Ordination Banner

I'm finally sharing the banner I was asked to design for an ordination candidate from our church.  Wartburg Theological Seminary has a tradition of having the sponsoring congregation present the candidate with a banner for their graduation.  Specifics included a designated verse for the graduating class, and a size limitation.  The candidate's specifics stated his  name should not be on the face, so that he might use it in any setting he should choose.  The church's Worship and Music board chose a quilt as the medium, and contacted me.  Please click on any of the images to enlarge.

I started by Googling images for inspiration.  I landed on a myrtle plant image, that had leaves that were kind of heart shaped, and three per whorl.  EQ7 and I went to work with that.  This probably would have gone smoother and quicker had I not been teaching myself as I went along. 

Here's my draft.  Pieced background, appliques on layer 2.

The design wall was a huge help when it came time to assemble the background.

Spot check with templates.  I used the wash-away applique sheets designed by Beth Ferrier.  For the smaller lettering, I blanket-stitched the edges (and it seemed like there were miles of them), and the larger pieces were edge stitched with my beloved #5 foot on my Bernina. 

Teaching myself about printing out applique templates in large format took a little bit of research.  The answer is to change the print setup to PDF file, choosing a paper width that is closest to what your print shop has available.  My local shop had 36 inches as its' nearest available width.  Un-tick the sample block and titles, as that will save you a page, sometimes.  I ended up saving as 24 x 36, to a thumb drive.  When I went to the shop, I asked for it to be reversed.  Too bad I didn't remember that when I went to trace it on the Pattern Ease backing material! The hand ended up reversed from where I wanted to be.  I tried to make it work, but I knew it would end up bugging me endlessly.  "Recalculating..."

A friend whose family was greatly touched by our candidate's faith journey hand quilted and bound the banner.  Here's a photo of it in our sanctuary.  The light washed out the smaller lettering, so she took it home, and edged it in embroidery, and did some more embroidery on the leaves.  Unfortunately, I had to work the weekend it was dedicated to him, and I didn't get a final photo.  Even as is, the most important part of the message is loud and emphatically clear:  DO LOVE!