The quilt that almost was, and the quilt that almost wasn't

This blog entry will have a bit of irony to it (situational irony, for those ex-AP students who might be reading). I am going to tell the story of 2 quilts here: 1 is the quilt with the notorious mint green thread on a dominantly sage green background, and the other is a quilt for my Grandma.

When I was sick with morning sickness while pregnant with Steiger, my mom saved Jay (and I) by feeding us (or him mostly, because I could barely eat). When I was too round and tired to pick up groceries, she picked them up and dropped them off. When, after 26 hours of labor and 4 hours of pushing and surrender to unplanned c-section, Steiger was born, she took on nursing duty for 2 weeks, reminiscing the days of sleepless nights she had spent some 30 years earlier.

So I made it my mission to show my appreciation. I found this great fabric line called "Glace." It's Christmasy, but not overly so, and I thought it felt like her house. So I bought it. The design evolved while I was up with Steiger (I started this in August, before he was predictably sleeping through the night), and I would lie there, distracting myself from my fatigue by planning the design. As a new quilter (this is my third quilt), I did not have an overly extensive background of experience to incorporate into my dreaming, but I came up with something I thought would be really nice. It's a disappearing 9-patch, on point, with icy-green flowers for sashing, brown bouquets for setting triangles, a deep red tonal for a skinny border, with my favorite -- a perfect "verglas green" damask set wide for the final touch. Red berries will make the binding (to be completed soon). The back is from the same line, but in flannel holly berries.
I took it to the quilters a couple weeks ago, so excited for when I could give it to her. My heart sank when I picked it up, and immediately saw minty/limey green thread all over the surface. I felt sick.

The quilt still looks beautiful from a distance. The border is directional. To all you students out there -- there ARE times you actually do use math in real life. I also used it to make the setting triangles, because it is a rather complicated equation to get them right (add, divide, and cut).

Here's a shot where you can see the blocks closer:


Now for the part that makes me sick still when I look at it. You can see the color is just all *wrong.* When I called the quilter, her explanation was that "You're not going to match all the colors in your quilt," (thank you Capt. Obvious... but the dominant color would be nice... and FYI, that thread matches NO colors), and "it was the green we had." (I would have happily bought thread and taken it to her, had I known). Ugh. You can kind of see it in these pictures.

On the flannel back

My solution to this is to take my mom to the quilters, and she can pick out some fabric she likes... and I will make her another.

Now for the quilt that almost wasn't...

My grandma Dine (Dad's mom) has been on my quilting list (longer than time I have to get done). I look for fabric for her, and had a couple things in mind. This November, she went in to have a heart stent. That turned in to a double-bypass. That turned in to a 5-way bypass. That turned in to opening her back up. That turned in to "she might not make it through the night." That turned in to a stay in ICU. Then the regular hospital wing. Then a rehab hospital. She's scheduled to come home on Tuesday. And this will be waiting for her. (If we don't take it to her today).

The back:

It's from a line called "Aster Manor." I had a small fat-quarter bundle, and made this quilt very quickly. In faith. She was in very critical condition, and I prayed and quilted. It might sound cheesy, but with each piece going together, I prayed for her. I'm grateful I have the chance to give this to her.

Here she and Steiger's Great-Grandpa Jim are with Steiger a couple months ago.

And now for a few of Steiger from last night and a couple days ago:

He gives "kisses" now too...

Daddy set up his high chair last night! (while Steiger played in the box)

Until next time... we're outta here! :)