Anyways, she was sweet enough to help me stitch down the binding of a quilt my mom and I have been working on for awhile. A week before I left for Boston last summer, I thought it would be a really great time to start this quilt that'd been floating around my head for about a year and a half already. I've got swell timing. My mom and I had a nice mad dash of putting together the top and then sandwiching it, so that she could work on the hand quilting while I was gone, per our agreement.
As you can see from my mom's handiwork, the quilt had a circular theme so I used some DS Katie Jumps Rope fabric I had on hand to make the binding. I used nearly every last inch of it for this quilt, but it works well, I think.
Ooh, and like those critters? All handmade by Rita, of course.
Hello Panda!!! Gah, I loved these when I was a kid. I remember I used to pour out the entire packet [the packets were smaller in those days, imported from Japan, these here were bought at Costco, but no less yummy!!!], paw through them and separate them into different piles based on the design in the front, and then eat them from least favored to most favored. They had designs like panda riding a tricycle, panda chasing a butterfly. But my favorites were the occasional panda with baby panda!!! I loved baby panda. Those always got eaten last.
We finished it!!! Thanks hon, that would've taken me so much longer by myself! [Even with my rushed, hm why don't we make these nice long stitches approach]. I think I'm constantly drawn to things that are slightly offbeat, slightly irregular, slightly random, slightly quirky. I think it works here.
It's something like 44" by 54" [a yard and a half of the base fabric, in other words], perfect for a lap quilt. My mom liked it so much I couldn't bear to tell her I wanted to bring it with me to Boston to stay cozy in fall/winter, so I guess it's back to that quilt I started when I was 16 that I still have yet to cut out the sashing for, eh? Oh yeah, and I brought back more fabric for yet another quilt top for my mom. I can't leave her with nothing to do come winter, can I?
The novelty fabrics are both Alexander Henry, I can't remember the exact names off the top of my head but cute! I fussy cut them, using random bowls and food lids to trace out the circles. I probably should've turned the edges under and appliqued them ~ but a week, people, I'd given myself a week to cut and sew and pack and say goodbye to friends/family ~ so I fused them and then we embroidered over the raw edges instead. I used coordinating dots and gingham for the other circles and stuck with a primary color theme.
And I have to say, I love the way my mom quilted it. I admit, this is not exactly what I had in mind, but she sorto f freaked out at the thought of "quilting random circles" [my instructions], and came up with this instead. Much nicer.
4 comments:
This is an unbelievable quilt! A great idea, wonderfully executed. You and your mom and your friend did a great job!
Oh I love it! I might have to quilt something like that sometime, very pretty.
Wow, the finished product is really great--and it's extra nice that it was an effort shared with friends and family.
aww, thanks for the lovely post! it was a great day! thanks for being my bestest crafting buddy too! and you taught me how to hand stitch the binding all nice and pretty! thank youuuuu! I love this quilt with all it's super cool circles! definitely got my inspiration cap spinning!! so happy your mom loved it too!
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