Happy 50th Gramps & Granddad

On May 26, 1957, Donald McCall Shelby took Mary Louise Whiffen to be his bride. 50 years later, they've shared countless memories, raised four children, enjoyed ten grandchildren, and one great grandchild. Congratulations on 50 years together, Gramps and Granddad!

Last Sunday the family celebrated together by attending worship at Gramps and Granddad's church, followed by dinner at their favorite restaurant. Here is the proud couple standing by their anniversary cake.

After lunch, we announced that there was a special "Golden Anniversary Honeymoon Suite" awaiting them at the historic La Salle Hotel in downtown Bryan.




When they checked into the hotel that night, they found one, final surprise. The hotel staff had made their bed with a 50th Anniversary Memory quilt that our entire family had been secretly working on for the past year! (My Gramps gave an amazing "family tree" quilt that she created to her mother-in-law on her 50th wedding anniversary, so I guess its sort of becoming a family tradition)

There are over 100 blocks on the quilt, each one containing photo memories of the two of them together, their wedding invitation, photos of their kids growing up, as well as grandkids and great grandkids. Each family member contributed their favorite pictures, then 2 of my aunts, 3 of my cousins, my mom, and I all worked to sew the photos into scrappy squares.

The blocks are divided by black sashing, cornered with tiny muslin squares, each one containing a hand-embroidered gold heart (mom was responsible for those). The quilt is bordered on 3 sides (left, bottom, and right) by more muslin, which is also hand-embroidered in gold with the entire text from 1 Corinthians 13 ("Love is patient, love is kind...") That was one of my contributions to the project.


My favorite fabric used in the quilt was the backing. It is a cream-colored fabric, covered with rich, golden-hued berries. I thought it really tied in well with the muslin and gold embroidery on the front.

I'm pretty sure Gramps and Granddad were happy with their surprise. (Granddad kept referring to it as a "work of art") It has been so hard keeping this project under wraps for the past year...its nice to finally have it out in the open!