January OMG: Reunion Quilt

Hi Quilting Friends,

My “One Monthly Goal” for January was to finish up my 1995 Family Reunion signature quilt. It’s finally finished, after only 25 years, so it’s time to celebrate completion of my January “One Monthly Goal”.

I decided to make two of these little quilt tops to take to our family reunion back in 1995; one quilt was a gift for Aunt Jessie, who organized the event, and I kept the other for myself. Everyone who attended (and was able to write) was encouraged to sign both quilts. Jessie’s quilt is hanging in her home, and mine has been folded up with the rest of my UFO’s. . . until recently!

My Dad’s family had six siblings, so that’s why there are six little houses on the quilt. The center of the quilt also has two small pieced trees to represent our roots in Northwestern Montana. The center square is a tiny sign, “1995 Passmore Family Reunion”. I framed the trees and houses with solid navy, and then added the pieced signature blocks on all four sides.

I kept the quilting simple, stitching in the ditch around the blocks, since we have plenty of visual interest from the colorful scraps that I used for the squares. I made the binding from the same fabric as the frames around the center square. (I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had actually set aside the fabric for my binding; doesn’t always work out that way!)

These signature blocks are very easy to make. You need one square of cream or white fabric and two squares of a contrasting fabric. The picture below shows how to stitch the pieces together to make the blocks. Click the photo for a free downloadable tutorial file!

Our 1995 family reunion was held in July at the Flathead Lutheran Camp on Flathead Lake, Montana. Isnt’ it gorgeous!

The photos below are of my family, as we were back then.

Here are some pictures of my boys, enjoying a climb with their cousin Brendan and trying to catch the elusive fish at the dock. They never caught one, which worked out just fine for the fish! Nathan was 4 and Ian was 7 that summer. They sure had fun!!!

And that’s all I have for today! I hope that you’ve enjoyed seeing my finished quilt and my family photos.

Happy quilting,

Sharon

Linking up: Elm Street Quilts One Monthly Goal -January Finish Link-up