I wonder what it is about the excitement of a new grandchild that fuels the engine of "making." Before our grandson was born I crocheted him a blanket. Every single, double and half-double crochet stitch was a complete joy over the weeks it took to complete. Somehow the hands-on do-it-myself-ness of the experience seemed to increase my love for this little fellow I had yet to meet face-to-face.
And now, it's Hannah's turn. My daughter and son-in-law discovered that a little girl was on the way and named her Hannah. It's been so sweet during this waiting time wondering what she will be like, what she'll look like. I'm so looking forward to holding her [she's due to arrive any day now!]. However, because that Life annoyance called arthritis has taken away my ability to crochet, I decided to make our new granddaughter a quilt. My daughter had chosen to decorate Hannah's room with a palette of black, white and pink in a sort of French floral motif. We worked together to make a ruffle for the crib mattress and bumpers - those soft pads that coccoon the edges of the crib. I got some of the same fabrics and added a couple more to design the quilt.
Now, I'm not a quilter. In fact, this was my first one and I wasn't quite sure how to go about it. So I decided to approach it like I do my mosaic work. I sketched out the basic size and spread out the various fabrics to get a feel for placement. Then I needed to brush up my skill with the sewing machine as I haven't done any sewing in quite a while and wanted to use some of the built-in specialty stitches.
This fabric was whimsical and very cute and girlie, so I decided to put it in the center. Because the other fabrics were patterned and black and white I used a strip of pale pink to both highlight the center and give it a space of its own. Along the main flower "stems" I did a bit of specialty stitching.
Even though the quilt is not big - it's 30" x 40" about - it took me four days to make. Lots of thread...LOTS of thread and dreams of this sweet little one on her way to join us in this world went into the finished blanket. I've seen some gorgeous quilts in my time, even some fine art quilts by a gifted artist in the San Francisco Bay Area; but my little quilt has something none of the others have...a home with Hannah.
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