The "License Plate Game" Quilt

My husband has been to 49 of the 50 United States. I have been to a good number less, but still a pretty good number. It is one of our hobbies to pour over the Rand McNally, collect travel guides, plan trips and go on trips. In chatting with my good friend Brooke, I know that she and her husband do the same thing. And have done quite a bit of traveling themselves especially as part of Jeff's career. Did I mention that Jeff is a geography professor?

When I found out the pair were expecting I started to think about what sort of quilt I would make them. Someone on flickr posted a quilt they made with this fabric and I immediately knew this was what I HAD TO MAKE! So I called my husband at work and made him buy it for me on Ebay because Ebay scares me.


So here is the quilt. It was one front panel with a border and then I quilted the whole thing by outlining the states, all the states with my sewing machine. Alaska took forever! And I put off the East Coast until the end and then went for coffee and bought myself a mocha as a reward for that. Little curvy lines are not my forte but I am so glad the I powered through because I think it looks terrific.

My hope is that one day when Nora is older, that she and her mom and dad will be able to keep track of all the states Nora has been to by adding buttons to the quilt. I think this is a great idea and I hope that this fabric is still in print when I have kids.


I made this felt garland to go with the quilt, just for a little extra brightness and decoration for Nora's room.