Friday Finish: Monkey Blanket and then some....

Happy Friday everyone, I'm so happy today because I get to show you the project I finished a couple of weeks ago.  It was gifted last weekend and totally loved!!!.  It is a very simple blanket, using Zack Sock Monkey fabric by Bethany Berndt Shackelford.  Now that name may ring a bell, because it is the same designer for the fabric for Sharla's sock monkey quilt.  We had bought some different monkey fabric to make Tina and her baby a quilt.  At the time we just knew it would be a girl because she already has two girls.  Then low and behold the sonogram said it was a boy. So we changed out some of the fabrics and were all set to go, when Sharla found the Zack and Zoey line and she just fell in love with it.  So we ordered the boy prints for Baby Samuel.

We decided to just do squares again because it is easy, and because it just looks so cute with these prints. It turned out to be about 54 x 54 after the borders were added and before quilting or washing.   I really love the red we used for the small border and binding, because it frames everything so nicely.

I decided to do loops for the quilting, because then if I accidentally crossed a line, it would just fit right in with all the other crossovers.  I used Signature's cotton thread in the color Parchment, which blended in nicely.  All of my loops weren't the same size but I was pleased over all with the finished product.

Now if we had stopped at this point and given the quilt to my friend she would have been extremely happy. Because she knows and respects the value of things made with love. But we decided to go one step further. My friend lost her husband suddenly last December, two weeks before she found out she was pregnant. She gave me all of his shirts and I'm in the process of cutting them up to make memory quilts for her and her children.  I took some of the odd pieces like the cuffs/collars and framed the quilt label with them.  Just so he would have a little something of his daddy on it.

Now the colors don't match really well, and the piecing wasn't great, but the point got across and my friend loved it. In fact after she finished opening the presents, everyone was just chatting and I saw her looking around, and I asked what she needed.  She wanted the quilt back.  And she sat and just stroked the label, remembering each of the shirts on the label. 

She told me later that she took it to a second shower that weekend to show some people that knew her husband and that it made some cry.  I told her it wasn't intended to make anyone cry, only to let her and baby Samuel know they are loved.

I did not get anything quilted this week, because I spent my time on Monday/Tuesday cleaning, and working on Quadrant 1 and 2 for my #TexasRoadTripQAL project.  I will say I am loving it so far.  I'm not doing the city blocks on this quilt, but I am doing them and going to make a wall hanging with them.  The fabrics are Alison Glass's Sun Prints and I so totally love them.  I still have to pick out my backing fabric, and I just can't decide.  I'm thinking one of the feathers, but I love the all. Here are quadrants 1 and 2 hanging on the wall at Sharla's office.  I wanted to take photos of them outside, but it has been raining and I don't want to put them on the ground.

It was a good week, but looking at the above photo, makes me want to get an iron out after those sections!!

Today I am linking up with Can I Get A Whoop Whoop @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict, Link a Finish Friday @ Richard and Tanya Quilts, TGIFF...at Quokka Quilts, Finish It Up Friday @ Crazy Mom Quilts, Needle and Thread Thursday @ My Quilt Infatuation and Fabric Frenzy Friday @ Fort Worth Fabric Studio.