A very popular Pinterest project is a family Birthday Board. Very cute and practical too!
Just like the example shown, the boards usually have the word “Birthdays” or “Family Birthdays” painted somewhat largely on the board. Then “JFMAMJJASOND” which are the initials of all the months of the year, towards the bottom. The idea is that you have a bunch of wooden circles. Each circle has one family member’s name and date of birth.  So if your birthday is April 14th, you would have your name and the number 14 on a circle. Then you would hang it under the first A (for April).
It’s a great idea…and of course you could make it with wood and paint…BUT, why do that when you can make a quilt version?!
When I was designing this project in EQ7, I started with the Alphabet (Modified) blocks from the EQ7 library and simplified them a little bit. Then, I started working on the layout. I am not great at math, and honestly, I would have NEVER been able to figure this out without EQ7. I ended up with a 1 x 9 quilt with 7 different borders.
And, because we are giving you the EQ7 project you know you’ll be able to modify and personalize it any way you want.
To put in a last name instead of the word “Family” I just changed the number of blocks in Border #2 and changed the block size a little bit so that the proportions looked better.
I wanted a really patchy look. But, of course you can simplify it and have a quilt with much cleaner lines. Limitless possibilities, as always ;)
Now, for the individual circles. Instead of just writing a name and number on a circle I printed off my family members pictures, with their birth dates, onto EQ Printable Fabric.
Much cuter than a one color wood circle!
Here is the finished project:
Although, I do have to give all the credit for the actual cutting, sewing and quilting to our wonderful quilter Margaret. She did a great job.
And here are a few hints: I got almost everyone’s photo off of Facebook (yes, this is my real family). That made getting 20+ photos pretty easy.Also, we ended up using jewelry s-hooks to connect the circle photos together but you could use lots of different methods (buttons, ribbons).
You can download the EQ7 project here.
If this inspires you to make something, let us know! Email photos to Heidi@electricquilt.com.