Quilt for Grandma

I learned how to sew from my mother.  She in was taught by her mother, my grandmother.  For a long time I had wanted to sew something for my grandmother, but I never knew what I should make.  During my last visit with her I noticed two wooden end-tables in her living room.  I sneakily measured them, tucking away the numbers for later use.  I thought that I could make her a little quilt for one of the end tables.

I don’t remember where I found the cut-out below, I think it came from a design magazine.  I liked the colours, the shading and the shapes of the leaves and flowers.  It became my initial inspiration, leading to the embroidery.

My grandmother’s place is pretty stereotypical grandmother style: pastels, a bit dated, but cozy and welcoming.  I wanted the quilt to fit in, in her living room, but also show my style (a mixture of organic and geometric).  Rooting through my fabric I found some suitable pieces; pastel cottons, the strong green and some old floral remnant that I inherited from my other grandmother (it just goes to show that you never know when you’ll use a little piece of some fabric, so you should keep it!).

For the quilting, I did mostly in the ditch along the seams.  To add another level of detail and reinforce the organic motif I added some hand quilting copying the flower shape.

I pinned the paper shape to the fabric and quilted around it, cutting away pieces as I went, using it as a guide.

The quilt has been mailed off and through the grapevine I heard that my grandmother really likes in, in fact she suggested that I make her a matching one for the other end table!