Click each block to see a closer photo and the meaning of the photos and embroidery behind it.
Click here to see the quilt label embroidered on the back.
CEF Embroidered Camp Quilt
This is the memory quilt I created in 2005 and won Grand Prize at the Kansas State Fair! In one month's time I completed from start to finish three quilts just like this. I did one for myself and one for each of my sisters as a memory quilt for our years spent together at Camp Good News (sponsored by Child Evangelism Fellowship) in Hutchinson, Kansas. There are 16 blocks for the quilt to be a completed size of 80" x 80". It is quilted by stitching in the ditch and bound with a black binding. The blocks have machine embroidery applique designs with photo transfer and photo printing techniques.
When I started on this quilt in June 2005, I was determined to have all three completed by July when my sisters and I would be returning to camp. My embroidery machine ran night and day, trying to get all the designs stitched. At that time I was working full time at a local fabric store, working 40-50 hours a week. I would get up at 4:00 in the morning, embroidering several designs before I had to leave for work at 7:30. When I would get home at 7:30 that evening, I would start my machine again, stitching until 12:00 or so. On my days off, my machine would run 18 hours a day, getting everything stitched.
I didn't waste any time. With several embroidery hoops, I could be stitching a design while hooping the next block. I planned or sketched out all the blocks in my Bernina embroidery software while designs were stitching. Most of the time, I didn't have a definite plan for each block until I started sketching. Then I had so many ideas flowing through my head, I was moving at full speed to get them all accomplished.
I sorted through hundreds of camp photos over the previous 10 years to find just the right ones to add in the quilt. I then resized them as needed and printed them onto Printed Treasures printable fabric sheets. Each block represents an activity or event that happens at camp every year. I matched the embroidery designs, fabric, photos and lettering to match the theme of each block. I also was able to incorporate t-shirts with the CEF camp logo.
It was so much fun creating these three quilts. The quilt in the photo above is mine, but the other two are exactly the same with a few different photos that related to my sisters. Although I will never (I hope, anyway!) try to accomplish so much in only a little over a month! As I was nearing the end and tacking on the binding by hand, I recall falling asleep every few stitches; I was so exhausted! Sew two stitches, sleep two seconds, sew two stitches, sleep two seconds.... I continually had to jerk myself awake to get the stitching completed. But it was worth it! :)
I printed over 200 photos, embroidered over 300 designs (many of the blocks I re-hooped at least 5-6 times to get all the designs in the correct location) and spent over 500 hours planning, stitching and finishing all three quilts.