Monday, August 31, 2009

The Tale of a Last Minute Shower Gift

Last week Tuesday morning I received a last minute invitation to a bridal shower for the coming Friday night. The actual invitation was sent to our old address and some how was not forwarded. Most people would head over to Target or Bed Bath Beyond and pick up a gift. Easy-Peasy with time to spare. I could not do that, however, since I am cursed/blessed with many, many creative bones. Some might call it personal vanity, but I pride myself in giving homemade gifts for new brides and mommys-to-be. Oh, I'll add a cookbook or some baby socks, but 80-90% of the gift has to be made-by-me.


The limited time frame did not deter me. By Tuesday afternoon I had the quilt cut out. Wednesday morning it was completely pieced and ready for machine quilting. Thursday I machine quilted it, cut, sewed, and pressed the binding strips. Friday morning I sewed on the binding and in the afternoon hand stitched it to the back. Finished, just in time. =)


The fabric collection is called "Daydream Catcher" by Heidi Grace (Joann Fabrics). I did not pre-wash the fabric as I planned to wash the entire quilt after I machine quilted it to give it a slight vintage look. It worked out somewhat as I planned. At the last minute, I decided to use a sheet instead of making a trip to Joann's for coordinating fabric to use as the backing. The sheet was not 100% cotton and didn't allow the quilt top and batting to shrink as much as I wanted. Lesson learned ... I won't do that again. =)

It's a very nice sized quilt - 44X44 inches. Big enough to cover the back of a couch but small enough to be placed on a table on point. The center blocks are 7 1/2" unfinished/7" finished and they are bordered with 3" unfinished/2 1/2" finished strips.

Love,

Erin

4 comments:

Sarah Faith said...

I can't believe you actually pieced the binding too. I would never have the patience for that part.

Oh and by the way I'm totally making sure you get an invite to my next baby shower or christening or something. ;-)

Mary said...

looks great! for sheets for backing, target @home collection sells single sheets, nice 200 thread count 100% cotton sheets for a good price- around $9-10 for a queen size, which allows for a full size quilt or several smaller ones. I've been using them for a few months now!

Erin said...

I love scrappy bindings, but it's mainly b/c I'm frugal. Why buy an extra 1/2-1 yard fabric when you can use up all the little bits?

I'm going to do a quilt giveaway this fall, so keep reading my blog. =)

Erin said...

Mary, that's a great idea!

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