From K - Finished: Prairie Ink Quilt

The first person to spark my interest in sewing was my grandmother. From a young age Amanda and I spent many days and nights in front of her old Singer making everything from bags to binder covers to scrunchies. She would let us pick our favourite fabrics out of the scrap bin for our mini projects, and would patiently explain each direction multiple times, all while patching my grandfathers work pants. I loved the idea of making something with a needle, a thread and some remnant scraps that no one else wanted, but I especially loved my time with Amanda and my grandma.

 

I spent most of my childhood on and off a sewing machine, but lost touch with it once sports and school and later university took over. When I picked up quilting a few years ago the first person I wanted to tell was my grandma, and I could tell she was very proud. This past year she turned 80 and I knew she would love a lap quilt to keep her warm - enter the Prairie Ink Quilt.

My grandma is a multitalented woman and could fall under a hundred titles - school teacher, published author, poet, pianist, gardener, master baker or volunteer extraordinaire just to name a few. In order to ensure I was able to capture some of her essence in her birthday quilt I decided to use the City News pattern by Cherry House Quilts, and then highlight some of her passions in the black and white prints. Since she's really more of a prairie girl and always seems to have a pen in hand, I thought a more apt name for this quilt would be Prairie Ink.

 This quilt was only the second free motion quilt I had ever worked on. I wanted something simple, repetitive and timeless, and I think these little loops worked out perfectly. I especially love the contrast that shows on the quilt backing between the the dense free motion quilting on the solids combined with the unquilted centre blocks.

On a 12 hour road trip home to see her this spring I hand bound the binding while my husband drove. By the time we made it there, I completely forgot to take 'pre-lived in' shots of the finished product. On my recently trip home last month I took a few photos, and while the wrinkles where this quilt was folded may appear somewhat less than blog worthy in some eyes, they remind me that this quilt is well loved and often used - and isn't that what we make quilts for?

Final Quilt Details:
- Quilt Name: Prairie Ink
- Finished Size: 54" x 72"
- Quilt Top Fabric: 18 Kona Solids and 18 various black and white prints
- Quilt Backing Fabric: Kona Berry, Kona Dark Violet, Michael Miller Old Script in Black
- Quilt Binding Fabric: Kona Dark Violet
- Pattern: City News by Cherry House Quilts
- Quilting: free motion little loops (quilting done by me)
- Best Category: Throw Quilt

Be sure to check out all of the beautiful quilts on electronic display over at Amy's fall Bloggers Quilt Festival. I am linking this quilt up under the Throw Quilt category.  You can find it linked as #522. I don't know about you, but tomorrow night I plan to curl up under my nearest quilt with a hot cup of cocoa to dream away my evening in all the linked up quilted treasures!