Stitched with Love

It's done!  My daughter's quilt is finished!

We'd hoped to finish it a couple of weeks ago.  It probably could have been done but life got busy.  

We worked on it when we could.  And, then, she had move and start the new school year at her new college.  I've put lots of hours into it over the past couple of weeks to finish it.  And, I've used lots of band-aids.   I cut myself pretty bad with the rotary cutter one day.  I'm still wearing band-aids for that one.  Ouch!  And, I kept poking myself with pins.  Ugh!  I'm not usually so clumsy with sewing.  But, I made it through.  This project was worth every moment, every drop of blood, every bit of sweat, and every single stitch I put into it.  It represents the amazing and close relationship I have with my daughter, my enormous love for her, and a new chapter in both of our lives.

As we worked on plans of what she would need in her first apartment and how she wanted to decorate, I mentioned the idea of making a quilt.  She loved the idea.  And, she loved a set of fabrics I'd bought several years ago.  We just needed to find a few more fabrics and a design.  We ended up making a simple patchwork of squares.  It worked well for our limited quilting experience, the short time we had to make it, and for the look she wanted.  The fabrics have a bit of a retro feel and the colors are exactly what she's into right now.

This is the front...

And, this is the back...

I like to give the back a little something special so the quilt can be reversible.  We had just enough fabric left over from the squares to make a few more rows.  We placed the strip of colors toward one end so that they'd lay across, near the foot of the bed.  It will add a splash of color at the end of the bed and not be covered by all the pillows.  I wasn't able to find yarn in the pale green color to tie the quilt.  So, I ended up with a darker green that matches the dots.  In the end, I love the tufted look it created.

This project would not be complete without the love our sweet Duchess added.

She was around for every stage of it's creation.

She was in charge of quality control!

She thinks we did a purrrfect job!

She knows because she did a little testing before it was delivered to my daughter.

She loves it!

And, so does my daughter!

It added more color and pattern to her apartment bedroom.  Her room at home is mostly white with pale colors and a shabby chic look.  She's been adding brighter colors to her apartment for more of a cottage kind of feel.  I think it's really cute!   Check out those pretty flowers she made and hung over her bed.  They're made with old sheet music.  There are three of them in different sizes.

I think the quilt will add a warm smile to her heart whenever she sees it and wraps up in it.  This will be a wonderful reminder of how much she is loved.  Especially during those days or moments when she might feel a bit homesick or have an extra challenging day.  This is a big step in her life and this should help ease the transition.  Not to mention how much it has helped me.  It feels like a great big package of love and comfort that I was able to give to her as she heads off into this next big adventure of life.  :-)

Dust Ruffle Addition

My daughter's quilt is almost done!  I'm working on the final stage...hand stitching the binding.  I'm planning a marathon session today to try and finish it up.  I'm planning to visit her tomorrow and I'd love to give it to her and get to see it on her bed.

One of the things that was on our to-do list before she moved was to make a dust ruffle.  We spent some time thinking over the situation and playing with fabrics.  It turned out that the dust ruffle she had looked nice with the new quilt.  The only problem was that her bed was set up lengthwise against the wall and we'd made the dust ruffle to fit on the two short ends and one long side.  She was going to put the head of the bed against the wall in her apartment.  So, the dust ruffle wouldn't quite work.  It was a couple of feet short. Fortunately, we had just enough fabric to make an add-on section to make it work!  It was exactly enough.  We only had one small sliver of fabric left from trimming one side.  Amazing!

We worked together.  We measured.  I folded and pressed the seams.  And, she sewed.

We even had some gathering tape (not sure what the real name of it is) left.  

I love that stuff.  Simply sew it along the top and bottom edges and pull the cords!

It makes perfect gathers every time!

We took a picture before the quilt was finished.  It actually looks a lot better in person.

The colors work well together and the stripes are perfect.

All together, it has a vintage sort of feel and goes well with her sort of shabby chic style.

The original section of her dust ruffle was held in place with velcro.  We simply hot glued the scratchy side to the box spring, the soft side to the dust ruffle, and pressed it into place.  It works really well that way because it stays exactly where it's placed.  Unlike the kind that's sewn onto a piece of fabric that's sandwiched between the mattress and box spring.  They tend to shift around.  This also made it easy to adjust it to the new way she was going to place her bed.  We simply pulled the velcro off of the box spring, on the side we wouldn't need it anymore...it didn't even leave a mark!  Then, we glued velcro to the sections that needed it, pressed the dust ruffle into place and voila!

She's so excited about her quilt!  I had the tying almost finished when she came home for the holiday weekend and she gasped in excitement.  Now, every time I talk with her on the phone,she asks how it's going.  She can't wait!  That sure puts a smile in my heart!  

Oh...and what a beautiful morning to sit and enjoy sewing...it's 73 degrees and raining.  It feels, smells and sounds wonderful!  I have windows open so I can enjoy the peaceful sound, the wonderful smell, and the light breeze.  Ahhhhh!  I love summer rain!

Yarn Therapy

I promised to post pictures of the yarn I bought last week on my "yarn therapy" session.  Here it is...

It's Cascade, Ultra Pima.  I love cotton!  It's soft and the sheen made it even harder to resist.  It adds a richness to it. It doesn't have a color name...just 3719.  It's a soft, silvery, beige.  I think it will go with a lot of things.  It will probably become some kind of lacy wrap or shawl.  I bought two skeins.

I always have a hard time resisting Sugar 'n Cream.  The yarn shop, Labors of Love, has some colors I don't see in the big box stores....like this yummy chocolate brown.  They also have copies of free patterns around the store, sitting next to examples.  I picked up a pattern for a cute, knitted dishcloth.  That's what this will become.

Back to the sewing machine!  We just finished sewing all the squares together for my daughter's quilt. Next, we'll need to decide on a border and sew it on.  Then, create a back panel.  After that, we'll be ready to tie it all together!