I was skimming through a couple of patchwork quilt patterns recently and nothing was really grabbing my attention. After looking at design after design, I began to ponder about how to make a patchwork quilt that my family would be interested in.
To be honest, I was fighting with ideas on something that everybody would like. With so many varied interests (and disinterests) it was hard to think about something that everyone would like.
But then I hit on an idea.
When I was doing some lineage research a couple of weeks back, I was deliberating it with some older family members. While debating about the past and who married who, I noticed that nearly all of the other family members were interested in the conversation and were curious about their ancestors.
I returned and did a little research and mapped out a significant slice of the family history. I recalled this while considering patchwork quilt ideas and thought it might be a good idea if I mixed the 2!
A square patchwork pattern would form the ideal base to map out the family record. similar to a grid, I can place the names of all the families and folk and allot them a square and position, the same way you do on paper.
When I first initally drew up the pattern, I discovered 2 things.
Firstly , the tree is best done sideways. Every time family members marry, change names and have children, the tree is expanded sideways instead of down.
Secondly, the square sizes I used initially were far too large. After halving the scale of the squares, I found I could fit the whole family history on the quilt and still have enough room in each square to sew the names and link them into the tree.
It's not quite finished yet, but let me tell you, it looks great and I should hide it from my folks. They're all so eager to see it, all of them keep trying to sneak in and have a look at it.
So if you are after a patchwork quilt idea that your family will love, go with this one.
To be honest, I was fighting with ideas on something that everybody would like. With so many varied interests (and disinterests) it was hard to think about something that everyone would like.
But then I hit on an idea.
When I was doing some lineage research a couple of weeks back, I was deliberating it with some older family members. While debating about the past and who married who, I noticed that nearly all of the other family members were interested in the conversation and were curious about their ancestors.
I returned and did a little research and mapped out a significant slice of the family history. I recalled this while considering patchwork quilt ideas and thought it might be a good idea if I mixed the 2!
A square patchwork pattern would form the ideal base to map out the family record. similar to a grid, I can place the names of all the families and folk and allot them a square and position, the same way you do on paper.
When I first initally drew up the pattern, I discovered 2 things.
Firstly , the tree is best done sideways. Every time family members marry, change names and have children, the tree is expanded sideways instead of down.
Secondly, the square sizes I used initially were far too large. After halving the scale of the squares, I found I could fit the whole family history on the quilt and still have enough room in each square to sew the names and link them into the tree.
It's not quite finished yet, but let me tell you, it looks great and I should hide it from my folks. They're all so eager to see it, all of them keep trying to sneak in and have a look at it.
So if you are after a patchwork quilt idea that your family will love, go with this one.
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To read lots more clever ideas for how to make a patchwork quilt, go to Jane Green's patchwork quilt website right now!