Making A Steelers Quilt

A Steelers Quilt
This was my husbands Christmas gift back in 2012.  Each year when the kids were young, we'd go out to Steelers Traning Camp, camping at nearby Keystone State Park.  We have albums full of photos of the kids with the players, and half a wall of autographed items.  In the early 2000s, the players signed everything after they came off the field - especially for young kids holding footballs!  


There was no plan for this, no pattern, no instructions - I simply printed photos from our trips out to training camp on Avery Iron On Photo Paper.  (Always use the paper for darks, even on white fabric - it makes a more vibrant transfer) Then I ironed the transfers onto white blocks, sewing them on top of the other blocks of fabric, and bordering it all with Steelers print fabric.  I used a thin old blanket as the "batting" in the center, and machine quilted around the photos and around the edges of each piece of fabric.

We were right after  Ben signed as a Steeler.  Remember, he was pretty much unknown then, so when he walked out of the trailer after giving a press conference, he wasn't even in a jersey - just a red and white striped button down shirt.  There were not many people around, most were down closer to the field.  Ben signed his autograph for each of our kids, on footballs, a sign, a terrible towel...  

My favorite though, was Troy Palomalu.  Our daughter was 7 at the time, in a training camp t-shirt that fit her like a dress, waiting by the ropes for an autograph.  Some teenager boys shoved her out out of the way, trying to get to Troy.  He stopped, signed for Meg, posed for a photo with her, and walked on without signing for those boys.  :-)

This blanket was used hard, but finally, after many washes, simply wore out.  Dan has been asking me to make him a new one, and it might be a project for later this year.  

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