What to give a grad

So there's Paul, new graduate from Knox College, and the boy who seldom asks for anything. What do you give a fella who had such a stellar college career? Well, Kendall and I settled on a droid seeing as how math & science dudes seem to like their gadgets. And I've got to admit, it was pretty fun to have the magic box along during the road trip to/from Galesburg/Petoskey and back home to Boulder.

But, being a mom, I really wanted to give him something from the heart. I had given this plenty of thought over the past year and had decided on a quilt. And not just any quilt, but a quilt made from t-shirts we collected during the run, one from each state plus an extra for Boulder, Petoskey, and Wisconsin (which took an awfully long time to run through). Problem was, I barely know how to sew, and am clueless about quilting. So! Sister-in-law Kitty to the rescue.


I showed her the design I had in mind:
t-shirts laid out roughly in the shape of the route, the bandanna I carried with me every step of the way laid out as Lake Michigan, and two digital pictures on cloth, one of me and Paul when I first saw the Michigan state line, and the other of the route map with markers for each days' end point. Kitty put that all together and added many more great touches...footprints stitched in, great lay out of the t-shirts, highlight stitching on the map... Absolutely fabulous.




Absolutely a gift from the heart for the fella who gave me his heart, soul, and energy throughout The Run.











Pictures:
top - Paul taking pictures with his droid at his Boulder graduation party.
middle - me and Kitty watching Paul opening his quilt.
bottom left - showing the quilt at the graduation party.
bottom right - the quilt about to be laid on Paul's bed.