Monday, April 1, 2013

Laura's Quilt is FINALLY DONE!

My daughter, Laura is my little side-kick that you can see with me in the "About Me" photo to the right. Laura is 26 years old, deaf and mentally "challenged." She functions on the level of a five-year old and we communicate with her using sign language. Whatever I do, Laura wants to do too! So she carries around her little stitchery projects to work on and she also sews on her little Elna sewing machine whenever I let her.

One of my goals for this quarter was to help Laura finish her little quilt. What I didn't expect was that the "little" quilt would end up becoming a twin bed-size quilt and that Laura would become a Quilt Monster! She wants to sew ALL the time! (Hmmm...wonder where she gets THAT from??!!) The only problem is, she can't really sew without some guidance. And trying to explain things in sign language gets a little frustrating at times! But...we've done it anyway!

Here's an example of some of Laura's sewing. A bit wonky, but she's getting better everyday. She initially sewed together many, MANY 2.5-inch strips into pairs that I then matched with other pairs and cut and pinned for Laura to sew into 4-patches. I also cut some black fabric that I had into 4.5-inch squares. Laura sewed her 4-patches, then sewed each 4-patch to a black square.

Eventually she sewed them all together into 14 rows of 17 squares! The rows were a bit wonky too and I had to trim them a bit before giving them to her (I pinned them at each seam) to sew together.

Laura's actually been getting the whole process down fairly well. I cut the pieces and pin them together, then she sews and presses them. And we do this over and OVER again! She was so excited to finally get the main body of her quilt finished Friday night!


Saturday morning she was up bright and early to sew the borders on her quilt. The entire top was put together by her, except that I sewed the border strips together. But she added them all to the quilt, after I pinned them. There were some places where the sewing was so bad, I had to have her rip out part of the seams and she was NOT happy about that (sounds like the rest of us!). Fortunately, she's gotten so much better that that didn't happen too often. And I'm always close by to try and guide her and keep her from making too many mistakes that she'll have to undo. Sometimes I even do the ripping for her!

She had the entire top finished by noon on Saturday and immediately began signing that she wanted me to quilt it! So the two of us made a quick trip to our LQS for some backing fabric. Fortunately, after we got home, some of her siblings and their children came over to have an Easter egg hunt, so I was able to get the quilt loaded onto the longarm frame and quilted without her hovering. Then I machine-stitched the binding to it. She came back into the studio, just as I was finishing. She was so tickled when she saw the label I had added. She can read a few words, but she easily recognized "Laura and Mom," on the label.

The two of us went outside to take some pictures of the finished quilt. Charles was in the shower, so we had to do it all by ourselves. I had her stand on the seat of the tractor and hung the quilt on the roll bar. The seat was a little unstable, so she wasn't comfortable holding the quilt out at arms' length (and the wind was blowing too).

Then I took a picture of the backing fabric--pizza bagels! It was a small LQS where we went to to buy it, but the closest to our house. They didn't have much that would go with the quilt (and we needed 6 yards), but Laura loves both bagels and pizza and it had a black background, so we decided it would work!

Of course, Laura's greatest goal was to get the quilt on her bed! So we put put it on there and took a picture of her posing with it. Unfortunately, it looks like now she's going to need a new pillow case and curtains to match her quilt!




15 comments:

  1. What a lovely job Laura did. She made a beautifull quilt and she can be proud of this.
    Greetings, Joke

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  2. Oh I really like her quilt finish!! A lot--and those bagels and pizzas--YUM!! I think it's terrific to see her using her own quilt on her bed!! And you are a faithful and wonderful helper Congratulations, Laura!! Hugs, Julierose

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  3. What a wonderful achievement for Laura. She must be absolutely thrilled at making something that is so beautiful and useful. Well done for all of your help and encouragement. You both must be so proud.

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  4. Laura's quilt is beautiful! You are a truly, wonderful mother.
    Thank you for sharing pictures and the story of Laura's quilt.

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  5. This is awesome! I love the happy colors set off by black, and the pizza bagel backing is so much fun :) Now that Laura has caught the quilting bug, what will her next project be?

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  6. Laura's little quilt wasn't so little, good for her. Fantastic job!!! It's a beautiful quilt and she (both of you) worked so fast, what an accomplishment. I've been quilting and sewing for twenty plus years and I don't or can't work that anywhere near as fast. You make a terrific mother/daughter quilting team. ;-> Toni Anne

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  7. Amazing and wonderful project! It looks great and is a great accomplishment for Laura (and you). Congrats!

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  8. How exciting! That pizza fabric is perfect for the backing. :)

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  9. What a wonderful accomplishment for your daughter - she looks very happy with her quilt. You are a great Mom and I am sure Laura truly appreciates you!

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  10. Lol--Looks like you both had a lot of fun! She looks so happy--You sound happy too. Good job to both of you! :) vickise at gmail dot com

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  11. That's what I would call a perfect finish! Love the quilt and the backing fabric is so fun. Laura looks so happy to have her new quilt on the bed. Congratulations to both of you.

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  12. Thank you for sharing the joy of her making, and finishing her quilt. It is wonderful to see the happiness on her face. You were truly blessed when she came into your life.

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  13. I'm so glad i found your blog, Gwen. I've loved reading along with the 'Loving Mom-Determined Daughter Quilt Story' final chapter. The pizza backing is perfect and it's a great 'happy color' quilt!! The picture of Laura with her quilt on the bed says it all!! Demi

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  14. It turned out so beautiful! Good job to both of you!

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  15. What a wonderful story - Go Laura! Can't wait to see what she makes next :)

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