.png)
In November 2021, I found out I would be a grandma, Hip Hip Hooray! I could hardly wait. My mind began to dream about my coming grandchild and my desire to make a special quilt.
We were blessed to be at the ultrasound appointment with Tiffany and Jimmy while we were visiting for Christmas and found out they were expecting a boy.
Tiffany asked if I would make a quilt to welcome him into the world. I responded, "I've already been thinking about it."
Tiffany had picked out a couple of designs with mountains in the background on Etsy.
We went shopping for fabric for the special quilt and found a flannel piece with mountains for the backing, tree fabric, and more.
Later I found a light blue batik that was perfect for the sky and another teal blue that would be great for the water. I just love batiks because of the watery hand-died effect.
I was a bit nervous when I saw the pattern she selected (The Mountains are Calling by Janet Nesbitt) was labeled as an Intermediate Level. After all, I still thought of myself as a beginner quilter. However, after conquering the quilt for Jimmy with the Koi Fish (Swimming in Circles), I was willing to accept the challenge.
Then, Tiffany said, "Oh, by the way Mom, can you make some modifications? I want you to extend the mountains here, remove the blue triangles in the sky, make the sun smaller, change the ground to a lake, remove the fox, and add a couple of trees. Is that possible?"
What???? Oh Tiffany, you have such confidence in me, don't you?
I guess if I'm on this journey of being an "intermediate quilter", I'm going to have to go all in.
Finally, I took the plunge in February and purchased the pattern. I read it multiple times getting more and more nervous about how I was going to pull it off.
I found myself procrastinating and tackling several other projects instead of this one, but I really wanted to make a special quilt for my grandson.
Several months passed and still no quilt had been started. In April, we traveled again to Southern California and celebrated Tiffany's baby shower. This gave me an opportunity to go over all the details one last time with Tiffany and purchase a few more fabric pieces.
Once I returned home, I knew I couldn't wait any longer. I didn't want William to arrive before his quilt was finished. This was one quilt "mountain" that had to be climbed.
I made a copy of the pattern so I could mark off the sections as I went and made a chart of which fabrics represented the colors in the pattern. This got a bit tricky because of the modifications Tiffany wanted. Thankfully, three-fourths of the quilt could be done according to the pattern. Okay, I was finally making progress.
I cut all of the pieces out ahead of time. I was mindful that some of the fabrics were directional. Cutting the pieces for this pattern was a mind bender. The larger triangles for the trees and mountains were to be cut one direction and the smaller triangles were to be cut in the opposite direction (literally upside down when you put them together).
As with any mountain expedition, there are obstacles. As much as I had tried, I still had some of the tree fabric where the trees would be upside down when I went to stitch them together. I weathered that challenge and salvaged the fabric pieces to make everything right. Yes, all of the trees are standing upright now.
I made the extra trees Tiffany wanted. The quilt was coming together.
Next, came making the ground a lake instead and removing the fox. So far, so good.
I extended the mountain as requested. That took some creative thinking and planning but that was soon accomplished.
Finally, the last modification of removing the sun in the pattern and swapping for a different design. Tiffany had picked out a paper-pieced pattern of a sun. I had never done paper piecing before but had plans to do some in the future. Keyword here, FUTURE! YouTube to the rescue ~ I watched multiple videos and felt prepared to give it a try.
Hurray! The sun was finished. I laid out the design of the sun and the rest of the quilt and how it would be put together and sent the photo to Tiffany. I had a feeling as I sent it that the sun's proportion was really too big for the design.
Tiffany was in agreement.
So, it was back to the copier to reduce the pattern size for the sun. Okay, now that is done. I just have to add back in the stitch line at a 1/4 in.
It was well worth it. The new smaller sun looked much better.
I did SID around the trees and the sun rays, quilted straight lines for the mountains using a walking foot and did FMQ for the water and sky.
After one month of stitching and modifying, the quilt was finished. I had made it to the top of the "quilt mountain."
I must admit, I love the changes Tiffany requested for William's quilt. And the quilt colors complement the colors in William's room.
This is the story of climbing the mountain of making a quilt for my first grandchild, advancing to intermediate quilter, modifying a pattern, and doing my first paper piecing project.
.png)
.png "William growing tall like the mountains")
Every Quilt Tells A Story
Whether it is the fabrics chosen, the design, the colors, the occasion, the recipient, or the people I quilt with, every quilt tells a story. This blog captures in images and words what has been created for others and for my own home through the hum and stitching of my sewing machine.
Comments
Post a Comment