Friday, April 17, 2009

Quilt Festival: Flower Basket Button Quilt

This afternoon while I was reading some of the blogs in my reader, I found this post about a Quilt Festival online through Handmade by Alissa's Blog. This wonderful event is being hosted by Park City Girl and My. Oh. My. What a wonderful collection of all kinds of quilts are posted there. What is even more wonderful are the stories about the quilts and why each one is special. Trust me, you won't want to miss this event, grab a cup of coffee, and plan to sit a spell, you will be glad you did.

I decided this would be a great opportunity for me to show off one of my favorite quilts....It was hard to choose, because all of my quilts are my favorites...but this one is very unique and it is special to my heart. Hope you enjoy! (Click on any photo to enlarge to see detail)

My children went to Catholic School through 8th grade. It was a small inter city school with around 230 children, give or take a few. The school principal Mrs. Zinno was a very talented Quilter. In fact, some of you may remember me showing you the quilted Christmas ornaments she made. If you would like to take a look back at those, click HERE.

Anyway, Mrs. Zinno came up with a wonderful plan for earning funds for the school by making a quilt each year and having the children participating in the making or design, then having a school wide raffle in the spring. She did this for four years we were at that school. I am happy to say, I won two of the four quilts. Unbelievable I know. I won the first one she ever made and the third one. This one is the third one. I had never been more excited in my life when I won this one, the donation of $40.00 has brought more joy than you can even imagine each time I look at this treasure.

This is a flower basket design, I think. All the pieces were cut out by the principal and sent home to different moms in the school to sew or stitch them together. Brave of her...right? Once that was complete, the squares were sent back to the school. Once they were all collected and returned, it was time for the children to have their hand in the quilt design.

Every student and staff member in the school got to pick a button from the button stash that was contributed by church and families of the school. And let me say this, I did get to take a look at the large box of buttons and I was just amazed at the different ones. Some antique, some vintage, some new, some cute and comical, some rather unique....it was such a wonderful meddling of all types of buttons, just like the people who made up the school community.


Each child got to choose their button, which would be the flowers on the quilt. Then the buttons were placed on a cardboard log with each child's name. I am sure this was not an easy task because the school had PK3-8th grade students. And if any of these kids were like myself...well, I would have had a hard time choosing just one!

Each button was added to the flower boxes as the flowers, then labeled with the child's name and grade, and then the flower stems were embroidered. So cute!

Many different colors were used in the quilt. My favorite happens to be the green and red plaid used as the filler fabric. This was the colors of the girls plaid jumpers. It just adds a nice touch to the quilt as well as fond memories, for me of those cute little plaid jumpers that were worn with little red sweaters. This square, has my daughter Alisha's button, she was in the 3rd grade when this was completed.

Here is a more masculine quilt square that happens to have my son, Jeff's button. Jeff was in the 8th grade that year, his last year at the school. Luckily, the boys did not have to wear any plaid, just blue pants and a white shirt....nothing cute!

It is amazing how each one is different and shows the uniqueness of each and everyone at the school. I love how this turned out. I like looking at the buttons and thinking about each of the children that went to school with my daughter and son. I can usually imagine why the child chose the button they did for this project. They really do reflect the likeliness of each child.

The size of the quilt is a King size, and I had forgotten it came with two matching pillow shams. I love how it fits on my bed, but I don't use it. It does have a hanger sewn in the back for hanging on a wall, I think this was used to display it at the school. I keep it safe in my quilt display box. I don't want to lose any of the delightful buttons. I am so thankful for the brilliant idea Mrs. Zinno had to raise funds for the school and share her talent with the community. Likewise, I am so thankful lady luck was smiling down on me and I was able to win not one but two delightful quilts.

I hope you enjoyed looking at one of my favorite quilts. It holds lots of memories for me and my family. I will pass this quilt on to my daughter one day....far away....one day!

Remember...."Friends are like flowers in the garden of life" just as this quilt clearly points out!

Now, be sure to hop on over to Park City Girl's blog, and enjoy all the wonderful display of quilts participating in the festival. Thanks Park City Girl for hosting this...I am so glad I found it!!

46 comments:

  1. This is a really great post - and one heck of a good fundraising idea! Lovely quilts - buttons are a nice addition!

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  2. That is a great treasure. Quilts can tell such wonderful stories. Sally

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  3. I gotta tell you Suzanne, this is the cutest quilt I have seen in a long time and what a story. Great Treasures. :) Thanks for sharing. Jeanne

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  4. That quilt is beautiful!!! such a treasure

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  5. What a beautiful treasure you have. Your quilt with the buttons has so many memories. It's just lovely ♥

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  6. What a wonderful treasure you have, and boy does it look good on your bed. I love quilts. And a beautiful story to go with the quilt.
    Molly

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  7. Wonderful post, great story and an incredible one of a kind quilt. Awesome!!!

