Jono got his PhD and a Quilt.

It is graduation season. A time of transition. There is pomp and there is circumstance.

People wear funny hats.

One of the hazards of living in a college town is that every year there are major population transfers. As  the partner of a graduate student, most of our mutual friends are grad students and they don't move around quite as much as the undergrads, but there is still upheaval.



Jono defended his dissertation this spring and he is moving to Arkansas to take a job at Hendrix college. Derek and I decided to celebrate this excitement and send him off to his new adventure with a quilt... Maybe graduation quilts are going to be my new thing?

The design was inspired by the "Tunnel Vision" quilt in Quilting Modern. Mostly I just wanted to play with some scraps and choose a design that would not take a ton of time. Girl had a schedule to keep.

I just pulled a bunch of blue scraps and went to town. No thinking, no rules. I tried to incorporate some symbolism for the new doctor (of philosophy). Jono studies Native Americans, so naturally I used these terribly politically incorrect little children. Derek speaks German so we had to add this grammatically incorrect German statement with the indian children (thanks Japanese fabric designers).

The new graduate has spent a great deal of time worrying about how he will dress as a professor, hence the tie and pipe fabrics (also Japanese, of course). He is also obsessed with Bob Seager, so that stache was essential.

The back is straight up scraps. Except for that Heather Ross guitars, the graduate loves Phish.  I also could not resist adding a tiny blue bear I had sitting around. I quilted it with light gray Aurifil thread in a spiral from the center.

Picture of me cuddled in quilt, because I do not have enough photos of myself. Note to self, celebrate yourself!

I added a camper van to the label as another Phish tribute. I am happy to report that the graduate is thrilled with his quilt. He keeps talking about hanging it on his wall. How do I convince him I make my quilts to be used? Do you all have this problem with gifted quilts? 

Quilt Stats:
Size: 63"x 63" (I told Jono I made this throw extra large because he is a big guy and now he calls it is XXL quilt)
Fabrics: Kona Coal, Kona Snow, Heather Ross, Essex Yarn dyed linen in black, the prints and all of the other solids are from my stash.
Binding: Kona Coal with one blue strip.
Pattern: Inspired by Tunnel Vision from Quilting Modern
Finished May 22, 2013

PS - That bear is total graffiti up the street from my house. Did I mention I live in a multi-use, transitional neighborhood? This bear is pretty much awesome. Most of the graffiti.... sort of sucks.