months after that deluge, we welcomed Baby D and Baby E who were born five months apart...and lastly (at this point), we added another princess to the Royal Family.

The Littlest Superhero "sharing" his first year photo quilt
with Lil Ruthie and Bitty Princess 

The photos on the quilts fade as they are repeatedly washed...but they are still loved.  Some of the kids call them their "Love Quilt", others call them "Grammy Quilts/Blankets".  I'm so glad they are used and that these precious ones will have memories of the warmth and comfort they feel wrapped up in them.

I am not a true quilter in the sense of perfect piecing and quilting (either by hand or machine) and I am still learning.  It seems that each first year quilt takes on a life of its own...the mommies pick out fabric colors, patterns and photos and I go to work.  The final product is as unique as the one year old receiving it.  I began by printing the photo blocks on special paper that is then ironed onto fabric and as technology has improved, I printed directly onto the fabric.  The photos for the latest quilts have been printed onto fleece by Shutterfly and I cut the blocks out and sew them into the quilts...so far, the photos have been best preserved by this latest option.

What an honor to remember our sweet kiddos and their first year with the Four Sisters Farm Family!