Thursday, April 28, 2011

The One that Got Away...Well, Make that Two!

When you've been blogging as long as I have (a whole two months!), you forget if things got posted or not. Well, after WiP yesterday, someone commented how they liked the green; blue and green specifically. I thought, "Well, she'd love the quilt I did for my mom." And it dawned on me. I never posted it. See I've only really been quilting about 6-8 months. Sure, I helped sew a few tops together for some memory quilts, but that was several years ago and those quilts were tied together. Plus, they all had the same design (big blocks with sashing). A friend invited me to join her quilting guild late last year and I have been quilting ever since.

My first 'real' quilt endeavour was one for my daughter. The quilt she had on her bed before came from Kohl's and was showing signs of wear already. Plus it had pink. Lots of pink. And her walls are pink. And her curtains are pink. I'm not really into pink. So I created a Turning Twenty quilt for her. She still got pink, but I tried hard to incorporate a lot of other colors as well. Did I mention she has a full sized bed? Yeah, what was I thinking?  I actually showed up at one of our Saturday Sewcials thinking I would just work on quilting it myself. HA! Yeah, that didn't happen. The other sweet ladies just looked at me with kind eyes and said, "Oh no, dear. You might want to start with something a bit smaller. And practice on the donation quilts." So I set up with a long arm quilter in the guild to perform some magic on my beauty and, VOILA!
I love how she quilted it. And my daughter loves it, which is all that really matters anyway. I was telling Linz that my daughter wouldn't allow me to wash it when I finished it. It went straight to her bed. Recently I mentioned to her that they get all yummy and crinkly when they run through the washer and dryer. She finally let me wash it, then promptly curled up in this "warm from the dryer"quilt. With 80 degree weather outside. Yeah, well, like I told Linz; my kids are snugglers.
Anyway, what was I talking about? Oh yeah, green and blue. I chose two small jelly rolls to make this quilt for my mom for her birthday last month. Hmm... it just dawned on me that I never emailed Jamie Mueller (the designer) to show her my version. I'll have to do that. Where was I? Oh right, right. My version. Here it is.
I loved the colors for my mom. They made me think of the ocean, which she loves. I happened to notice the name of the jelly roll; surprise, surprise, it was called 'sea glass." How cool is that? I made sure I put a label on the back to indicate that it was for her birthday and from me (my very first label; no, I still haven't put one on my daughter's which is deplorable!). 
As I said yesterday, I don't think I've made anything yet that doesn't have some green in it! I think the back is my favorite part. Anyway, I decided that I would quilt this one myself. It's a lap quilt so I figured I could do it. I had practiced some straight stitching on a couple of donation quilts so I just went for it. I wanted to be able to say that I did the whole thing myself, for her. And I did. Are there mistakes? You bet your sweet watusi there are mistakes, but that's okay. Cause my mom loves it, and that's all that really matters anyway, right?

4 comments:

Linz said...

Those are BOTH beautiful! I can see why your daughter didn't wat to give that up, even for a second! :)

And your mom's quilt is wonderful! That colors are amazing! And to say that you did it all yourself is a special feeling!! Congrats!

Diana and LaDonna said...

You did a great job! Love the backs of both quilts! How wonderful that your daughter and your mom love what you did for them!

LaDonna

Melinda said...

Both of the quilts are wonderful. Love the quilting on the one you quilted.

Unknown said...

I love your Awesome Quilt!! AMAZING!! Thanks for emailing me :)