The New Grandma Quilt

Last week while searching for some backing fabric, I came across an UFO of a Valentine quilt which I started in 2014. I thought with Valentines Day fast approaching and the rail blocks made with 2.5” strips from several Sandy Gervais fabric lines which just needed to be QAYG, I would have a quilt to give to the darling Granddaughter. Whatever I was supposed to do could wait.

There were twelve 18”x20” rail blocks already paired with batting rectangles in which two of them were already quilted. The quilting was done with a pale blush pink thread from CT Essential Thread which has been discontinued. Fortunately, I had kept the spool of thread with this project probably knowing that it was no longer available and there was enough left for me to finish the quilting.

QAYGing the remaining ten blocks went fast with just pin basting and straight line quilting along the seam lines; it just took several hours. The top and bottom of the blocks were not quilted but would be once the backing was added. As I was quilting, I remember more about how these blocks came to being and why maybe I never finished this project.

I know that these blocks were started in 2014 after Jera Brandvig’s Quilt As-You-Go Made Modern was released. From looking at the two blocks which were already quilted, I knew I used my Elena 8900 and was unhappy with the way the straight line quilting looked and at that time I was looking to purchase a new sewing machine. I purchased my Juki 2010Q in 2015 but still did not resume working on these blocks and was packed away with another flimsy (seen below) made several years earlier with some of the same Sandy Gervais fabrics.

In March of 2017, I posted about this quilt, named  The Grandma Quilt and I quilted and finished due to the pending arrival of our future grandchild in which we didn’t know the gender. I, being the future first-time grandmother wanted a pink quilt to hold my grandchild in but I ended making another  quilt, The Grandpa Quilt in case we had a grandson who wouldn’t appreciate being photographed with a pink quilt. The Grandma Quilt ended up staying with the darling Granddaughter with the understanding that it would be returned to me after a suitable replacement quilt was made which I then told them I had one in mind. It was the rail block quilt I just finished, almost five years later.

After the blocks were quilted which looked so nice thanks to my Juki 2010, they were trimmed to 18-1/2” square which made a 54”x72” finished quilt. I decided to back the New Grandma Quilt with a pink plush fabric I had in my stash since it was dark enough to hide the QAYG seams even I thought at first it was too pink but it grew on me. I finished the quilt in two days and in time before leaving for the Grandparent house. Before arriving, I let the darling Granddaughter’s parents know of this quilt and that I would like my Grandmother quilt finally returned to me.

And why am I calling this quilt the new Grandma Quilt and not just a Valentines Day Quilt. Well, it turned out the original Grandma Quilt cannot be found or has been misplaced which I am a little peeved; lesson learned, you snooze, you lose. So, the once Valentines Day Quilt is now the new Grandma Quilt and will be staying at the Grandparent House and will be added to the darling Granddaughter’s collection. Do I feel guilty about not letting her take it home, Nope, I plan to snuggle with her and the new Grandma Quilt and tell her a once upon a time story about a Grandma Quilt which came to the hospital on the day she was born.

As disappointed as I am with not getting the Grandma Quilt back, I am glad that the new Grandma quilt is a Finally Finish and now I have one less UFO. It feels like I have a wee little more space in the studio now. I don’t think this would be considered a DrEAMi being that it wasn’t a new project but it was an interruption. I can resume finishing some quilts which I was in the process of doing until I happened upon long-forgotten, but should have been finished sooner, the new Grandma Quilt. I’m planning on finishing my January and February quilts for the Country Threads Dirty Dozen UFO Challenge and hoping I don’t come across another long-forgotten project.

Linking up with: My Quilt Infatutation/NTT