The cotton threads have been vacuumed up, the second machine put away and my sewing room is showing very little evidence that me and my girl were ever constructing a quilt in there. But we did, and it’s finished …
You’ll know from my last post that quilting isn’t really my thing, but we muddled through and created a really meaningful, personal and beautiful quilt (if I say so myself!). Once we’d sewn the strips (see last post) together and made one complete sheet, my girl was sent off to pack while I put it all together.
Choosing a backing fabric took a lot of thought as I wanted to use something I already had in my stash. Luckily this lovely stripe from Tinsmiths screamed “quilt me” and any thoughts of the summer skirt it was intended for, vanished into thin air. To make it the right size, I added width and length with a patchwork border of fabrics we’d used in the main quilt.
Once I’d got the batting sandwiched between the top and bottom layers, I trimmed the edges square and started to tack them together. I’m sure there is a ‘proper’ way to do this but I basically sat in the middle and smoothed all the ripples to the outside edges until it was as flat as a pancake, then I rolled the ends tightly (thank you for that top tip Mum), towards the centre and tacked from the middle out until it was secure.
With sore fingers, a bit of eye strain and only two days before departure, I whisked it back to the sewing machine and began to quilt.
My machine has never taken such a beating. I propped the quilt up on a chair and fed through the layers, row after row, clunkety, clunk! Finally when all the rows were complete, I made some bias binding from the off cuts and completed the make. Here it is finished and drying in the autumnal sunshine …
In the panic packing that preceded her departure, I completely forgot to take any photos of it dry, so thank you to My Girl for sending me some pics of it in situ …
It was a brilliant project to do and a pleasure to make it with my gorgeous girl. Apparently, it gets quite cold up north, so snuggle up poppet and thank you for the sewing fun times for sure, I love you! X
sylkotwist 
Amy, that’s lovely and will be much more meaningful because of its history, and isn’t that authentic quilt making? Now it seems to be big business. It’s so nice to see those traditional methods.
On another note, that is the tidiest student bedroom I’ve ever seen!
Thank you Annie and I don’t think it’s stayed that tidy!
Oh, this is so lovely! I’m not one for quilting either, but this is perfect! I have made several in the past and corners rarely meet. Your girl will treasure this always and I love that it’s a good size that she can use in a future home. Hope you’re not missing each other too much! X
Yes, hopefully it stays around for years, thank you!
Such a special project for you guys! This will be seriously treasures for such a long time 😀 And I agree with Annie, neatest students bedroom EVER!
Ah, thank you Amanda and don’t worry, she is normal, the room is not so neat anymore!
This quilt is amazing!! You’re such a star to make this with your girl. I’m not much of a quilter either (having made exactly one quilt!), and I could feel the dread when I read the bit about only having two days to do the quilting! Oh, how I recall trying to shove so much quilt under my machine – and my quilt was a lot smaller! And that’s a great tip about rolling the quilt sandwich up before basting. I shall remember that if I ever take the head-staggers and decide to make another one.
Thank you Lynne, I think it will be a while before I make another!
Such a lovely and special thing to do with your daughter.
Thank you, I feel very lucky!
Hope you’ll be back sewing again soon!
I’ve only just discovered your blog through a pin on Pinterest, and I’m so glad I did! Happily clicking through and loving all your sewing. The finished quilt is gorgeous, and how special that you made it together. I recently made my first ever quilt too (definitely not a stellar quilter!) but I loved the process and the finished result was so worth it. Well done on yours, it’s beautiful xx