Sewing the Binding
So I have to find ways to surprise the folks in my house with quilt gifts. My house is overloaded with children, most of whom are my own. Making a quilt that takes more than a couple hours will be worked on while others are viewing me, and although I can get away with this with my husband, my four younger girls are always asking, “Who’s that for? OOHH, look at that purple fabric! Can I have that quilt? Who is it for, when will it be done, why? What? When???” This was exactly what happened while I was making Nadia’s birthday quilt. Therefore, no one knew that it was her birthday quilt. It was just a quilt I was making because that is what I do after all, I make a ton of quilts.
The juxtaposition of these fabrics thrills me to no end.
- Fabrics from All My Favorite Designers….
….can be found in this quilt. They would be: Anna Maria Horner, Kaffe Fassett, Amy Butler, to name the top ones that I love and who I foster with my little bit of money. Look closely and you can see all the images I hide in my quilting stitches. These images will unearth to Nadia little by little as she uses this quilt. I imagine her all curled up with it, her cup of English Breakfast and her copy of Jane Eyre, and all of a sudden her eye spies the butterfly I’ve stitched in, or the tulip. One day she’ll come across my own name, which I stitch into all my quilts so that I perpetuate myself a little.
Sarah Rose & Summer help me to capture the whole of it on camera.
Nadia picked Panera Bread for her Birthday Brunch
I had just one last thing to do, embroider her name and date in the corner. We sat and chatted while I did that, her still unknowing that this collection of fabrics all cut up and reassembled was for her. Finally I reached across and gifted her with that Green Glory quilt. If you know anything about Love Languages, mine seems to be gifts. When I give a quilt, it represents my love in hours. Even if it’s all made by machine like this one, that present is comprised of no less than 25 hours of my heart-felt love and kindness. My sweet Nadia, the 4th and exact middle child of our 7, is worth every minute I spent. I hope that she will always know that she is deeply loved by her mother, and perhaps this tangible sign of my affection will keep that present and forefront in her mind always.
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