The idea for this project started about a couple of years ago, when a friend of mine asked if I’d consider making a “thank you for all you do” sort of thing for Stephen Amell. Mr. Amell, I’d come to understand does a lot of work with an assortment of charities, one of which hits a bit close to home for me. While the idea had merit, I just didn’t have time, when this was initially brought up, to work on something on the scale I was asked to look at.

However, the idea stayed in the back of my head. I liked the idea, but I wasn’t sure how I was going to get ahold of the images I’d need/want, if I’d get permission from the designer of the images, and how I’d get the finished project to Mr. Amell. Enter in my friends that brought up the original idea. After some serious discussions and a fair bit of waiting while they got all of their ducks in a row, things started to take shape.

Mr. Amell would be in Chicago at the end of March 2017, for a fan convention. This became my deadline. When the initial images started rolling in, I started collecting the fabrics I wanted to work with. The first, and background, is a hat tip to Mr. Amell’s tv show “Arrow”.

White on white printed arrows go left and right

It was too perfect not to be used. Next up was getting started on the first of five logos I’d be using. Because of the nature of the logo, I knew there were going to be a lot of “fiddly” cuts and pieces. It got to be interesting to keep track of where all of them went. Especially when the snippets would accidently fall on the floor. trust  me when I say that carpeting isn’t always your friend. Heh.With the above image, I need to put a “spacer” in, so I could get the rest of the design outline in place. I debated about keeping it there, because I like the attention it drew to that section, but eventually decided to remove it. This was moving along fairly quickly. I still hadn’t gotten to the rest of the design or the shading. As I’d learned from previous art quilts, the shading is where I’ll either make or break a design. I was not happy with this bit. I sent the image to a beta viewer, asking if I’d over-blended the dark gray with the black. I quickly followed with this next image, to show the second option. Feedback came back with to use Option 2. *nods* I can do that. As I worked on getting some of the dark gray into place, I continued work with the black fiddly pieces. By the time I was ready to call it quits for the day, I was at a pretty good stopping place. As you can see by the below photo, I hadn’t finished cutting out all of the black fabric’s piecs yet.

This is about 8 hours worth of work.

I did finish this logo. It turned out better than I planned for. (I’ll add this photo when I can finally upload it to this website. Currently, the website won’t let me upload photos from my cell phone.)

I began work on the the double logos for the second year. One logo was considered “family friendly”. You’ll be able to spot the difference between it and the non-family friendly one. The next series of photos are some of the in-process work.Getting the the center design, roughly, into place.

The final version

The next logo was very similar. I’d learned a few things from doing the second logo and hoped this one would be assembled quicker.This is what my piece looked like, fabric side, prior to my cutting out the detail work.

The final version – prior to pulling the pins

If you’ve been paying attention, you’ll see that the baseball hat has the first logo on it. To be blunt, I can’t (at current time) make that. The fabric would barely be threads held together by a wing and a prayer. This is where playing with printable fabric comes into play. I reprinted that page of my base pattern for each logo, respectively. The “patch” on the baseball is my version of a custom fabric patch. It works and I like it. 😉

On to the fourth logo. I’d have to do a different style of the raw-edge applique than I’d been doing. I was curious to see how it would turn out, let alone how much time difference it would be in the assembly.This as a little tougher than I’d imagined, but still workable. I wasn’t used to the idea of cutting out the design from the background fabric and then putting the color or shading in behind the cut-outs. This would set me up for the last logo. In the meantime, I still needed to finish this one.

The final version – prior to pulling pins

I’d been looking forward to this last logo. Not just because it was the last one, but because I really like the simplicity of the design.The only time this block actually went on my design wall was when I put the finish block up to take the photo. It was about four hours, from start to finish, to make.

The finished version

Next up would be the borders that I’d been half-planning on doing. I needed to make the words. Thankfully, one of my clients for this quilt, was able to get the font for me. (THANK YOU!!) I’d been sending my clients many of the in-process photos, so they could see how this was going, and keep me on track for my completion deadline. Not quite exactly what I wanted, but I could make it work.

If you look, you’ll see still more arrows printed on the fabric. I was pleased with how much arrow printed fabric was availble. This really make working on this quilt a bit more fun.Once I had the blocks all quilted, I began assembling the finished quilt. Because I quilted as I went, so to speak, it would just be a matter of assembling the blocks, figuring out the border treatments, and then the binding.

Not knowing how Mr. Amell was going to be able to transport or store the quilt, I made a carrying case/pillow case for it. Again with the arrow theme. 

The finished quilt And none too soon. I would be delivering the quilt the next day. Mr. Amell was doing an appearance at a local fan convention, and making sure he got it was one of my tasks. You could say I’d succeeded. Mr. Amell is now the owner of this quilt. (Nevermind that I look like a dork. He and I were talking while this photo was being taken.)

Thank you, Mr. Amell.