My Boy Quilt

Whilst working on Postie in September 2021, I realised that despite all of the areas that I thought weren’t translating well into a quilt, his hair was the part I really liked.

And I had a member of my family, who had started growing his hair and it was at quite epic proportions, so epic that I wanted to remember it forever!

Queue my boy, my son – Josh.

Josh is not one for fuss, he isn’t on social media and you will never find him taking selfies. In fact even capturing a photograph with Josh in, is a rarity. I had to be super sneaky and pounce on him, just as he’d come back from school and ask for a photo, which he obliged just to get me off his back.

Me: Josh – real quick I just need a head shot..

Josh: What?? Why?? *already being wrangled into a position in front of a plain wall by Mum*

Me: Ok smile!

Josh: Mum, why are you doing this? Whats it for??

Mum: *Mumbling* Its like for your medical records…(??!!)

Josh: Ok, that’s it – you done? You’re done…*walks off up to room*

And so commences the agonising process or converting the image into pixels.

Then messing with the pixels for the next few hours.

Until I get sick of looking at it and I decide I need a break.

Rinse and repeat x 100

I changed his eye so much that I forgot what it originally looked like.

I changed his chin 3,000 times.

I shaded, erased, re-shaded his neck and eventually I left it alone for enough time that I was able to come back and see it with new eyes.

You know those pictures from the early 90’s that you used to have to stare at for like 10 minutes before you are able to see the image inside them? And then once that image pops out, you get it and its like you have unlocked something magical?? That is kinda the process of creating an image for a pixel quilt. Sometimes the images just don’t work – no matter how much you stare at them and then sometimes, pop! there it is and you know its going to work!

The difficult part is that once you have had your ‘pop’ moment and you start to trust it will work, you are unable to see that image the whole time you are working on this quilt and breaking it down into each pixel.

So sometimes, as I have discovered, you will finish the quilt and it still doesn’t have the pop factor.

Until you take a photo.

The final photo of the finished quilt is where you will be able to read it or not.

I had a heart stopping moment with the Billie Quilt, that I took it to the quilter and tried to lay the top out after she had asked ‘what is it??’ and we were stood 2 feet from it and it JUST DIDN’T READ AT ALL.

You could not see what the hell it was and I started trying to convince her it was a person, a singer, look thats her eye??!! And in desperation, I got out my phone and showed her a photo I had snapped of the finish top, from 5 feet up a ladder and POP! there it was, the 90’s image kicked in and it could be read, Praise the Lawd.

So, i’d like to introduce you to my boy – my son Josh. He is a few weeks away from turning 16 now and I wanted to immortalise this time with his epic barnet.

I won’t embarrass him any further by talking about him, but lets just say I am one lucky Mama, he is a great person with a soul of pure gold, whom I not only love dearly, but I really really like him!!!

The Josh quilt is 96″ x 80″ with 2,175 pieces and was quilted by Judy Lowry.

It took around 80 hours to piece the top and 6 hours to hand sew the binding.