IrishNY

We all have one quilt that stands out for some reason to us. Maybe it's because it was a pattern you weren't sure you could make, or it went to a special person, or it was to celebrate a landmark event in your life. Tell us about it.


Mine was a quilt that I made for my grandmother's 90th birthday. She loved roses and the color light aqua and I based it around a fabric that had both. I killed myself to finish it in time for the party, including sewing on the binding in one of my doctoral seminars. She was thrilled with it but then said "I am going to hang it up because it is so pretty and I don't want anything to happen to it". :shock: I said "you're 90 - if you wear it out, I'll make you a new one" and she laughed. But she used it and she enjoyed it. She died about 18 months later, having napped under it many days during that time. My aunt gave it back to me and when I want to feel close to her, I pull it out and sit under it.

She told me later that I was the only person to ever make her a quilt - and she had 12 kids and 49 grandchildren including a bunch of quilters. That made me feel pretty good.

stichinluvr

My avatar is a paper piecing of my late husband's shirts and ties. It's really special to see is hanging on the wall. Like you, I feel closer to him when I most need it.

janRN

My favorite quilt took 25 yrs to make!! When my son was in kindergarten he brought home drawings that of course I thought were the best art in the world. I traced them on fabric 12 x 12 squares and then hand embroidered them in the exact colors of the crayons he used. Then I put them in a box==UFO. After he left home and got married, I found them in a closet and decided to make a quilt out of them. I had 7 blocks so I picked some solids and alternated them. I used his then two year old's hand prints for the quilting pattern in the solid squares. I gave it to him for Christmas (he was 31 years old!!) It really surprised him-he had forgotten all about it; I also had his original drawings to give him, too.
Sorry this was long and rambling but it still is my favorite quilt-thanks for letting me share it with you.

Shibori

Well, it's a story that doesn't end well but here goes. I made my first show quilt in 1997. A large Mariner's Compass that I still love to this day...EXCEPT that when I see it I get very angry. That quilt took months to hand quilt and my mom loved it so I gave it to her after the show. We lived in TX at the time so it was a few years before I got to come home to visit to see how she hung it. It was out in the shed, hung up to cover a window, with rusty nails pounded through it. I've always held my tongue about this because I feel that once you give a quilt, it's not up to you how its' treated but this torqued me so much because she knew how hard I worked on it. I was not prepared for how she wanted to use it. I hate to say it, but I won't give her any more of my quilts.

Moonpi

My favorite was a huge double Irish chain I made years ago. My ex and I relied on wood for heat, so he would steal the covers and I would wake up shiverring. This quilt was so big that if he rolled over, wrapped up in it, I still had plenty for me. It was a pen-and-ink paisley and slate blue, with hearts in the border cornerstones. Took six months to hand quilt that puppy. Wish I still had it.

Baren*eh*ked_canadian

OMG!!!

SuzyM

My story is not a quilt that I made but one someone made for me. When I was in 6th grade my Aunt Amy helped me hand piece a few bits a fabric together for a crazy quilt. I finished the block and didn't think anything about it. On my 16th birthday she sent me the quilt that had my block along with ones she had done. It has been well loved over the years from myself and my son. It is falling apart so it put away. One day I will pull it down and see what I can do to repair it.

carrieg

Last summer my mom turned 80, so I made her a signature quilt. There are 76 blocks + 1 center block. Everyone in the family + some friends signed, wrote messages or drew pictures on their own block. She was stunned that so many would say such nice things about her. She has hung it in her bedroom. I was hoping she'd snuggle with it, but she can read all the signatures this way.

sewcrafty

I had just joined a local guild in town and just finished my first quilt and onto my 2nd. I picked the Drunkard's Path. Boy, did I get comments! They we all shocked when I brought the top in finished!! I did this for my ex's grandmother in white with pansies. I came out gorgeous!! Grammy loved it!! She willed it to my son.

littlehud

It isn't one I made. It's one my mom made. She hand pieced and quilted two quilts. A blue one for my nephew and a pink one for my oldest daughter. My nephews is long gone but DD used hers for a long time. She passed it on to her brother and then it went to my youngest. She slept under it till she was 16. It was getting tattered so she folded it and put it in her closet. Go forward eight years and DGD is now living with me. She wanted a blanket to cuddle with so I sent her to the closet to get one. Out of all the cuddly warm blankets in the closet she comes back with the tattered quilt. I decided then if something could evoke that much love I wanted to get involved. That's when I started quilting.