Memory Quilt for Grandpa Wilbur

In sorting through my digital files (a sisyphean task if ever there was one) I found this folder of pictures I never blogged about, and it seemed like as good a time as any.

You may recollect that last year my Grandpa Wilbur turned 90, and I made him a small wall hanging.  Well for his 80th birthday (and the 80th birthday of my other grandpa) my mom, sister, and I made him a memory quilt.  We were all fairly beginner quilters then, so made some decisions we wouldn't make again, but it was a wonderful project and I think a meaningful one.  It's still hanging in his house.  Unfortunately, one of the beginner mistakes we made was not taking any pictures when the quilt was first made, so all I have are these pictures taken just a couple of years ago while the quilt was hanging in his somewhat dark hallway.  And of course as soon as you look at them you realize that we didn't put enough quilting over the photographs so they're sort of saggy.  You can get the idea anyway though.

In addition to the photos, we made a bunch of paper pieced and appliqued blocks representing things that my grandfather loved and spent time on, and interspersed them throughout the quilt.

These duck condos along the bottom are one of my favorite things.  Many years ago my grandparents owned a lovely place with ponds and grass where you could fish-by-the-inch.  It was the kind of place you took your kids so they could catch a fish or ride pedal boats.  There were hundreds of ducks that lived on the ponds and my grandpa built them a floating island with these small doghouse size buildings on them.  They really were painted pink with polka dots and had duck condos written on them.  The ducks loved them and always built nests and stuff inside.  So crazy.

 He always loved flying and making kites, thus the kite paper pieced block, and here you can see him flying a kite with my little sister when she was small.  He always used an electric drill to wind and unwind the kite string.

Tennis and fishing were his two other big hobbies, and he played until sometime in his early 80s.

Here he is with my Grandma for their engagement picture, unfortunately I can't find this picture or the digital copy anymore.  It's too bad because this year they are celebrating their 70th wedding anniversary!!  Happy anniversary Grandma and Grandpa!!

This one is lots of pictures with the grandkids, that bottom left one is a special picture with my great-grandpa as well!

It was a fun trip down memory lane to look through all these again.  Love you Grandpa!