Birthday Surprise

My sister Vicki has been making hats to sell as a fundraiser for several years.  She donates the proceeds of her sales to Camp Kemo, a place for children with illness to enjoy a week in summer.

Here's an example of her hats:

This one is mine!

In earlier years, Sis made bridal and keepsake boxes, decorated and wrapped in lovely fabrics, which she gave as gifts.

 

This one's mine!

Last year while perusing a library book by Kaffe Fassett, my eyes fell upon a quilt that seemed it was designed with her in mind:  

 A HAT Box Quilt!

I renewed the book so often that I was forced to return it to the shelf late last fall.  But not before I had those templates enlarged, rolled up and tucked away!

With the birthday coming at the end of March, I decided to begin the day after Christmas.  I pulled out my collection of home decor *samples and set to cutting with the templates.  
 

What fun wallowing in choosing from the variety of fabric choices!

The "wallpaper" background fabrics for each block were on hand, but the "floors" were a challenge ~ in stores, I couldn't locate stripes that I had in mind, until...

Aha!  Thrift stores have men's dress shirts a'plenty, so off I go.

The thrill of the hunt is the thing, ya know.

   

Pieced the "wallpaper" blocks together

and then began the applique' process.

This was a first attempt, which didn't make the final cut.

Over the next weeks, the design wall began to fill up.

I later added sashing and borders,

 

then quilted it with the help of my friend Alice and her machine, Mega.

It's mostly FMQ except for the leaves.

I pulled out my big market tables to clean it up and cut away excess batting,

then added the binding.  Finished size is 96" x 96".

 

Finally, I framed and hand sewed the label on, designed by Alice and moi.

 

 

Friday I joyfully delivered it in person on her birthday!

 

She loves it, and it fits!

I would make this quilt again...its random fabrics are such fun!