[Past Projects Showcase] Mom's Quilt

I've actually started going to the gym this week. First time I've consistently done it in a really long time. But that means less time to be crafty so big stuff will have to wait for weekends as I'm not getting home before 7pm now. But in the meantime, I'll do a Past Projects Showcase.

Up for display today: Mom's Quilt.

Keep going for progress shots and the story (because it's not a normal quilt in case you can't tell). 

 So, Mom's quilt. Well, my niece was born this summer. She's the first grandchild for my parents. That means that this past May was the last Mother's Day where Mom was just a mom and her kids were just kids. Thus, I thought it needed something special. I had a plan for Dad, but my niece's timing spoiled it. ONE DAY (we were amending it in the hospital room).

I decided to try my hand at quilting and found a pattern for a memory quilt.  A memory quilt uses pictures as a part of quilt blocks. How you say? Fabric sheets for an inkjet printer. Fair warning, they come in white and cream and I didn't notice when I was getting them. Also, make sure to put in a border for your seam allowance. I'm pretty sure there are some names and words cut off on Mom's quilt. 

But I didn't want to do pictures persay. I knew Mom had a chest at the foot of her bed of all the things we had drawn when we were little and she deemed special enough to keep. And the duck in the bathtub one, I believe, was a class project from when I was in HER class. Little did I know, but my sister had her organize everything by who made it making it a bit easier to pull this off. 

And so I called my dad, told him how many images I need and for him to sneak away and get them out of the hope chest. I was not accounting for him not knowing how to use a scanner. But we worked it out (mostly as I walked through Hancock's, I got some looks and some laughs). Dad sent me more than enough and most, if not all, of the "mother's day" drawings. He also included our kindergarten diplomas. 

So I printed them out, pieced it together (could have used my 1/4 inch foot with guide back then) used fusible batting instead of having to baste it and waited and waited and waited for my stitch in the ditch foot to come in. Funny thing, I didn't use it. By the time it came in, I was more familiar with my walking foot, so that's what I used. And I used variegated thread so the back is pretty. I made the pink binding and took it home to my mom. Where I noticed I had put the R for my sister on, but not a K for me. Whoops. It's still not on. 

To be honest, I'm not sure I could pry it out of my mom's hands again to do it. I had to pry it out of her hands once because the foot wasn't in by Mother's Day, but I did have it "basted" by then and took it home to show it to her. She reluctantly let me finish I think. Something about her and "the home" (she's not in a nursing home, jsk). 

And once more, here's the finished product: