A Quilt for a Dude: Which Direction? & a Giveaway!

My brother moved to LA about 6 months ago to find a job.  He knew one person.  That kind of leap takes guts, right?  He had actually been living with me for several months before he moved to LA and it was a neat time to get to know him better.  He's 4 years younger than me, but we were 5 grades apart in school so I went to college when he was only in junior high.  

His job prospects weren't the greatest and the whole family is naturally worried about him.  I decided a couple months ago to make him a surprise quilt to hopefully cheer him up, remind him of home, and comfort him when he's down.  I don't think he necessarily needs a blanket for warmth in LA :)  It's hot enough in Austin that people give me crazy looks when they see the piles of quilts all over my house, so I need to send them out in the world!  

I didn't think to take good pictures of the quilt because I was just so excited to mail it to my brother as soon as it was finished, so my apologies.  I call the quilt "Which Direction?" because the triangles point east and west on the front and north and south on the back.  My brother is going through a trial in his life where he's struggling to carve his own identity apart from me or our mom and dad and I know that can be confusing, so I think I subconsciously chose this pattern to fit his current circumstances.  

The pattern is based on "Trail Marker" by Ashley Newcomb (Film in the Fridge) for the Jan/Feb 2014 issue of Quilty magazine.  The pattern called for the blocks to be trimmed to 5.5" wide, but since I'm lazy and my ruler was 6" wide, I cut them 6" wide and added more blocks to make it almost queen size.  I pulled fabrics from my stash that seemed manly.  The quilting is curvy, watery type meandering that softens the sharp angles.  I'm so pleased with how it turned out!  I love the dark binding and the backing fabric is Dear Stella that I absolutely adore.  I mailed it last week and he sent me a text as soon as he got it thanking me.  

I'm so proud that I'm able to make nice things for the people that I love.  I'm usually a selfish quilter and make quilts just for me, but every now and then I make a quilt for someone special.  My brother is a great guy and I hope he knows how much I love and believe in him.  We may be thousands of miles apart, but he can remember his family when he needs to wrap up in something warm.  Sorry for all the sentimental stuff in this post, but isn't that what makes quilting awesome??  

I have a lot of neutral low volume larger scraps left over after making this quilt that I've stuffed into a gallon ziplock bag.  Turns out it's over a pound of fabric!  Do you think the scraps should be your next project?  I feel a giveaway coming on...

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US entries only please.  Make sure I can contact you through email.  Entries will be accepted until midnight CST Wednesday, June 25.