Monday, January 20, 2014

The Three Year Quilt



How do you decide who receives a handmade gift?  Since my sewing time is limited, and my own sew-for-me list is long, I only give handmade gifts to very special people in my life.  My college roommate married in 2011.  I was very pregnant with the Bug at the time.  We lived together for four years, and we lived close by during the even more exciting post-college years.  She was there on my first date with my husband and I was there the weekend after she met her now husband.  Some people miss the college years.  I miss those years right after college.  
But I digress.  She's a special person in my life.  They wed on a beautiful winter night in their new hometown of Charleston, SC.  What a great town.  
I started this quilt with my friend in mind when I was on maternity leave with the Bug.  It was the first project I picked up after having a baby.  I needed something to do with my hands that didn't involve nursing or changing diapers.  I remember putting on nursery rhymes and placing June in her bouncer.  She was content to watch me sew in those early days.  Oh, only for a few minutes (what is this I hear about newborns liking sleep?  Mine never did.)  But still, those few minutes were therapeutic.   The quilt top is the stacked coins quilt in the book, Last Minute Patchwork and Gifts.  This is the second one I made (I wrote about the first one I made, also a wedding gift, here).  It's a quick quilt top to sew, and even with a small baby, I finished the top pretty quickly.  But then it sat for a year until I was motivated to baste it, and then it sat another year and a half waiting to be quilted; another baby later.  The Bee was sitting up at this point.  I sat him down on a quilt near my sewing machine and just quilted, line by line.  Three years later, this quilt is finally done and living with my friend.  


Pattern: Stacked Coins Quilt in Last Minute Patchwork and Gifts
Fabrics: Fabric scraps leftover from this quilt.  Sashing is Kona Cotton Aqua.  Green cotton for backing, with strip of fabrics from front. 

7 comments:

  1. What a great story and an absolutely beautiful quilt! I also only gift quilts to 'deserving' peeps in my life. There is too much work, money and love stitched in to give a quilt that is going to be stuck in a closet!!

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  2. It looks great and I love the back, it must be fantastic to have this finished.

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  3. It's beautiful! I have a 6 year quilt in my house, so 3 years doesn't seem that bad!

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  4. It's wonderful and I bet she loves it!

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  5. What an interesting back story to this quilt. Such a great statement about needing something else to do with your hands besides changing diapers and nursing! I think you hit it on the head as to why many of us moms with littles quilt in the first place. Gives us our identity back!

    I love the light blue against the dark teal blue in this quilt. Great finish!

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