Sunday, February 15, 2009

At Last - a finished quilt!!!

I started this quilt about two years ago. First I had made a Santa quilt . . .

using panels of Woodland Santa and his friends . . .

Our oldest daughter liked the design - and wanted one (but not seasonal) for her office. She is a massage therapist and has a charmingly decorated office.

I found the panels with vegetable seed packets and we picked colors to go with the panels . . .

The seed packets . . .



I had a lot of help with this quilt -

Ben helping pick fabrics . . .

Lots of fabrics to pick from . . .

OK - that is enough fabric picking . . .
These photos were taken in March 2007 - when he was 2 years old. . .

Time to get busy making the quilt . . .

Trying the quilt on for size . . .

Tasting the quilt . . .

Helping Grammy lay out the quilt pieces . . .

There - that's just right . . .

The whole quilt - don't you think Ben did a great job helping Grammy put the quilt together? I think it was super for a two year old.

The the quilt went off to Julie - in Idaho. She is a fabulous machine quilter - using only her home machine. She's done several other quilts for me and I love all of them.

I was so excited to get it back in the mail last week - quilted and ready to bind.

All the binding strips . . .

Stitching the scrappy binding together on my trusty Featherweight . . .

Stitching the binding to the front of the quilt . . .

Binding pinned on the quilt - ready for hand stitching. Ben wanted to help with this and was very cautious of the pins - he calls them pokies.

Close-up of the quilting - you can see the amazingly straight lines that Julie did - and the pretty variegated thread. Julie has such good design ideas for quilting.

Another close up . . .

Trying to pick up the quilt . . .

Ben decided that it was a great quilt to hide under . . . once it was finished and all the pokies were taken out . . .

Popping out!!! Look how that boy has changed in two years!!!

The quilt makes a good garage for Ben's school bus - and some pretty fabrics for a roof for the bus.

It is a wonderful quilt - and I had a wonderful time putting it together
. Thanks Julie and Ben, for all the help. Who helps you make your quilts?

10 comments:

Jane's Fabrics and Quilts said...

What a super quilt and hoe fun to have Ben help, very special, I have my 13 year old daughter help me with color choices, she just has an eye for it and it is fun to ask for her advice. great job!!

Browndirtcottage said...

What a great quilt Joann!..and 'mr'
Ben was such a helper too. I think
that makes the quilt so special
since Ben was there to help out...
especially enduring all the 'pokies'. I guess he is as I
pictured him only with lighter
colored hair.
This was certainly a wonderful story to go along with your wondeful quilt. I'm sure your
daughter is very proud of it!!!

Moon Daisies said...

What a beautiful quilt, you are a very clever lady, and what a blessing to have such a lovely grandson.

Purple Pam said...

Love both quilts. I like the stars in the borders of your daughter's quilt. I have Debbi Mumm plates with the Santas you have in your quilt! She really gets around, doesn't she? Of course, your helper, Ben, is absolutely darling. How lucky you are to have such a good helper.

Aunt Jo said...

Both quilts are just gorgeous! Ben is a very handsome young man.

Mrs. Jackie Sue said...

Yeah, it feels good to finish a quilt!!!! They are GREAT I just love it and thanks for shairng all the great photos!!! you recorded it nicely!

*HUGS*
Jackie

Dorothy said...

That's a lovely quilt JoAnn. Julie did a wonderful job of the quilting. Ben is such a cutie!

Sharyn Mallow Woerz said...

Great Job! I love getting my Christmas quilt out the 1st of December and putting it on the bed.
Sharyn/KalamaQuilts

Sabina said...

Gorgeous quilt - I really enjoyed all the photos!! Ben is too cute!!

:)

The Numismatist said...

Cute quilt and adorable helper!