It did it!!!

Last September when I went to visit my Jacque girl in Logan and made her the halloween and fall quilt, Nana saw them and said she would love a Christmas Quilt. So I went and got the fabric and made the top of the quilt. As I was getting ready to made the back of the quilt, Nana became gravely ill and we were told it would just be a matter of days if not hours. So we spent all of the time we could with her and all of a sudden one day she woke up out of her somewhat coma she was in and asked for a Mountain Dew and has been just fine ever since. Go figure. Well I just put the quilt away, it was now way to late to get it done for Christmas and I had a ton of other things to finish before Christmas. Besides I never dreamed she would remember that I was making it. Well about the middle of January, she began to ask....."Where's my quilt you were making?" I teased her and said she was dying and so I quit making it!!! So she just kept asking for it, and so I began a new quilt. I went to my STASH (it is huge, I am a hoarder of fabric) and to my unfinished projects and I found that I had made all of the pinwheel blocks and was just waiting for what to do with them. Well there you go. I found more of the matching fabric in my stash and it worked out perfectly. I would say it was meant to be.

I was so happy when the top was finished and had just the right amount of tiny red and white stripes for the backing. So then I had to decide how to quilt it. At first I was just going to do a simple in the ditch, but then I decided to stretch my abilities to the limit and just go for it and machine quilt an all around stitch.

It was like battling a bear on a sewing table that was not big enough, but I made it work, and I was really excited when it turned out not so bad. At the very end Herb got home from work and saw it he was totally impressed!!! He helped hold the heavy end of the quilt so that I could finish that last few passes. That made it so much easier. I just kept teasing him and saying...."If I had a gammill this would have only taken a couple of hours instead of all day!!!" So if anyone out in blogland has an extra $20,000.00 they just want to give to a really really really great person......JK

So yesterday I put the binding on and began one of my favorite parts of quilting, the hand work. It takes a while to hand stitch around a quilt, but I love that part. It is the first bigger quilt that I have ever tackled machine quilting, I have done a couple of baby quilts, but not this size and it felt really good to be able to conquer that. Nana thought it was beautiful and wanted to have it on her right then. That made me feel really good. So I am glad that she remembered and that I was able to make this for her. I hope she gets lots and lots of wonderful warmth from it.

I have decided this year that I am going to make my children for their birthdays a quilt from me. So I made Christophers (which I started while he was on his mission 7 years ago) and I finished it and began the quilting process. Ended up hating what I had done and picked it all out, and then began again. This time it puckered really bad in the back so I decided to burn the thing, but after breathing for a week or so, I have decided to keep going and leave the pucker (which really isn't that big) and finish the quilt. The pucker will be a great memory and I love a good memory. Christopher's birthday was Jan 5th so I am already so far behind, but Cody's is on Feb 15th so I really need to catch up, but I am excited for that challenge and really hope they enjoy their quilts. Life is great, keep breathing and make each day THE BEST!!!