My New Favorite Quilt

I appointed myself family historian years ago, before I started quilting.  Once quilting entered the picture, I would occasionally think about making a family tree quilt.  And then I would think about something else.  Time passed.

Then, this winter, I was commissioned to make a family tree quilt for my client's grandmother's 80th birthday.  "Sure," went my mouth when she explained what she wanted.  "You've thought about this before, remember? You have avoided this," went my brain.

Fortunately, there were no leaves on the trees then.  Have you ever really looked at the branch structure of trees?  I hadn't.  It is easy not to notice, but different trees branch differently.  I drew this somewhat stylized version:

Which became this in fabric:

And the finished quilt, with the grandmother's favorite Bible verse as a border. 

Family tree quilt, 50x54

I should have done this for my family a long time ago.  It's my new favorite quilt.