TJ's Sports Quilt - Finished 03/27/2013

TJ is a Trivette & that is a good thing. I am friends with several in his family. On many occasions, TJ came along with his dad, Tony, to help out around here with miscellaneous work.

Recently, TJ sold me a car that is perfect for what I wanted. That is when we started talking about what kind of quilt he might like. He designed it himself using posted sports quilts by Joan Taylor as a reference.

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Jan 15: Started planning a sports quilt for a friend. He wants Pittsburgh Steelers, Jacksonville Jaguars & Chicago Bulls in one quilt. Believe it or not, we might just succeed at this. Too soon to publish plans. Nice challenge for a change.
Jan 24: TJ has not had an opportunity to look over all the options I have offered him so I am just going to go on and order fabric and make this quilt. I hope he loves it.
Jan 31: I only ordered the backing fabric which came today. Took it to show TJ. He has totally changed his mind about what he wants so back to the drawing board.
Feb 02: Still no feedback from TJ. And I don't dare go ahead because he is particular about what he wants even though he has changed him mind. Not two teams, just one. Steelers. Simple. Not too busy. Use yellow as focal color.
Feb 11: We have a plan & the fabric ordered.
Feb 20: The fabric is here.
Mar 08: Washed and ironed all the fabric. Cut out the blocks. TJ is considering what IQ pattern he wants.
Mar 09: Piecing the top. Regarding IQ pattern: since the front is a football theme & the back is a basketball theme, not sure mixing themes via the IQ pattern is a good idea. Thinking perhaps something generic would work better. Proposed an idea for the quilting that simulates the diamond stars on the logo.
Mar 10: Quilt top is finished--absurdly big for my full size bed. LOL
Mar 11: Did some IQ programming to get some overlays. Piecing the backing while waiting on TJ. It's settled--loose spiral square with double wool batting for very nice warmth. The backing is ready. Will load and quilt tomorrow.
Mar 12: Need to tweak the IQ pattern & press the backing before loading. Turns out I spent a lot of time tweaking before I was satisfied. Determined, I got the quilt loaded & ready for basting.
Mar 13: Basting is tricky with wool batting and even more so with too layers. Glad that is done now! Quilting ...
Mar 14: Still quilting ... and done. Better photos in the morning.
Mar 15: When bringing the quilt into my room to photograph, I discovered a first. I had loaded the backing upside down. This really is not a bad thing for this quilt just unintended.
Mar 22: Made the binding.
Mar 23: Attached the binding.
Mar 24: Hand binding has begun.
Mar 27: Should finish today. FINISHED!
Apr 12: Working 6-7 days a week at the car dealership, TJ finally got his quilt when I drove by yesterday on the way to Greensboro. He saw it several weeks ago here at the cabin on other business and made every second and penny working on it worth it. Thanks TJ for the joy you bring us.