I mentioned we went to visit our son. Coincidentally, we visited three quilts I’ve made for him.
The first one is actually a comforter. I made it for him when I was a new quilter and he was in high school. I made nine 9-patches of 8″ patches and set the 9-patch blocks in a 3×3 layout. Five of the big 24″ blocks are in solid navy and a dark blue print. The other four blocks are in solid dark green and a dark green print. Solid navy bordered the whole to make a cover that is 88″ square. I used fat, fluffy polyester batting and a navy flannel sheet for the back. It was so big and the batting was so poofy, I knew I’d never get it quilted. Instead I yarn-tied it.
As humble as it is, it is his favorite of the three quilts. I know why. Jim and I slept under it for almost two weeks. It is soft and cuddly, and very lightweight due to minimal piecing and the (now nearly non-existent) batting.
The second one I made as his college graduation gift. I designed it myself using EQ7, and I must have tried dozens of iterations before deciding on the final version. I wrote more about it here, including the design inspirations and the construction process.
[Son’s] Flight. 81″ x 81″. Finished in 2012. Photo by Jim Ruebush.
For Son. 68″ x 68″. November 2014. Photo by Jim Ruebush.
I wrote more about this quilt here.
It’s always fun to see the quilts I’ve made, especially knowing that they are used and loved. All three of these quilts fit that bill.
Do you ever get to visit quilts you’ve made?
Catbird Quilt Studio 
So far I have not had the opportunity to visit quilts I’ve made. I’m hoping this year during the holidays I’ll get to go back and see my daughter and visit a quilt I gave my granddaughter last Christmas. It was the second one I planned and designed myself but it took me seven years learning how to quilt before I was confident enough to complete it. It is by far my favorite.
I hope you see it (and family) soon!
As I try to give my quilts only to people I believe will treasure them, I’ve had the pleasure of seeing them on the walls of relatives and friends. Maybe they pull them out of the closet when they know I’m to visit. My son uses the bed quilt I made him simply because he’s too lazy to buy anything else. I have no idea what’s happened to quilts I’ve donated to charitable causes for fund raising.
I’m actually okay with them only pulling them out when they know I’ll be there. At least that means they remember it’s from me! 😉
Hum! I like the ‘flight’ quilt too – pattern and colours.
thanks
I especially like the Flight quilt–I’ve always liked these quilts that appear to have curves when all the cutting is straight! Sounds like you had a good visit with your quilts (oh, and your son!)
I love those curves, too. I made a Tennessee Waltz quilt for one of my daughters, before I made his. It uses a simple snowball block as the alternate, rather than a shoofly. But I love it, too.
Some I get to visit, some to actually sleep under, and some I only see in the background on Skype! I have an early quilt like the one you describe for your son. It’s actually pieced from scraps of fine wool challis, and at that stage I completely didn’t know what I was doing. Once it was done I thought I’d never make another, it had given me such trouble! Luckily, the quilting bug was too strong and once I’d discovered cotton, things went along much better.
Your wool quilt sounds like my first quilt, such a trouble I thought I would never make another!
I didn’t realise till I tried cotton that massive fraying of all the pieces wasn’t actually inevitable, and that distortion and stretching didn’t need to happen either. What a stick I made for my own back… I still have that quilt, and it still gets used – it’s wool, after all, and very warm!