Lessons Learned, Part II

Remember the quilt I was making for my grandson? (Lessons Learned) It is on its way to Washington State via UPS! I can write about it and show photos here before it reaches him because… do you know a 16 year old boy who reads his grandma’s blog? No, didn’t think you did!

He choose the backing from an online company while I was visiting them over the holidays. He kept saying he wanted denim–that his “baby” quilt had denim on the back. No, it didn’t. The backing was a tone on tone blue that to him resembled denim. After his mom and I convinced him that denim would make the 100″ x 100″ quilt so heavy that he would be trapped under it, unable to turn over, he selected a dark green grunge.

He still wanted the National Parks panel on the back. I wonder what his future wife will think of this addition? To add the panel on the back, I had to cut the 108″ backing down the center, and piece the panel with the other pieces. Do you know now much I hated doing this? One of the joys of 108″ wide backing is not having to piece it! What we do for grandchildren.

Trish L, long arm quilter extraordinaire, suggested this pattern to compliment the top and the recipient.

This pattern was the right density and not girly. It was a quick turn around and now to sew on the binding. I have a love/hate relationship with binding. I love hand sewing the second edge to the back, but dread machine stitching the raw edge. This would be even more of a challenge given it was 100 inches square. I had to clean up my sewing table to give myself room to maneuver that monster under the machine.

After several episodes of 1883, Ozark and Vera, it was finished! I even embroidered his name, the date and “my title” on the back–maybe less likely to come off over the years than a sew-on label?

I had to take it to Church and hang it from the stair well to get a good photo.

It was only fitting that after all the challenges with this quilt, that the “quick” trip to the UPS store took 20+ minutes at the counter. New worker and unfamiliar software? But we all kept our cool and wished each other a good evening with smiles as I left. I wanted only good vibes going with this package.

I do realize that this quilt means a lot more to me than to a 16 year old, but someday in the future….? He has a 13 year old brother. I had better get started. It will be a whole different ballgame with him!

(New additions to the photo gallery)