One of the great aspects of being a grown-up is watching children you know blossom. Such has been the case for our family watching the eldest of the boys next door grow up over the past nine years. His family moved next door in 2001 and we’ve watched him find his way through middle school and high school.
We wrote letters of recommendation for him to participate in the wonderful People to People program and lent him our favorite travel gear as he traveled the world with People to People. We watched with excitement as he became the first in his family to apply to colleges and cheered him on when he got scholarships to go. He sat with us at our kitchen table to discuss his college options and his interest in foreign affairs. We could not let him leave for college without a quilt from us to go on his dorm room bed. On the label we wrote: “We’re cheering you on from Carpenter Avenue!” We gave it to him last spring when he graduated from high school and got all teary to see the pride and gratitude in his parents’ eyes.
I’m guessing that you too have some great teenager in your life that you’d like to cheer on as the graduation season approaches, so here’s a PDF of the pattern we made for our inspiring boy next door.
craftnectar.com 
I LOVE this as I’m on quilt #3 for boys and I have two more to go. They have been together since pre-school and will all graduate together in June. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get the pix to open up into a PDF and my cursor just wanted to print the picture. Can you help me?
Thanx!!!
How sweet and wonderful. Thank you for the pattern. GD#1 will be heading to college this fall.
I wasn’t able to get the .pdf to open. (As always, I love your pattern.)
What a wonderful story. And great for him that he had two such thoughtful and caring neighbors, both in the college advice department and in the dorm room decor department!
Go Huskies!
Did some guessing and PDF is located at https://craftnectar.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/graduation-quilt-pattern.pdf
Thanks for the pattern!
The link to the PDF is fixed. Sorry for the glitch, Weeks
What a fantastic quilt. It reminds me of outdoorsy, camping tent greens and boy scout plaids with all the sophistication of becoming quite grown-up.
When I went off to college, my godmother sent me a puffy flannel quilt for my dorm room. It was so nice to have something beautiful and comforting while away from home. I count this quilt as one of my treasures.
WOW that is the perfect quilt for a college age boy. I’m sure he loves it.
Weeks, how very giving you and Bill are to share this pattern with all of us. As usual, it is detailed, beautiful, and honors your goal of “the big picture”. Thanks!
Wow, that’s fabulous! What a fantastic gift. Thanks so much for this, I’ll be linking.
I’ve been looking for a masculine quilt pattern – this is perfect. Thanks so much!!!
Wow! I got goosebumps reading this story. He sounds like a great person and he’s lucky to have you in his life.
thank you from Austria! the quilt looks fantastic!
Huskies? U of Washington Huskies? Or is there another Husky team closer to Chicago?
Hi.. I found your blog today and *love* it… so much great stuff. I would love to be able to get your updates through Google reader… and prefer not to get a lot of emails. Any chance you will offer that soon? Regards, Peggy
Who is one person who has been influential in your life, for better or worse?