Sunday, October 7, 2007

"Surrounded" Quilt for Son and Daughter-in-Law

A few months ago my son and his family moved into a new house in Athens, GA. I told them I would like to make a wall hanging or lap quilt for their new house and this is the pattern we eventually decided on. It has about 30 different batiks in it, and will backed with a different batik. I just finished adding the borders to it this morning. I will take it with us to GA next weekend so they can the progress on it, then bring it back here to get it quilted. I am hoping the long-arm quilter who is hopefully going to do my T-shirt quilt will also do this one. Son and DIL sent me two of the throw pillows from their sofa and loveseat so I can cover the pillows with some kind of quilted top to go with the quilt. She suggested the same pattern that I used in the quilt, but I am thinking about using some of the same fabrics but doing some kind of paper-pieced design for them.

I took the T-shirt quilt to the long-arm quilter Friday afternoon, along with a sample block for her to practice on. She is hoping to have the sample quilted by Wednesday when we have our Senior Center group meeting. I also got the second border on the quilt that our Senior Center is going to raffle and took that to the quilter as well - so she has a few things to work on. I was interested to see her quilter. She does some freehand work with it, but she also has some patterns that she traces with a laser light and the machine quilts that design. Seems like more skill involved in that than if you have a computer-operated quilter.

I have had some trouble letting go of my t-shirt quilt, feeling like I really wanted to do all of it myself, but knowing I would have a difficult if not impossible time doing that, and that it would not look as good as I want it to if I did do it. I am not ready to totally give up hand-quilting, but as I get more used to the idea of sharing the making of my quilts, I realize that I could make more, and there are SO many I want to make!

3 comments:

Michelle said...

The two ladies I know that have made Tshirt quilts have just tied them....and been very happy with the results. They were both commissioned by ladies to make them for graduates, etc, and everyone involved was just thrilled. They did look nice. One gal put black sashing between the blocks and it looked awesome. This one was made from all of the graduates school Tshirts. The mother had to sneak out the Tshirts to get this job done, and I guess it was not an easy thing to do! The graduate was in awe, and loved it!

Jen said...

Your Surrounded quilt is awesome!!! I"m sure they love it.

I'm waiting to hear about your t-shirt quilt progress. I sure hope she's got some ideas for you.

Three Birds Inspired said...

I love this quilt! Something similar would look fabulous in my son's home. Thanks for posting a photo!