Friday 4 September 2015

Going. Going. Gone!!

Three of my favourite colleagues have retired this year. My Line Manager, Emma, went in April and she received my first finished quilt since breaking my shoulder last year. Simple but sweet:


Then in July my boss, Mike, retired after 37 years and he got my piece de resistance quilt:


And this week, my specialist adviser retired after 30 years so he just had to have a unique quilty gift too! I love to personalise my gifts and Ian was easy to plan for. I tried to pick out non-girly fabrics:


He loves photography and rugby, drinks lots of tea and enjoys the 'occasional' packet of McCoy's crisps with his lunch! Here's the appliqué blocks:


I wanted to try a new free motion quilting pattern (motivated by my friend Jasmine @ Quilt Kisses whose improvement in her FMQing is so inspiring) and got great advice from Angela Walters:


After a little practice (5 minutes!), I just went for it! The swirls were a little crazy to begin with and I went a little bit off with the tails:


Nell offered her advice:


And I just persevered ... the more I did, the easier it got:


Here's the quilting from the back and the label:



And on Tuesday, I handed it over and said goodbye to a dear colleague who will be irreplaceable :'( 

Goodbye, thank you and good luck, Ian:


Linking up with the lovely Lorna @ Sew Fresh Quilts and Amanda Jean @ Crazy Mom Quilts and Sarah @ Confessions of a Fabric Addict.


16 comments:

  1. Wow, those swirls look awesome for your first time FMQ'ing them! And Ian looks happy to have a fun quilt he can show off to his rugby pals. ;)

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  2. Awesome quilting! And a great quilt! Good ideas...

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  3. Aren't you a sweetie?! I love the quilts you've specially made for retiring co-workers. Look out, more of them may retire now, just to be able to receive such lovely handmade quilts. ;o)

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  4. Love the colors in the last one. So nice that you gave each one a special quilt.

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  5. What a great gift for your co-worker. I love how you personalized it with things he enjoys. Congrats on your finish.

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  6. Beautiful. What a sweet gift. I wanna be your 'coworker' for awhile. I'm sure that Nell really made the difference.
    I've said that a quilt isn't a quilt until the cat lays on it. My cat always came to nap everytime I had a quilt laying out on the bed. (my design wall) Thanks for sharing you Fabulous work.

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  7. Very cool work with the FMQing! Looks great!

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  8. Wow! The swirls are amazing! I love your "just go for it" attitude. Well done to Nell for supervising 😉!

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  9. They are all so young to retire. You are such a great friend to make them all beautiful quilty gifts. They will think of you every time they look at those art pieces. You inspire me to be more personal with my quilts.
    Love your curly quilting.

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  10. Your swirls look amazing - great job and lucky coworkers!!

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  11. I love the personalized quilt. Your swirls were the perfect touch. I think they will always be one of my favorite go-to designs. They look good on so many things.

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  12. Beautiful quilts, and your quilting is awesome. Great job on the swirls! I am so afraid to try free motion quilting, I'm afraid I'll ruin the quilt. One of these days I'll have to give it a go? Great job!

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  13. What wonderful and personal gifts! I am sure they will be treasured.

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  14. Great finishes Jen! Good for you to try new free motion techniques. I always seem to fall back on what I know best but must make time to practice too. Question, is there anyone left at your work place? Seems like you've been busy with retirement gifts. 😉 All wonderful quilts.

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  15. The most kind woman ever!
    You are amazing!
    Love//Maja

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I love reading all your comments, I know it takes time to write them but they make me smile so thank you for dropping by :)