Interlude

by Jen
(WA)

This is my second quilt. My first quilt is shared here also and is called Traveling Stars. I made "Traveling Stars" to learn from mistakes on before tackling this oversized king memory quilt for my husband and I.

I wanted to make us a quilt that would incorporate our love for all things quilt, and additionally our love for our son who passed away from cancer 6.5 years ago.

His favorite song was "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and one of his favorite animals were ducks. I wanted to incorporate colors that we three love and textures that were interesting and memorable to the time he spent on earth.

This is a design that was worked out as I was piecing it. I began not really knowing what the finished quilt would look like. Just worked my way from the center out implementing different design elements that I saw and liked on other quilts. I spent hours just looking at quilts and blocks for ideas of how to fill the spaces as I went.

The quilt top went from sewing room to bed top endlessly to test design elements and colors. I am sure my husband grew weary of me calling him to look at this and that over and over. But alas, it is finally done. It has taken two months start to finish.

One thing I knew I wanted the quilt to have from the very beginning was an attached dust ruffle. I had a bedspread that had one decades back that remains a favorite in my mind and this worked out beautifully. I did have some issues with the fabrics laying flat in places so there are some "boo-boos" in the top that did not quilt out. I try to ignore them, my husband says they are fine. Also, because I had no idea of where I was going with the design, I ran out of certain fabrics that I could not get more yardage for.

It's amazing how hard turquoise is to match!

I am apparently not much of a pattern person, but I digress. I enjoy letting things "happen" or "come to me" because it feels more natural that way.

I quilted this with a little old Pfaff Hobbymatic 803 and that little machine kept up with every stitch well.

Wrestling such a large quilt on such a small machine was no easy task but persistence pays off. I quilted this with a walking foot and also a darning foot. I was able to incorporate some interesting designs into this vs. "Traveling Stars" with the free motion foot. I placed little hands in strategic locations on the quilt and considering the fact that I am legally blind, they actually look like little hands. I was also able to do some leaves on vines that looked astonishingly good as well.

The process of making this has been quite emotional at times as you might expect. The meaning of this quilt's name "Interlude" is this: I see the time in which I have lived and will continue to live life without my son's physical presence an interlude. One day we will be together again and the interlude will end.

Until then, I know where he is and he knows where I am.

UPDATE:

From the Editor: I am so happy to share that Jen continues to grow as a quilter and has finished her third quilt, Daniel's Quilt. She is an inspiration to us all!

~ Julie Baird

This article was printed from Generations-Quilt-Patterns.com

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