Laying A Quilt To Rest

I had to lay a quilt to rest this week...as in, I had to chuck it. This is the second quilt I have had to throw away and the first quilt I ever made. When I was 13, we went to a friends house and the daughter had made this twin sized bed quilt. She went on and on about how hard it was and I remember her being a little pretentious about it. I remember thinking (in my 13 year old mind) 'How hard can it be? I could totally do that.' When we went home, I did a little math (never my strong suit) and cut myself a template out of printer paper. Or as we called it in ye olden days: typing paper. I raided Mom's sewing box for scraps and went to work. I had no idea what a rotary cutter was, or really anything at all about quilting. I simply cut around my paper template. Every now and then I would cut a sliver off and eventually I would have to cut a new template. It is a wonder the thing came out even remotely square. When I was done, thanks to my precisely atrocious calculations, my quilt was a generous queen size! So much for math. I had no idea how to quilt it, so I sewed it to the backing and flipped it inside out like a giant pillow case (and I used polyester batting...horrors!). I tied the quilt and called it good. I loved this quilt because looking at it was a trip down memory lane. The cow fabric? I had a jumper out of that! The sunflower stuff? Rachel had a jumper. The red checked farm fabric? Shorts. We were on the cutting edge of fashion back then. This quilt lasted for 20 years (just saying that makes me cringe!) but it was time to go. It has been slowly disintegrating and an unfortunate washing machine accident left it with a gaping hole that was just too much to fix. Now I shall observe a moment of silence! :)

Quilt Block

Long ago, in a land far away, California to be exact, I was a nerdy teenager who spent hours holed up in my room teaching myself how to quilt. At some point, I made this quilt block as an experiment and hand quilted it. I never finished the binding and it ended up in the bottom of my stash o' random quilt blocks. Recently I dug it out and finished it. I plan on using it in the middle of my table, under a vase of flowers, most likely dandelions and onion grass my kids picked in the yard. :)

The Quilt

It's done!! I took my jolly old time getting it done, but it's DONE!!

I quilted it with my new machine using a stipple stitch and a vine stitch and veriegated green thread. It used a whole lot of thread, but it adds a really nice detail.

The kid is very pleased with it. If he wasn't, I just might have had to keep it for myself.

The bottom is hand-embroidered with 'Be Strong and Courageous' from his favorite verse. When he was beginning school and feeling scared, he asked me to write it down for him to keep in his pocket. :)

P.S. Here's a tip for you that will save a lot of money on a quilt: use a flat sheet for the backing. I had a really nice, soft sheet that my aunt gave me. It was like new and very good quality. I didn't have to piece it together or anything, and if you can find a good price on a sheet it is a lot cheaper than buying yards and yards of fabric.

Quilt Top

Here is the project that has sucked up the majority of my sewing time lately. This quilt is for my oldest son. He is into everything farms, horses, and cowboys. The majority of the fabric is horses, but there is also a frame of blocks made of a scenic farm print (covered bridges, Amish horse and plow, barns, etc.) Now on to the sashing, borders and quilting!

Table Scarf-Thingy

For lack of better terminology, I made this quilted table scarf-thingy for a friend recently. This block was hanging around in my scrap drawer and I finally made it into something useful. It is machine quilted with Warm and Natural batting. I also had the remaining yardage I had used to make the quilt block, so I used it for the backing and binding.

Bag of Awesomeness

For my 30th birthday (that's still sinking in...), Rachel made me the most awesome bag ever. It is totally lined, quilted and contains patches of some of her favorite fabrics. I cannot begin to tell you how great this bag is and how much I love it. She made it for me to bring out into my garden to pick stuff, but its so darn pretty I just don't know if I can do that. However, I have decided that it is a perfect take-to-the-CSA bag, where I can fill it up with vegetables without getting it too dirty. Thanks, Rach! I love it!

Bonus points for anyone who can guess what vegetable is in the bag :)