Monday 22 September 2014

And they turned 70

The intention was for a quilt, made by me, for their 70th birthdays, which occurred during 2013.  Yep, missed their birthdays, so aimed for Christmas '13.  Was going very well, the weather stayed quite cold for Spring/Summer and then.... disaster of the quilty kind struck. 

Bobbin thread nests all over the back of the quilt and some excess fabric caught up in the bobbin area ...aarrghh....  Oh dear, what a mess!  It took quite some time to snip through all the threads to get the quilt out from under the machine, without putting a hole in the backing fabric.  I wish I had thought to take a photo of the mess, I had never seen anything like it from a sewing perspective before.

Then, the quilt and the machine both had to be dealt with separately.  Oh me, oh my.  The machine took about 45 minutes to clean up and get going again with newly wound bobbins, new needle and thread.  It took me a couple of days to painstakingly unpick the mess on the actual quilt while being ever so careful to not put a nick in either the top or backing fabric.  Being a whole-cloth quilt, I couldn't just take out and replace a piece if I nicked it.  

Of course, with the good time management skills of a quilter, it was Christmas.  The quilt was wrapped up, basting pins and all and put under the tree.   Surprise, delight and then "Oh" when the unfinished quilt was revealed.  I told Dad he should have been braver, I had closed all the basting pins and he could safely sleep under it that night.  Nope, he said he wasn't that silly!  Mum made no comment.

So, on Dads 71st birthday, this year, I gave them the completed quilt.  They both love it finished.  It is on their bed and they sleep under it every night.  Suits Mum's choice of red tones for the backing and the whole-cloth cream on cream suits her taste too.  Dad is happy because he is a crafts-person and loves hand-made things.  He also loves that she is happy!


  

Being a king size quilt, there is a lovely lot of overhang down the sides of the bed and it goes up over the pillows, just as they like it. 

Happy smiles all round. :)

1 comment:

elliek said...

Better late than never and well worth the wait. Beautiful quilt.