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September 24, 2008
I blame Brie
Over a month ago, we finally made it to Houston to visit the family. What with the pregnancy, baby having, baby shrieking and life in general, we just hadn't managed the trip. Usually, when we go to visit family, we really don't have time to see friends, too, but we added an extra day to this trip and managed to visit Susan and her family, and then spent the afternoon and evening with Brie and her family. It was lovely.
While we were at Brie's house, she showed me how she was redecorating her daughter's room. She hadn't been able to find a quilt for Emma's big girl bed in the right colors to match the rest of her room, so she made one. Made. And then she said it was easy, and showed me some of the other quilts she had made in the same style.
Just cut out some squares! she said. It's SO easy she said.
And I believed her.
I was having some trouble finding a quilt I wanted for Owen's room, which I needed to pick out so I could pick a paint color. Nevermind that the kid isn't going to use the quilt for a couple more years, I want to paint the room, and it's way easier to match a paint color to comforter than find a comforter that happens to match your paint. I thought I might do what she did, and make one, but since I've successfully sewn one curtain since high school, I thought I should practice first.
And that's when I opened my big mouth in front of the girls. I told them I would make a quilt for each of their babies, thinking I could work the kinks out on some tiny little projects.
Yeah. For Katie's quilt, the blue one, I needed 112 squares of fabric, plus 56 of batting. Thank goodness I finished hers completely before I cut the squares for Jamie's, because it ended up way bigger than I intended. The squares ended up all slightly different sizes, which in turn caused the rows to be off by a lot. I don't think Katie or her baby really noticed.
Jamie's quilt went a bit better. I learned a few things from Katie's, including not to use the one fabric that was a pain in the butt to tear into squares. I also got the rows lined up much better.
The pillows were just a bonus of the leftover squares.
I'm glad I made them. The girls love them, and in spite of my complaints, I actually had some fun, plus I'm kinda proud that I managed to sew. The sewing machine is a scary beast, you know. It was also nice showing the girls that I have some skills, that we don't have to buy everything, and that they can do it too, someday. You know, when Grandma teaches them!
I'm also really glad I found a comforter that I really like for Owen's room.
Posted by me at September 24, 2008 9:28 AM