This is a long-delayed post about a beautiful quilt I made for my daughter so many years ago when she was about to move from the crib to the first big girl bed. I can’t believe I never put it in my blog, but when completing another quilt from the scraps, I realized the story and the quilt weren’t there. It is time to get this one in.
In 2013-2014 I was looking for distractions. We found out when our daughter was born in 2012 that she was deaf. We have no family history, so it was a bit of a shock. We immediately started educating ourselves on all of it. I found websites to teach me sign language, I found kids shows for my son to watch that taught us all sign language. We also researched medical interventions, including cochlear implants.
We decided to go for it and we were thrown into a world on surgery, followed be lots and lots of therapy. It was very challenging mentally, but it was all totally worth it. Now she has access to hearing and speech but also knows sign language and is not afraid to not have her hearing access.
Okay, that was a longer story than I expected. The reason it matters in this instance is that I needed something I could distract myself with, and feel accomplished when I was finished. Quilting was a wonderful outlet that allowed me to really put everything aside and focus on this one thing.
My mom found a kit at a LQS that included instructions and a beautiful set of Moda Fabric called Honey, Honey. It was beautiful corals, blues, teals, and pinks with bees and honeycomb and flowers. The pattern was a bear paw block; very fitting with bees and honeycomb. I got to work and was able to get the blocks done pretty quickly.
Following the pattern, I added the sashing and the borders. It made for a very large twin quilt. It would be perfect for my daughter’s new bed. I used a large floral print from the collection for the backing as well as for the binding.
For the quilting, I used a stencil and chalk to create a floral themed pattern on each block that has points. I used it in the corners, and stretched it out on the borders. My machine and my arms were quite tired after all that.
The final touch was to put a label on the finished product. I did this with permanent fabric pens on a scrap from the project and hand stitched it onto the back. I finished it right in time for her to transition, and took a picture of it on her bed. She was very excited about her new big girl bed and the personalized quilt made for her.
Several years since and I’ve made many more quilts to adorn her bed. She still likes this one the best though, and I’m so glad I was able to make it for her.
No comments:
Post a Comment