Christmas present reveal

Last Christmas I made three quilts for gifts. I believe I was suffering from a bout of temporary insanity when I decided that would be a good idea.

I got about five hours of sleep in the two days before Christmas to finish the quilts. The first was a queen-sized quilt for my parents that had 72 pieces in each 16 inch block. For the record, I did not realize there were 72 pieces in each block until I started putting the units on my design wall and even though I had more than 40 fabrics in the quilt, the same fabric was showing up twice in each block.

The second was a twin-sized quilt that made a gigantic “I” in blue and orange fabrics for the Illini. The quilt was for my brother- and sister-in-law who are big fans of the college team. That one was a pain to put together because the pattern hadn’t been tested. So the week before Christmas I discovered I didn’t have enough fabric for the back. Don’t ever send your husband to the quilt shop looking for an orange batik. You will get a call from the owner asking if you’ve lost your mind.

The final quilt, which was just a top on Christmas morning, was another Illini quilt, made from T-shirts for my husband. For the sashing, I cut up two pairs of pajama pants that he kept wearing even though there were holes in them. The final straw was when he sat down while the neighbor was over and I could see straight through to his underpants where the crotch seam was supposed to be. He thought they were lost in a giant pile of laundry until he saw that quilt.

So now you know why I needed a break from quilting for Christmas. But now on to the big reveal of what I made that was a fabric object, but wasn’t a quilt and went with another object I bought at my local quilt guild …

I made aprons for all the women in my family and gave them a copy of “Cooking with Quilters” which is filled with recipes compiled by the Mississippi Valley Quilters Guild. Everybody got a different apron, but they were all made from the Butterick pattern number B5660. I helped to edit the cookbook for its third printing and let me tell you, there are some drool-worthy recipes in there.

If you’d like your own copy of “Cooking with Quilters,” you can order one by mail. Just send a check for $20 per book plus $5 made out to MVQG and mail it to this address:

Mississippi Valley Quilters Guild

P.O. Box 2636

Davenport, IA 52809

(Visited 106 times, 1 visits today)

You might be interested in

LEAVE YOUR COMMENT

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *