Pete and Katie

Readers may remember the project my nephew Andy asked me to make for him to give to his girlfriend Kaylie, called Love by the Moon.  Well, another beloved nephew, Peter, made the same request, for a wall hanging for him to give to his girlfriend for Christmas.

What an honor and a pleasure!  Pete had a quotation he wanted to include, and the rest was up to me.

Just like little girls and boys
Playing with their little toys.
Seems like all we really were doing
Was waiting for love.
                                from "Real Love" by the Beatles

It was the "little girls and boys" that gave me my direction...

This measures 15" X 20", and is mounted over foam core.

Here is the back:

It is just whip stitched to the front along the edge of the foam core, with all the edges tucked in nice and neatly.

I used flowers from my friends at M and S Schmalberg, and some appliques from Tinsel Trading, treasure from my recent trip to New York.  The trim is from an Indian merchant on Ebay...

They look pretty happy, don't they?
She was very pleased with her gift, Pete says....and his Aunt Allie was thrilled to be a small accomplice in support of this real love.....

Live by the Sun, Love by the Moon...Epilogue

Andy has returned from visiting his girl Caylie back East. He presented her with his gift, the wall hanging he commissioned from me, and I do believe it had the desired effect. :-)

There is no better medium for conveying love than quilts...this we know!!!!

I received this remarkable letter and picture this morning, and am so happy to share it with you who have followed this tender tale.....

Aunt Allie,

It’s nice to meet the creator of my amazing Christmas present! My name is Caylie and I am your nephew Andy’s girl, as well as the recipient of your beautiful artwork. I’ve had the gift for a few days now and I still smile every time I look at it hanging on my wall. It has definitely been the most thoughtful and special gift I have ever received. Andy is, by far, the most thoughtful, sweet, and genuine person I have ever met. You are very lucky to have him as a part of your family. I only wish I had met him sooner. His ideas for this were perfect. He knew how much I love watching the moonsets over the ocean with him. And he even incorporated one of my favorite quotes “Live by the sun..love by the moon” into it. Perfect, perfect, perfect! Between his perfect ideas for the art and your creative hands, it’s the greatest gift ever....

And the fact that you blogged about making my gift made the story behind the art so much cooler! You had so many people excited about the progress on your work and so many others excited for Andy and I. And Andy definitely scored “major points” with this gift! I don’t think he will be able to top this one!

I noticed that there were many followers to your blogs that were eager to hear what I thought of it too. So if you want, feel free to post my letter and picture on your website.

I hope someday when I’m out on the west coast we can meet and I can thank you in person!

Thank you so much Aunt Allie!!

Caylie

Caylie my dear, you are most welcome!
May you and Andy watch many, many more moonsets together....
Love,
Aunt Allie

Love by the Moon...Finished!

There wasn't much more to do, really....I zigzagged the seams between the fused Hanna ribbons in the border, sewed down the moon as well...added some teeny tiny beads to the stars to fill them in just a little...put a serif of sorts on the "L"s.....and added a sun. Though it is pretty low key and not the main focus, it did need to be there.
I stretched it over foam core and put a nice finished back on it. I wrote an article on how to do this for CQMagOnline a few years ago...you can find that here.

So here we have it....

I hope Andy and his girl both like it...and that they enjoy plenty more love by the moon....;-)

Thanks for your encouragement and suggestions, too! Landscape quilts are so fun....

Love by the Moon...Day 4

Thanks for your very kind comments regarding this little piece! It's been a lot of fun to work on...

One of my quilt buddies actually called me long distance this morning to tell me how much she liked it....and that she hoped I wasn't going to put flowers all over it!
I thought that was so funny....

....but I am trying to figure out how to emphasize the "Live by the Sun" part of the equation...and had thought some growing things (yes, flowers) in the yellow border could do that. I'll just have to see.

Meanwhile, I got the lettering on. It will probably be jazzed up a little but for the most part it is done, using a beaded backstitch.

And I do want to add some more stars....

Love by the Moon...Day 3

The borders are on, and until they are filled in with their writing and other stitching, they look kind of strange.
Often, we must proceed on faith at this stage of the game....

The size is now 13'' X 16''.

Next comes the writing, done in beads along the wide borders. It is howling and freezing outside, so it is a good day to spend beading....

Love by the Moon...Day 2

I'm so glad you will join me for this project as it goes along this week!

Andy is also the funniest kid in the family. A typical Andy move...
For his graduation from h.s., each graduate was to choose a short quotation or dedication for the school principal to read aloud as the graduate walked solo down the aisle to get the diploma. Nice idea, isn't it?
Have you ever tried to say "Toy boat, toy boat, toy boat, toy boat..." twenty times in a row, really fast? Try it.
That's what Andy had his principal read as he danced down the aisle....

I got the basic beach scene laid out and sewn down yesterday, after studying many pages of ''moonlit beach'' on Google Images....

This is about 8'' X 11''.

But then I just had to go shopping for beads and ribbons for the borders and writing. I mean, this has to be just right!
The Button Emporium in Portland is my favorite store and I just love Marvis, who owns it with her husband. They have the best selection of Hanna silk ribbons around, also wired edge ribbon, which is getting hard to find in good colors. I got some fancy silver seed beads from Dava Bead and Trade on my way into downtown. A most pleasant excursion it was.

Now I am set up for Day 3's work. I do have to get the sunshine in there too....so that's the challenge, to evoke both the sun and the moon in this small space here.

I'm really going to try not to put any flowers in this but there are no guarantees....

"Love by the Moon"...Day 1

My nephew Andy is a force of nature. How many stories I could tell you about him! From his childhood he was a complete heller who broke more stuff and went to the E.R. the most of any of the kids...he pushed my buttons like a Master, causing me to scream dire threats at him, which he thought was funny (he did say, "Aunt Allie is the worst cousin ever.") He almost died as a young teen from an allergic reaction to a vaccine that resulted in his having to endure a bone marrow transplant. Yes, we almost lost him...
He blew off high school but managed to graduate anyway due to a clerical error in his favor.
Andy... So much untamed energy.
But so much heart.
Sometime along the way he made up his mind to become a fireman. So he channeled that incredible will of his and:
--went to his local Community College, got his EMT, and then went through the Fire Academy
--drove ambulance in South Central LA to pay for school and gain experience. He told his mom once, "Yeah, it was a brains in the hands week-end...."
--graduated from a Paramedic program last spring gaining the top class honor of "Best in the Field" (meaning, if you have a heart attack, you want Andy as your first responder).
--Laughed at the impossible job market and got hired by his local fire department, straight out of school.
His first day on the job he saved a baby's life. That's Andy.

This picture was taken the day he graduated from Paramedic school. He's 22.

So he called me yesterday.
He's in love.
He is commissioning me to make the Christmas present he wants to give to his new girlfriend. "I want to score major points with this one," he told me.
She has a saying she loves, "Live by the sun, Love by the moon"...and I guess they've enjoyed some special moonlit nights on the beach. So that's what my commission piece is about: the beach at night, with those words on it.
"I trust you, Aunt Allie, do whatever you want...."

Luckily for both of us, I have a window of free time over the next week, so today is Day 1 on "Love by the Moon".

This is where I am at the very beginning.
I'll be posting my progress at the end of each day, so stop by if you like....

Next week-end I will be delivering it to Andy in person in San Diego. Maybe I won't be the worst cousin ever anymore!