I lived in California until a was seven. My mom's best friend, Sherlyn, had 3 kids around our ages that we spent all our time with. My mom recently went to California to visit Sherlyn and was bragging to her about my quilting (as all moms do).
Sherlyn's mother had hand pieced a quilt top that Sherlyn had always wanted to get quilted. Sherlyn's mother, Charlotte, created the quilt while caring for Sherlyn's mother-in-law who had Alzheimer's. This quilt top means a lot to the family since it has memories of both grandmothers. The quilt had been stored in a plastic bag in the garage for years since she didn't know the first place to start with getting it quilted.
Sherlyn was impressed with the pictures my mom shared and asked if she thought I would be willing to finish the quilt for her. It would be a great heirloom for the family, especially completed.
I took on the challenge, reminding them that I am new to quilting, so it would not be perfect.
The quilt top was not complete. It was just a bunch of random blocks that Charlotte had put together. I had to cut off some so that it would be squared off. The fabric used was a real mixture of fabrics (not much quilters cotton that I'm used to). I decided to do an overall quilting design that might help pull everything together into a unified quilt. When taking Leah Day's Craftsy class, Free Motion Quilting a Sampler, I found that the wondering clover design was pretty easy for me to do. I thought the flower like clover would complement the quilt well. So that is what I did.
Picking the backing was a little more difficult. Sherlyn expressed that some of the fabric used in the quilt top was not her taste, so I went with a more contemporary fabric, with some of the colors from the quilt top. That way, if she didn't like the top, she would reverse it and have a different look.
For the binding, I went with a fabric I found in Paducah, KY when we did a trip there to Hancock's of Paducah. (By the way, if you haven't been to Hancock's of Paducah, this place was amazing!) I think the binding really complemented the quilt top.
This was by far the largest quilt top I tried to quilt. Luckily my Singer 8500Q has a large throat, I was able to work on the quilt with ease. The middle was a little difficult; however, I think the machine would be able to fit a much larger quilt. The final size is approximately 90x85.
I can't wait to ship this off to Sherlyn. I hope she is really happy with it and her family will treasure it for years to come.
