Janet's House

A Quilt for a College Bound Guy

The quilt I’ve made for my son is finished and I couldn’t be happier. I wrote about my beginning steps here and I’m quite excited that I finished with time to spare; he doesn’t leave for another month. I’ve made other patchwork pieces over the years but this piece truly went together as promised in the book The Practical Guide to Patchwork by Elizabeth Hartman. Step by step is the way to go and Elizabeth makes it clear with great photographs, drawings and instructions.  A new friend did a beautiful job of the machine quilting and got me started on the binding which I finished last evening.

My son will take it with him to University of Montana this fall and it will probably never look like this again, but that’s okay. The whole history behind quilts is all about their durability and warmth due to the layers of fabrics and stitching. I think this one may just last many many years, particularly because it’s also made with love. Better used than tucked away.

The back of the quilt was fun because it’s truly a patchwork. I was considering what fabric to use and realized just how many scraps I had left over and decided to make use of them. I just kept piecing strips and pieces, watching it grow until it fit. One piece not used on the front was a black and white web design, a little nod to my son’s love of Spiderman. Subtle, but it’s there just for him.                                             I love personal touches so I signed the back of the quilt with Love, from Mom.

 

                                                 And with that, off he will go to college, leaving me with a very empty nest.

Pieces of Patchwork

I’m happy to report that I’ve started working on my sons quilt. If you remember from here I’m making a quilt to send my son off to college next fall. He’ll be attending the University of Montana and we thought it would be fun to make the quilt with the school colors which coincidently are the quite manly shades of maroon and silvery gray.

 

He was with me when we picked out the first few fabrics but we both agreed that there needed to be a couple of prints with white. Otherwise the quilt would end up too dark. The white is such a nice contrast with the dark border I think.

 

 

Anyway, progress is being made. I love and highly recommend the book that I’m using.  It’s titled The Practical Guide to Patchwork and its author Elizabeth Hartman has filled it with beautiful quilts and inspiration. Everything is there for the beginner that I am, including lots of suggestions and the “whys” of the instructions. It’s written simply and is full of pictures, organization ideas and step-by-steps to insure success.

I was looking through the book and found the link to her blog: http://www.ohfransson.com/. It too is full of fun ideas and creative ways to use fabric. She lives in Portland; how about that??

I can’t wait to make a table runner with the bright, sunny fabrics I’ve been collecting. 2012 Christmas gifts?? Why yes, quite possibly!