Quilting is an Act of Love

I finished my second quilt. It was for my mom, and it equals love.

I used a pinwheel pattern. The blocks were made from a Moda Flora layer cake and a white paisley print. I love the yellow binding, it pops the outside really nicely. But the best part of the front, in my opinion, is the right side. I took one of my Grampy's neck-ties and stitched it to the front. I love the way it looks. Dummy me, however, never took a close-up picture of the tie. Duh. But, I machine stitched it on, adjusting the zig-zag stitch closeness so that it is very close, and looks almost hand-stitched, except much more even. It also goes through the 3 layers of the quilt, so the thread is on the back. I think it looks cool.

The back uses three different fabrics. The top corner fabric is another one that is special to my family. We are in the process of cleaning out my Grandparents' house that they have lived in for 50+ years. In the basement we found bags and bags of fabric scraps. Quilter's dream. This purpley-pinkish fabric was used for cushions on their sun-room porch. It's hideous, it reminds me of the 90's, and I love it. I was glad that I could sneak it into the quilt so we'll have the reminder forever. The cushions and wicker furniture will probably go to charity, so maybe some other family will enjoy this fabric for years to come.

Some things I have learned while working on this quilt:

1. One should always think your measurements all the way through in terms of space available at your house. You might not have enough room to spread out all your fabric.

2. I can make a quilt in 35 episodes of "24".

3. My living room is not as big as I thought it was.

4. I have so many more quilts that I want to make!!

5. As you can see from the background in this picture... I have a lot of junk!

6. I'm not ready to machine quilt just yet... I'm still tacking, but hopefully I'll get the courage to try it out on my next one!







Inspiration:
Moda Jack's Hills
Pinwheel Baby Quilt

Thanks:
Special thanks to my favorite photographer, Dermot Conlan, for taking a detour from his normal photography to snap a couple shots of the quilt! Hopefully I'll get a non-iphone camera soon and can take my own pictures!