'Man Quilt' - the rest of the story ...

I blogged about making this quilt and cushion (pillow) earlier this week. I'm still not sure you'll find the way I made the cushion in any book :D

One of DH's best friends is Mark. Mark is a character ... and a half! It was Mark who gave me my nickname Glinda after the first time we went to see the show 'Wicked' all those happy years ago. In fact, Mark has given me three names over our 14 year friendship!

I don't have a middle name - I was the only one in our group of friends and family who did not - and Mark thought I should have one so I became 'Jennifer Jane'. So, everytime we met up. A booming voice would greet me, 'Ahhhhh, its Jennifer Jane!' and so it stuck. But then a friend, whose real name was Jennifer Jane, joined our group on a ski trip and so Mark just had to think up another name for me. First day skiing, we looked at my skis ... someone had written the name 'Ashley' on the skis so for the rest of that week, I was called Ashley! Thank goodness it was a nice name :) It also helped to distinguish between me and the other Jennifer. 

At some point, we all went to see Wicked in London - a fabby show (one of my all-time favourites, I think.) For those of you who haven't seen it, there is a moment in the show when Glinda is looking at all her pretty shoes and bags, bags and shoes and in a very girly voice, tosses her blonde hair and says, 'Toss Toss' ... with that, Mark has pointed at me, pointed at Glinda on the stage, pointed back at me and a big grin appears on his face ... and the rest, as they say, is history.

So, here is the 'Man Quilt' (and bonus cushion) as requested by DH. Made over 5 nights (bit of a last minute birthday idea ... tut tut!!) and the top is made out of DH's recycled work shirts: 

And I straight-line quilted it with a gorgeous Guterman Sulky variegated blue cotton ... had no bunching problems whatsoever ... yay, way to go Glinda!! And DH decided on the red binding:

Oh, did I say, 'the rest is history?' Well, not quite ... not content with giving me the different names, Mark now calls me all 4 at the same time - 'Jennifer Jane Ashley Glinda'! Hence the label:

Happy Birthday Mark xx

Quilt facts: 'Shirt off my back' pieced from DH's 'old' 100% cotton work shirts
Size: 57" x 57"
Batting: 100% cotton off the roll from my LQS
Backing fabric: navy blue 'Dimples' by Andover Fabrics
Binding: 2 1/4" folded red Makower Spraytime
Quilted: Straight-lines drawn with Hera Marker through diagonals
Start date: 14th April
Finished: Today!!

Linking up to Crazy Mom Quilts Finish it up Friday :)