A Group Effort

This little quilt has a great story. When I was about 12 I embroidered these blocks for a church project. I don't remember how long it took me, but I'm sure it was a while. They were supposed to then be made into a baby quilt for when I grew up and had my own kids. Well, you know what happened. They sat in my sewing box for about 20 years.

Well, when I got pregnant with Alison my mom and I decided to ressurect the old project and breathe some new life into it. So we went through her stash of 40s reproduction prints and decided to use a lot of different fabrics so it was more unisex - after all the ultrasound tech told me not to paint anything pink yet - although that was her guess. So my mom and I cut out the sashings that go around each individual block and I sewed that main part together.

Then my mom took over again and she put on the borders. My Aunt Mary quilted it on her machine and then my mom sewed the binding on and I handstiched it down. I just finished it a few months before Andrew was born. Even when we got it all put together it still took me forever to sit down and do the handsewing. I really don't enjoy that very much.

Thanks so much to my mom who helped not just with the sewing and cutting but with the overall look of the quilt and to Mary for doing such a great job on the quilting. I"m really pleased with how it turned out, and it's so cute I'm not sure I really want anyone spitting up all over it. So for now it's hanging on the wall in the room where we keep Alison's toys. (Click on the photo to see it close up.)

What's funny is it took over 20 years, 3 people and many locales to get this thing donw. Here's a list of the places it's been worked on:
embroidery - Annandale, VA
Sashing cut - Draper, UT
Sashings sewn - Oceanside, CA (thanks Allyn for letting me use your machine)
Borders sewn - Draper, UT
Machine Quilting - Tooele, UT
Initial binding sewn - Draper, UT
Final handstiching - Stafford, VA

At least it started and ended in Virginia - but sheesh, what a trek. I am kind of glad we didn't put it together way back then - I think the fabrics we had available to us recently make it really cute - who knows what 80's influence would have been at work had we completed it back then!

I'm pleased to report that the quilt I made Andrew was started in October when I was in UT and is now just waiting for me to sew the binding down. I hope to finish it this week. I've learned my lesson - this one's only taken a few months! I'll be posting a picture of it soon.