the family quilt - finished!

Let me tell you a story about a very special quilt. From the beginning I loved the idea but wasn't sure I would love the process. In fact I was pretty much dreading it. The quilt was commissioned by my mother for my Grandma and Grandpa (affectionately known as Nini & Papa). She asked me to include a selection of family photos and to make it in a style that would suit Nini & Papa's condo.

Eek.

After weeks and weeks and months of procrastination and frittering away time, I finally came up with a plan that I felt would create a balanced quilt in a traditional style. Originally I was going to see if I could find some Bonnie & Camille fabric but that was a no go locally and I didn't have time to find it online, I found something else.

I pulled a collection of fabrics in pinks, creams and browns.



I started cutting and piecing and it was all coming together well. Until I realized that when you use iron-on transfer paper, you shouldn't iron the pictures. I had to re-stick the paper backing on the pictures and try to iron around them all to keep them intact.



Anyways, after it was all said and done I was pretty happy with it. I only quilted in the ditch to keep it simple, and used the backing wrapped around the front to bind it.

The best part about this whole project was seeing the pictures from when my grandparents opened it.

Here they are, as recorded by my step-dad:











Aren't they so cute??



My Nini is so beautiful! Apparently she was so touched by the quilt that after all the kerfuffle she sat down and had a good happy cry.



After they opened the quilt we all hopped on Skype for a while to chat. On the computer screen you can see Joel and I sitting in his office and I wrapped in one of my great-grandmother's quilts.

It was a great experience making something so personal for people I love so much. So much of my childhood is filled with memories of my grandparents. They were (and are!) so good to us. We spent weeks during the summer at their cottage, lots of Sunday night dinners at their house, playing pranks with my Papa, going to see movies where my Nini would pack little goody bags of treats to sneak in. They are great.

Apparently the quilt is hanging on the wall in their bedroom where they can look at it often. That makes me smile.