March 3, 2014

I like quilts



This quilt is the product of a long time in the making. Originally started by my mom who knows how many moons ago. (hence the really cute up-to-date fabric, secretly I actually really love it though) 

Five years ago when I was a sophomore in high school I was in a sewing class with my sister Katie who was a senior at the time. I totally wasn't supposed to be in this particular sewing class because it wasn't available to sophomores. The high-school sewing teacher, Mrs. Baker was very fond of Katie because she is a seamstress extraordinaire so she agreed to the exception. Katie was just in charge of catching me up to speed, she was like my personal assistant really. All throughout the year I depended on Katie to teach me the basics of clothing construction and quilting in a sewing class that was advanced. Turns out making fabric-filled bean bags at the age of 5 didn't really translate into the designer sewing rigors. So Katie helped me, she helped a lot. And we would joke about my inability to cut patterns out and most everything else every single day. Somehow she would manage to finish her quarterly project in time as well as mine.

The last quarter was when we made quilts, my favorite! Prior to this we found a half started quilt from my mom that became lost under a cluttered bed. Katie brought the yards upon yards of fabric and a couple of finished quilt blocks to school. I’m pretty sure Mrs. Baker cried this day as well as many other days we shared about our mom and her love for sewing.

Katie and Mrs. Baker were able to figure out how to make the remaining quilt blocks without a pattern and just lots and lots of fabric. Enough fabric in fact that we were each able to make our own quilt. I finished mine a while ago and didn't get around to hand-stitching the binding until now. 

I really love quilts and I always have. When I was a child there were quilts proudly displayed in the living room of my house. Quilts represent work, time, comfort, and warmth. I cannot think of a more meaningful gift. And even though i'm sure the quilt was started and then pushed aside due to the responsibilities of motherhood I like to think that she left it there for us to finish because she couldn't finish it on her own. 

One day this quilt will proudly be displayed in two homes.




3 comments:

  1. I have a quilt that Katie and I started years ago just waiting to be finished if you ever want another quilt to finish :)

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