GFG REMIX Tour...aka Girly Gamer Quilt...aka Top Secret Quilt

WELCOME to my stop on the GFG Remix Tour!!!  I am so happy you are here :)
The AMAZING Emily Herrick, over at Crazy Old Ladies Quilts has really done it this time with her new book Geared For Guys!  The patterns just plain ROCK!!!  I am SO happy to be a part of her GFG Remix Tour showcasing the quilts from Geared For Guys made with a twist ;D

When I first saw her book, I knew that I HAD to make the Gamer quilt for one of my many gamer/vidiot family members. "Vidiot," as defined by my mother-in-law, who coined the phrase nearly 30 years ago, is a poor soul who has become transfixed with video games, thus becoming for all intents and purposes, an idiot ;D

Since Emily wanted a bit of a twist on her original colorway, I decided on my 20 year old daughter who is a MAJOR gamer :)   One problem, she HATES pink, so I went with purple for the back ground and citrus colors for the letters, per my daughters directive.  Her exact words, "How about a purple background with citrus colored letters."  I said, "Citrus?"  She said, "YES!  You know, yellow, orange and green! DUGH!!!"
Emily's instructions in the book were very clear and easy to follow.  I made two mistakes :(  One was TOTALLY my fault and the other one was too :(  I cut one of the back ground pieces a 1/4" too small because I can't read!  The other mistake was easily fixed and I made a note in the book so I wont make it again :D  I tend to be a repeat offender when it comes to messing things up ;D

I am a highly visual person, so added directions and notes are often required for me.  Arrows are especially helpful ;)  (I erred when I cut my G, E and R pieces only to the mid line :p)

I also like my piles and post-it's.

Here are my letter fabrics cut and labeled.

This is my pile of back ground fabric all cut out and in a heap :)

The applique was very simple.  Just be sure that if your fabric is directional, you take that into account when you are placing your wonder under/heat-n-bond/Steam A Seam, etc.  I kept the book right by me for directional reference.

Here is my top section all sewn together :)

If you look closely in the middle section, you can see where I had to add fabric to my erroneous 4-1/2" section to make it the CORRECT 4-3/4" :p

Here is the bottom section sewn up :)

Isn't this orange floral CUTE??? ...Anna doesn't mind flowers... just pink ;)

Next you add the center section to the bottom of the top section and start adding the applique pieces.

I did it a little different than in the instructions

...at least in my mixed up brain ;)  

I added only part of the applique before I added the bottom section.

In this picture, the bottom section is sewed on, but I added only these applique pieces before I sewed it on.  To align the bottom chunk of the "G", I used a long ruler to line up the sides with the top panel's long green line. To sew the bottom panel onto the middle applique section, I used the bottom chunk of the "g" to align the green stripe in the bottom panel.  I used the yellow "R" applique and the 1/2" space needed to the right of it, to align the yellow stripe in the bottom panel.  I didn't add the "M" or the rest of the "R" until after I sewed on the bottom panel so I could make sure they aligned with the bottom panel stripes, like so...

Ta da!

Once it was all sewn up, I used a zig zag to affix the appliques.

The top is small enough that I didn't have a problem with the bulk of the top getting in the way as I appliqued.

Here are my goofy quilt top models.

Yes, one of my boys is in a swim suit...

...and the other is in his pj's...

I think my boys may have the fashion sense of a rock!

A Quilt Ghost anyone?

Maybe it's my Quilting Ancestors trying to talk to me? :)

For the back, I am using a design copied from MineCraft.   It's a creeper and will work nicely with minky and the "Gamer" theme :)  Here is the design rendered by my son.

The Creeper is the green one on the left.

This is a MineCraft Creeper

So now for the back with the Creeper on it :)  I used three scrap pieces of minky that I had squirreled away :)

I did a simple applique.  It's a bit wonky and I can live with it :)  The dotted green minky is pretty perfect for a creeper :)

For the quilting I did an all over fmq that I like to call "Pixelated."  To me it looks like an 8 bit video game.  Perfect for this Gamer quilt!

For the binding, I went scrappy with the left over letter fabric.

Here is the back all quilted and bound.

Quilted Creeper

Pixelated FMQ

I like to quilt the name of the recipient on the quilt.

...and the year.

Are you ready for the full view of the quilt?

Give me a "G"

Give me an "A"

Give me an "M"

Give me an "E"

Give me an "R"

What does that spell???

Ta Da!!!!

Happy sewing and don't forget to hit the ALL of the blogs on the GFG Remix Tour!

Sept 4: Ericka - High Voltage

Sept 5:  Lisa - Helix

Sept 6: April M.- Oddball

Sept 7: Vickie - Caution

Sept 8: Sinta - Ivy League

Sept 9: ME!!!- Gamer

Sept 10: Sherri - Urban Decay

Sept 11: April R. - Switchback

Sept 12: Tricia - Caution

Sept 13: Shannon - Urban Decay

Sept 14: Shari - Ivy League

Sept 15: Michael - Helix

Sept 16: back to Crazy Old Ladies for the giveaway!