Long Suffering Projects
The combination of being 8 months pregnant and having unfinished projects around the house fills me with a certain sense of dread. So I’ve been finishing stuff.
Before I learned how to knit I was obsessed with sewing. I especially liked making quilts. I made this quilt top back in 2003. It’s paper pieced, and I got the pattern out of some quilting magazine. I don’t like hand quilting and the quilting I can do on my humble little sewing machine is pretty crappy, so I never finished it. I wanted it to be machine quilted by someone who knew what they were doing.
My granny makes gorgeous quilts. A few years ago her kids all chipped in and bought her one of those fancy long arm quilting machines. When I was sorting through my fabric stash in November I pulled out this quilt top, along with a few others I put away, and decided to send them to my granny to finish. Of course she was happy to do it. She’s such a good granny. She picked out the fabric for the back of the quilt (bones!) and I told her to quilt it however she wanted to. She did a simple squiggly design and used rainbow thread. Oh my gosh… it’s so cute! I couldn’t be happier with it. Seven years later it’s finally done! It now adorns the bed in H’s playroom.
Here’s another quilt started in 2003 and finished by my granny. This is a sampler quilt, pieced at the height of my pink and brown obsession. Of course now it doesn’t match anything in our house, but that’s ok. It looks pretty cute on the back of my rocking chair.
I have at least two more quilt tops to finish up, including one my mom started when she was pregnant with me. I don’t think those will get finished before the baby is born (only 7-ish weeks to go!), but it’s nice to know they’ll be done in the very near future.
And I’m probably crazy, but I want to start another quilt top. A king sized quilt for our bed. Either Tumbling Blocks or a Postage Stamp quilt. It’s nice to snuggle babies under a handmade quilt.
Annika wrote:
Pink and brown! Maybe you will have a girl. Don’t girls need pink stuff?
Posted on 10-Feb-10 at 10:29 am | Permalink
Kristi wrote:
I love the dog quilt! I have a quilt top in my closet. Can I send it to your granny?
Posted on 10-Feb-10 at 11:11 am | Permalink
Lorajean wrote:
wow, I think I like the postage stamp quilt. That looks incredible. Wow, seven weeks. I have 16 weeks and all of sudden reading this makes me feel a little panicked! I better finish up some of my projects too!
Posted on 10-Feb-10 at 1:41 pm | Permalink
Anna wrote:
How awesome is it that your granny’s kids chipped in for a long-arm! My aunt and mom would love to have a machine like that! I started a quilt top about a decade ago (snakes in bright colors) that I never got past the piecing stage. I don’t have any expectations on ever getting that one done. Plus, my own mom is still hand-stitching a quilt she started for my husband’s and my wedding, 10 years ago. (She does work on it from time to time, but I’m not holding my breath.)
Your quilts are adorable. I do envy your sewing skillz!
Posted on 10-Feb-10 at 2:42 pm | Permalink
sadie wrote:
hey - just wanted to let you and your readers know that I called Mellisa and Doug about the stacking train and the sorting box (both were recent Christmas gifts at my house.) They said that the recall was limited to Canada and none of the bad products were sold in the US.
hang in there…
Posted on 11-Feb-10 at 8:41 am | Permalink
Jenna wrote:
I love, love, love the dog quilt. It’s so cute and fun. My MIL quilts, and I get all my snugly bedding from her. We have at least 9 quilts from her in our house.
Posted on 11-Feb-10 at 10:48 am | Permalink
Lisa J wrote:
8 months already??? Best wishes for an easy delivery and a(nother) healthy babette.
Posted on 18-Feb-10 at 7:36 pm | Permalink