A New Quilt

For Mandy's 18th birthday present I thought long and hard about what to get for her. I wanted it to be something she could keep forever and mean something to her but not cost a lot of money. She told Jeff that she wanted a new bread spread for her birthday present. I thought that was boring. Jeff is the type of person who gives me a list of what he wants for a present for birthdays and Christmas, I would rather be surprised. I would rather buy from the heart and get you the most wonderful and perfect present you didn't even know you wanted. More often than not people don't like my crazy gifts, but every once in a lifetime I will find the perfect gift for someone.

I happened to be on the website Brad's Deals while I was thinking about Mandy's gift and came across a special at Overstock.com on Egyptian Cotton Sheets. I asked Mandy if that was something she would like and she was overjoyed. She picked the black ones and they arrived and weeks later are still in the package unwrapped. Mandy loves Egypt more than any other place she has ever been and she loves to sleep. That may have been a miss. I am thinking of going in her room (something that is forbidden) and putting those damn sheets on her bed!

Mandy also wanted a new bedspread, too. We took her out shopping to all the stores and she found nothing she liked. Nothing. We talked and I offered to make her a quilt like I made for her sister. She wanted me to make a dragon in the middle of her quilt. I have trouble sewing a straight line if someone else threads the machine. I did some research and discovered that at Art.com they sell something called a fabric poster. We found the most perfect one, it is of two dragons around a yin/yang symbol. When it arrived in the mail we discovered that a fabric poster is a very fine delicate material like a silk handkerchief. We then went to the fabric store and picked out some fabric for the rest of the quilt. We discussed and I drew several designs until we found a design that Mandy liked. Then I put it on the computer to show her what the final quilt would look like and she was not happy so we re-made the design again. Now all we have to do is buy the fabric and make the quilt. I have to do the measuring again with the new design first and figure out how much fabric and how big to cut the pieces.

I have only ever made on quilt before and I had all that stuff figured out for me. It is very difficult to design a quilt from scratch with absolutely no experience. I miss my Grandma who passed away from Cancer last year. She was the one who quilted and got me to do my first quilt. She taught quilting classes. I would visit her sometimes as a little girl and she would teach me to crochet, knit, sew and we even made homemade pasta one time. We had it strung all over the house to dry, enormous 6 foot or longer strings of pasta hanging everywhere, such a vivid memory. I hope that this all works out and the quilt is lovely. I think it will be memorable something to last a lifetime? I it doesn't end up at the bottom of her closet like the one I made for Lily. I keep telling myself that someday that quilt will mean something to her. So far not so much.

I promise to someday take pictures and show you all the stuff, for now you will have to use your imagination.