Remember this color palette? Finally, the quilt is actually done. And my boy couldn't be happier. This is the first quilt I've actually finished since I took Joelle's patchwork quilting class almost three years ago.. it sat for over a year all pieced and ready to be quilted, and then once quilted, sat for a few months patiently waiting to be bound. And of course, now that it's done, I have a million ideas for the next one.
For those of you who are new, this quilt was made from a pile of old dress shirts my husband was throwing away. I love the idea of my son sleeping under a quilt made from his father's shirts.. I tried to incorporate as many little details as I could, a pocket here, a placket there.
I sewed most of this quilt while visiting my mom. When I lived back East, I would try to fly home each summer for a few weeks to visit my parents in California. This quilt came with me on a few of those trips. My mom has a beautiful Pfaff that sews like a dream, and switching back to my machine sometimes felt like switching from a Mercedes to a Pinto. (For my birthday last year, I finally got a Pfaff of my own.. not quite as nice as my mom's but it's so lovely to sew on..)
I made a little sketch of my quilt in Illustrator before I cut up the fabrics, so I could see it a few different ways. I decided to just keep the design very simple, in hopes that it would have a classic feel and that my son might keep it on his bed for some time.
For the backing, I wanted something with a very subtle pattern. I found a Japanese grid fabric at Purlsoho that was perfect. (thanks for your help Jen!)
When it came time for the binding, I didn't know what to do. I had originally bought a solid blue fabric, but it seemed so plain. In the end I decided to sew together some of the extra squares I had leftover from the shirts and piece the binding. I'm so glad I did. I think it makes the back look almost as pretty as the front.
I did a very simple "stitch in the ditch" quilting. For some reason, I'm just scared to death to throw it in the washing machine, so it has yet to be washed. I think the squares will have a little more poof once they've been washed and dried.
I wanted to leave a message to C somewhere so I finished it off with a little cross stitch... "to C, love MOM". Using a grid for the backing certainly came in handy.
After finishing my quilt I started researching other quilts made from men's dress shirts... turns out it's not such a new idea. I came across so many beautiful examples, I will be sharing them with you over the next few days. They make my simple little quilt look quite elementary... but my son loves it, and that makes me so very happy.
My mother deserves all the credit for this beautiful little quilt. She let me help pick out the fabrics, but she cut and stitched and pinned and quilted it all on her own. And I LOVE it. When I look at this quilt I see my mother in it, her perfect corners and her neat rows. It's as if she stitched a bit of herself into each little triangle. My little girl is so very lucky.
The pattern we chose is the Flock of Triangles quilt from Denyse Schmidt's beautiful book, and I've been wanting to make it for years. I have a weakness for bold quilts with simple, geometric patterns, especially when they are on a white ground.
I've been taking weekly and monthly photos of Baby M on this blanket, and I love seeing how big she's growing. When I started she was only about five triangles tall, and now she's almost eight!
The photo above was from Week 2, back when Baby M was still on a breathing monitor due to her early delivery. I'm happy to share that the monitor is long gone and that her legs have now probably tripled in size. She is a chubby happy three month old, and we about die each and every time she smiles.
10.9.2010
