Fatty's birthday quilt

I have always referred to my friend Brett as the brother I never wanted. From the minute we became friends, he has taken on the role of my big brother. It didn't matter that I neither wanted or needed a big brother. I never even thought we'd be friends. He wasn't someone I wanted to spend a lot of time with. He can be a controlling, over-bearing, self indulgent cad at times. On the other hand, he can also be very caring and generous with his time and money. I met Brett years ago when I was a waitress and he was my manager. My uniform was a HORRIBLE two piece outfit that I despised. The top was basically a bathing suit top with gold lame straps and the bottom was a cheerleading type skirt. We could wear a jacket over the top until 9:00p.m. Needless to say, I tried to keep my jacket on for as long as possible. That is until Brett would find me and scream, "skin to wind, girl, skin to wind". Obnoxious! My friendship with Brett has definitely had its ups and downs but I know without a doubt that I can always count on him.




Brett has a birthday coming up. I have wanted to make him a quilt and when I saw this fabric, I knew I had to include it. Brett is an avid surfer. He has traveled to many countries searching for the perfect waves. Last summer he went to Nicaragua and caught something other than great waves. He caught a virus that almost killed him. This virus was so strong and deadly, it turned a 45 year old strong and healthy man to a weak man that could barely walk without a walker in a matter of days. He spent two weeks at Johns Hopkins Hospital clinging on to his life. He has since recovered and is almost back to normal and I thank God every day for that. He drives me crazy because he knows exactly which one of my buttons to push and takes great delight in pushing EVERY one of them. However, I can't imagine my life without his obnoxious self.

The only other things Brett loves more than surfing is his four beautiful kids. While I'm proud of Brett's many successes in life, the one thing I'm most proud of is what an amazing papa he has become to his kids. He is a hands on dad and very loving, caring and encouraging around his kids. It's a side of him that I had never witness until he had kids.

I kept the design of the quilt very basic. The colors were loud and vibrant in the surfing fabric. I just pulled from that and added basic blocks. While Brett's staring at his babies on this side of the quilt...

others will see this....

My math skills have been lacking lately but if you're born in 1963, that means you turn 50 this year right? Golly gee, I hope so. I'd hate to be wrong. If he wants to take on the role as obnoxious big brother, I can most certainly play the part of a bratty, little sister. Heh! The cake fabric is from another old uniform . It's made of 100% rayon and impossible to work with. I just added interfacing to stabilize it and voila, a three tiered cake was made. Fatty is what he used to call all the waitresses and later, much to his chagrin, it became his nickname.


For the quilt label, I used a picture from when we first met. I don't know why the label looks so crooked in this picture.

I know the repercussions for this will be high. He owns 3 businesses with marquees and I may find people wishing me a happy 50th in September.