After finishing the small needle books that I blogged about here - I was inspired to keep sewing. That little red riding hood fabric is so cute and has been in my small and modest stash since I started sewing. That and posy by Aneela Hoey at comfortstiching.com were the two fabric lines that I bought up. Two quilts were intended for those lines. A quilt for my sister - which I finished and have gifted to her. And a quilt for my niece... the first baby in our family.
While all three of my sister's children are special to me - my niece holds a special place in my heart. She was the first baby in the family. I was pretty young when she was born. I think in my very early twenties. I remember ditching morning classes so I could go over to my sister's house and sneak in and snuggle with the baby for a bit. I remember taking her out of her bassinet and preparing her a breastmilk bottle and feeding her (which now that I'm looking back was quiet rude since my sister was breastfeeding and would probably have liked to have relief without needing to pump!) She was my little shadow growing up. She would follow me around the house on her little unsteady toddler legs. Oh how like yesterday it seems!
When I moved to the islands that little girl was only five. Just starting school. Now, that little girl is ten. She has reached the double digits in age - oh my! She has changed so much. She loves talking on the phone, is into style, and reads ferociously and writes creatively. I'm not sure if this fabric is a good selection choice anymore for this girl - but in my mind's eye she is still that little baby that use to follow me around on unsteady legs - and my selfish heart wants to make her a quilt that sees her as I see her. Later there will be time for a quilt that better suits her age. But for now, I want to be selfish and gift the one using the fabric that I had intended for her.
It has been a difficult lesson in learning how to purchase for projects. When I first started out buying, all I knew is that I wanted to make a quilt using a specific line. No thought to a pattern or a reference to yardage. All I knew was that I needed to acquire fabric. And acquire I did. Now I have learned a lot as my style and preference developed. I realized that I don't like need a lot of character prints - that I tend to like a lot of small scale prints in my work. And that solids are wonderful to give the eye a rest from the prints. Now that I know this - I'm more careful in how I purchase.
I made the disappearing nine block squares a while ago. Not loving how the colors came together, they sat in my work basket for a couple of years. After working with the fabric in my small needle books, I wanted to work more with it. I mean - how cute is little red and those mushrooms! So out came the blocks - and without a goal or a vision intended I just started to sew. I knew that I would need boarders because in order for this quilt to fit her twin size bed, I needed it to be larger. So I added boarders - four to be exact. I didn't like the original red that I chose for the last boarder - it just looked so busy and so very Micky Mouse. So I chopped off quite a bit and added the blue boarder. I actually stole the blue boarder from the backing so now I am in the process of piecing a back for the quilt.
My work basket is full with this project. My heart is full with thoughts of my little sweet niece. My mind is pushing me to finish so that I can send this quilt home when my father leaves at the end of the month. Oh how I hope this will be!
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