Friday, September 27, 2013

My favorite quilt

There's a party going on over at Mary's blog.. she wants to see our favorite quilts.  I like a lot of the quilts I've made.  Some that I see every day I'm tired of, and others that I've given away I've almost forgotten about.. but there's one that I'm happy to catch glimpses of every time I walk through the house.  I'm happy to make George's bed every day.  The Spider web is my favorite:

 I made this quilt for George, with George, in 2010.  I love so many things about it, all the memories, all the fabrics.. The light blue background was a Ralph Lauren shirt of my husband's.  The deep blue border was a print I found a JoAnn's.  Before George was born, I bought baby stuff in greens and browns, the nursery was painted green, his baby quilt was green, blue & yellow.. but after I met him and got to know him.. he's not really a brown kid.  He was much more primary colored.. So I made this quilt with red (at the time I really didn't like red, but it kept creeping into my quilts) and blue.  He was 2 years old, by the way..
(after that he went through a Red & Grey period, followed by a Green & Grey period, then it was just Grey.. and now that he's in kindergarten, his favorite color is Pink.)
Spider web quilts take a long time to make, so I have lots and lots of process shots..
I foundation pieced the triangles onto a paper my husband had written.  And when it was time to remove the paper, George helped.

When the quilt was done (a few weeks after the local annual quilt show, so I didn't get to show it), we used it, and used it, and used it.  I think George got tired of the photo shoots, but I couldn't get enough.



When I made this quilt, I was really in my groove .  Going back and looking at pictures, I was so into quilting.  I mean,  I'm still so into quilting, but lots has changed, life has gotten so much fuller.. I finished grad school, went back to work, wrote a book, had a baby, and stopped working again.  Now I'm a full time mom.  And I mean FULL TIME.  Really, I'd like a break.  Just half a day to sit in the sewing room and play, or clean, or iron even!  So I can look at this quilt and look back on that time.. when things were simpler.  Remember the happiness then and enjoy it.  
  
A note about the quilting... it was an early attempt at free motion.  I did it on my Kenmore.  Ripping the papers out had loosened a lot of the seams so I wanted to quilt it densely for strength.  My lines are wobbly and uneven, but I kept going and quilted it with passion.  I remember enjoying the quilting process.  And now when I run my hand over it when George is tucked in bed, I think, "That was me.  I made this."  And I'm proud of myself for the effort.  

14 comments:

  1. Отличная история об одеяле! Каждая наша работа (одеяло или подушка) имеет частичку нашей жизни и нашей души. Супер рассказ!

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  2. I can see why this is your favourite. Not only is it beautiful, but it is full of lovely memories. That for me, is the bes thing about making quilts, the scraps of fabric which have their own little story and remind us of people or times that were dear to us.
    George is such a darling little boy, he looks so happy under the quilt his mamma made.Times like this, I am reminded of the song "Coat of many colours" sung by Dolly Parton.

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  3. What a happy quilt. And that sure is a good looking helper you have there. I loved the story. It took me back to when my own children were little and I had the time for sewing. Quilting is a process and when you are also sewing love into a quilt, it is a powerful thing. Good luck on finding more time to sew.

    Happy quilting

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  4. Thank you for your beautifully written memoire of George's quilt. I remember many of those pictures especially those with George ripping out the papers. Quilting and our quilting "family" are such gifts!

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  5. It's a beautiful quilt and a touching story. I love the idea of you and George picking off the paper on the floor together. It's nice to hear how this quilt marks a certain time in your life. I think I need to think about my quilts in this way too.

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  6. I can see why you love it. It has a vintagy feel about it, I love that you didnt use white, which I probably would have done...great name too x

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  7. What wonderful memories, and such a beautiful quilt. It reminds me that my 18 or 24 month old boy helped me choose fabrics for a leaf quilt long ago. He's a college sophomore now, maybe I should get back to it. I was an art teacher. Many young boys' favorite color is pink. So interesting.

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  8. Love the quilt.........I am making a spider web quilt out of Halloween fabric............

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  9. Great quilt! Wobbly quilt lines are the best!!! Some quilts are too too "perfect", they look like they were sewn in a factory. I too had loose seams after pulling the paper, a good wash pulled everything in. The pictures of you and your cute son pulling the paper off are too too sweet!!!!

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  10. It is amazing the twists and turns our lives take as mothers! Georges quilt is beautiful because it is filled with a mothers love! Thank you for sharing, I enjoyed reading it's tale!

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  11. What can I say? I just loved reading this post, seeing the pictures, and feeling what you feel when you look at that special quilt.

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  12. One of the best posts ever - and I'm not just talking about your blog. I can just feel the love and contentment pouring out, and it really does capture so much about what makes quilting great. It's all about the initial inspiration, the process and the passion!

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  13. Oh my gosh! What a great quilt and a cute boy! I love that you used paper for your foundation. I am still quilting a similar quilt but used muslin for my foundation. It made the quilt so very heavy! Everything about this quilt is perfect!

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  14. I agree with LCat; this is a great post!

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