Quilted Memories

Ever since my daughter outgrew her baby blankets, I’ve wanted to make a queen-sized quilt out of them so she could have her own heirloom of nostalgia that she would actually use. I even bought a cutting board for material, a four-and-a-half-inch square, and one of those pizza cutters for fabric, which I can finally take out of the package…only months before my daughter’s tenth birthday.

Never having made a quilt before, I thought it best to consult the resident expert: Google. The Cliff’s Notes say to get your fabric, cut it into squares, sew them back together ala Frankenstein style, make a sandwich with that piece, some batting, and a soft backing, add an edging and – voila! – fifteen hours later, an expert will have a quilt. Factoring in Murphy’s Law plus the fact that my daughter was my partner-in-crime, I figured it would take us a minimum of thirty hours.

Weeks earlier when I mentioned this project to a friend, she brilliantly recommended I check that my (decades-old) sewing machine (okay, fine, it is my husband’s) was functioning properly and didn’t need to be serviced. It never occurred to me that people regularly (or even irregularly) got their sewing machines serviced. I made a mental note to dig out our antiquated sewing machine from the closet…and still forgot to get it checked. When I finally dug it out of the closet last weekend, it had a very unhealthy layer of dust on it…always a good sign.

I also dug out my bag of baby blankets and realized that I had enough fabric for the front of the quilt but I still needed a backing. I also realized they could use a good wash and threw them in the washing machine.  Then I dragged my daughter to the store where she chose two different colors for the backing (because they didn’t have enough material of either fabric) …apparently, I’m making a double-sided quilt. Luckily, I had the presence of mind to buy an eight-inch plastic square so I could make the backside with eight-inch-patches instead of the smaller-and-much-more-time-consuming-four-inch-patches, which should quicken the process substantially.

I even remembered a tidbit of knowledge from the back of my mind – either from my mom or grandmother – that you should iron things before you sew them, something Google failed to mention. I therefore dug out the ironing board and iron (also my husband’s) hosting an unsurprisingly thriving farm of dust bunnies. After evicting said fabric vermin, I began ironing for the first time in perhaps fifteen years, give or take. As a jeans-and-t-shirt girl, I’ve never had much need (or desire) for ironing. Being married to a cop who has had to press his uniforms has its advantages. Even when I had to wear suits for work, he would iron them for me. I totally married up.

Anywho, about two blankets in to ironing, my daughter asked if she could help and took over the ironing while I started pizza cutting four-and-a-half-inch squares. Zoe tried her hand at cutting, but eventually settled for counting and organizing squares into her desired pattern. It took two separate evenings of cutting squares before we were ready to sew…evidently, prep time is important.

I took Home Economics in Jr. High but my memory is a little fuzzy so I referenced YouTube on how to thread my very, very old machine. I remember thinking that the bobbin seemed very tedious and I was lucky enough to find one already loaded with white thread. Two videos later, my machine was bobbin-ed and threaded. I moved the hand wheel for the needle to pick up the bobbin and…nothing. I checked my threads – still there. Re-watched the videos…yep, I did it right. Tried again…nothing.

Instead of spending more than ten minutes messing with a machine that may or may not work, I decided to cut the squares for the back side and ask my husband to look at the machine when he got home. The next morning, he got it fixed within minutes. Apparently, the bobbin was electric and did not work if it wasn’t plugged in. Other than that, I did everything right.

Luckily, sewing the squares into rows was faster than the cutting of the squares…however, the “tensioner” is semi-broken, so my thread kept snapping. I also lost count how many times I had to rethread it, all the while thinking about how the little mice in Cinderella could thread their needles so easily, which then got their “We Can Do It” song stuck in my head. I also had to reload the bobbin a few times and I am proud to say that my daughter was very excited to sew as well and, after watching me go through the process twice, she was able to successfully sew together several rows of individual squares all by herself and change the bobbin, which she loved doing. Our “four-inch-squares” vary in size a bit because our quarter-inch margins got a little creative, resulting in a rather jagged line, but instead of diminishing the value of the project, I think it only adds to its charm. Per Zoe’s design, we have one embroidered flower in the top left corner and an embroidered butterfly in the bottom corner.

While we didn’t finish our quilting project within the week, I think we got halfway there. The most fun was seeing the entire front side once it was sewn together and, while I am no seamstress, I love that my daughter eagerly helped me with the whole process. In fact, she wants to open an online sewing store with me to make quilts and things for other people.