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Amree’s Graduation Quilt

Quilt Pattern: Amree by Broken Dishes Quilting Company
Pantograph: Lazy Square by Joyce Lundrigan, Methodist Hill Quilt Studio
Fabric: Moda Grunge

Sometimes we have the best intentions, but life just gets in the way. That is the case with Amree’s Quilt, but more about that later. Our young cowgirl friend was getting ready to graduate from the 8th grade. I had helped her mom and younger sister learn to quilt. Since she didn’t have interest in following in their footsteps, I offered to make one for her. We talked about her favorite colors, designs and decor in her bedroom to come up with a plan.

I try to learn something new with every project. This time my goal was to create my own pattern using the EQ8 (Electric Quilter 8) software. I wanted to test out the software and see how the real quilt compared to the electronic version. That was 4 years ago…..

This is where life stepped in. Amree is now graduating from High School.  To be fair, during those years we put our house up for sale, planned to move to Kentucky from Washington State, then COVID struck so we took our house off the market, I retired from my web design business, I purchased my Gammill Statler longarm, our precious grandson was born, we put our house back on the market and sold it, purchased a home in Kentucky, moved, remodeled to build a room for the longarm, and finally I was able to pick up the project again. Are you exhausted? I know I am!

Picking up where I left off four years before was a challenge, but not as bad as I expected. With EQ8 and my notes I had a good outline of each half square triangle (HST) combination I would need. Then it was just a matter of laying out the rows as outlined. Everything sewed together beautifully. I pressed my seams open. That is always my preference.

When I loaded the quilt top on the longarm everything was straight and flat, or as good as I would expect from myself.

I know, I know… I could have done custom work in all of those open spaces. However, I was leaving for vacation the next day and I wanted to make sure she gets the quilt before her next big life event.

I chose a pantograph pattern from the May skill builder project from Methodist Hill Studios. I love the texture it added. I think Amree will too!

Writing up an official Amree pattern is in my future. I also plan to sew up another one to do some custom work in those open spaces. No pressure though.I have a million things to do.