    Roberta Anne

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  8. Cute as a button! That's an excellent way for a school to raise extra money. And super lucky you to have won not one, but two of these quilts.

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  9. It's easy to see why that beautiful quilt is a favorite.

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  10. Oh my, what an awesome quilt! And lucky you to have one not just one but two quilts by someone so talented. It's a terrific idea and so well done. Thanks for sharing the pics and the story.

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  11. You are Ms. Lucky, rarely do kids school quilts turn out so cute.

    Come see my quilt. #216 on the list
    And if you like antique quilts, see my 2nd blog
    http://utahquiltappraiser.blogspot.com

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  12. GM Suzanne, this has got to be the most beautiful quitl I have ever seen..just look at all the workmanship that went into that quilt..Thanks so much for sharing this...may you have a great weekend...hugs and smiles Gl♥ria

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  13. That is a very special quilt, and a great way to raise funds. I love the plaid!

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  14. What a very sweet story about the quilt. And you were very lucky to win TWO. I know it is a treasure for you and your family.

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  15. What a great quilt! An amazing story! A fabulous principal! I could relate to your story because I spent 12 years in a Catholic school, but we never had wonderful raffles. This is a quilt to treasure.

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  16. That is just an amazing quilt and story! I love how you were able to get everyone involved!

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  17. Very sweet quilt...fun to be here on a Sunday :)

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  18. Suzanne,
    I love all the quilt flower buttons- what a treasure piece of memories for you all.
    MY grandmother made a bed quilt with the ladies of the community group- each one of the ladies embroidered a piece of muslin block and then traded them around. I love the quilt- I remember many of the ladies coming to my grandparent's house.. those memories are priceless like your children's flowers.
    What a lovely quilt and story...
    Regards,
    Anna

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  19. What a wonderful quilt! And a wonderful way to raise money. It is just beautiful. How does anyone put a price on something like that? Great idea to raffle it off.

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  20. Oh now how can you not adore this one! It is just way too wonderful.
    I guess no one will try to sneak a quick nap on top of this one cause the button dents on their face would be a dead give away :-)
    LOVE IT!

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  21. A great story! And a cool quilt! Thank you for your lovely comments on my blog -- I appreciate them so much!

    Diane

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  22. What a great quilt to have! The memories from this quilt must be as beautiful as the quilt. Love how it was made and that the children chose the button they wanted on their square. What a great idea. laurie

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  23. Suzanne,
    This quilt has such beauty with all that it means to you and the ones that put so much work into it. A treasure to keep forever.
    Bonnie

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  24. What a great story. I love the way the buttons are used.

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  25. What a great quilt! I love quilts that have a special meaning and that you get to enjoy it on a regular basis. I am sure this will become a family heirloom.

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  26. What an amazing quilt! So much love and care went into it, I can tell!

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  27. What an amazing quilt! I love all the precious details and memories all tied up in it. A true treasure! Thank you so much for sharing it with us :)

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  28. What a wonderful and beautiful keepsake!! How lucky to have won two of them. :)

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  29. What a great story... I love how each button (flower) represents one of the children. What a beautiful quilt full of so much meaning!

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  30. Suzanne.. this was well worth the 5min to sit and view. with limited time I am trying to see everyone's quilt one or 2 a day (yes it is very hard to stop) but your story and the quilt itself is very precious. What talented people live in your community...you do have angels watching over you.

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  31. This is soo amazing! How very beautiful ~lucky you!

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  32. What a lovely quilt! Thanks for sharing its story. :)

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  33. Nothing tells a story like a handmade quilt!! Lovely post my dear!!

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  34. What a treasure. I love the idea of the buttons, so unique. Thank you for commenting on my blog (Quiltmaker's Gift) I'm starting to lose track of all the quilts I've looked at and there are 300 to go! I have to e-mail you a picture of my granddogs Frank and Sammy. They are male versions of Sophie and Dora!

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  35. wow, I have trouble even imagining how much work that was! great quilt!

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  36. What a treasure and wonderful keepsake.
    Teresa

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  37. What a wonderful quilt and memory!

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  38. As you know, quilts are my passion. There are so many, it may take me days to look at them all. Of the ones I have looked at, I have my favorites. I started at the bottom of the list, but did not get past 388.

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  39. Awesome quilts! I love the buttons on the flowers! :)

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  40. WOW!! I love this quilt. What a great story. Love it.

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  41. What a sweet quilt! I'm so glad it went to someone who truly appreciates it. :)

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Sometimes someone says something really small, and it's like it fits into this empty space in your heart!

Thank you for stopping by and leaving your thoughts here, they really mean a lot to me!

Suzanne

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