Kelsey's Quilt
/I don't believe I have ever shown off one of my quilts on my blog, but I am also a quilter! (Actually, I learned to sew quilts before anything else.) After a really tough Spring semester my sophomore year of college, I sold back all the books I could find from the first two years, went straight to Walmart, and bought the only sewing machine I could afford. That summer, I taught myself to quilt.I made baby quilts for my nieces and nephews, but the pre-quilting era kids have been skipped. So, for the girls, I have been making larger quilts for their 12th birthdays. Kelsey’s was just a bit overdue. I started it in April of 2009 and I just finished it. The piecing went really quickly! Basic nine patches in light blue and lilac, set on point with a cream background.
See, it took so long because I like to hand quilt motifs on the open squares. This intricate flower one was totally my own design and each block varies.
I like how the colored thread stands out against the cream fabric.
I put a few butterflies in there, too. I really punished myself with this one, and it would sit for months at a time with me having no ambition to work on it. However, I use washable crayola markers to draw on my quilting lines and after nearly 2 years, it didn't want to wash out! It took a lot of washing and soaking and OxiClean to get most of it out.
This is a terrible cropped in picture, but I designed a little motif to put her name in it that coordinated.
And of course I mitered the corners, too. I handstitch my bindings on around the back. (And that is some of Baby#5 under the green shirt there- makes a nice photo prop!)
I try to embroider a special message on the backs of these, and this one included Isaiah 40:8
