A House Sized ‘Thank You’

Today I am sharing a quilt we recently gave to my parents. It’s a “thank you” quilt for something that deserves 1,000 quilts. It also is special to me because of the friends who were involved in it one way or another. Care to hear about it?

When we were living in San Diego last year, my parents let us ‘live’ with them. With our house in Kansas City sold, they become our permanent address– mail and treasured belongings and all. Not to mention the toys and trappings that come along with two preschoolers! They were more wonderful about it than I can even put into words.

We said, “We’re moving your only grandchildren 1700 miles away,” and literally in the same breath we asked, “By the way, can we make this our mailing address and store some things here?” My mom will vouch for this. It was a lot to ask.

Fast forward to July when we were in California. I went to Quilt Festival at Long Beach and walked the floor with some of the LAMQG members who were there. While wandering the aisles, we came across the cutest booth! It was home to Carrie Bloomston and her pattern company, Such Designs. I vaguely remembered seeing these patterns online before and was glad to be reintroduced to them. I remember her being so friendly and welcoming and, thankfully, I left my e-mail address for her newsletter. Through the beauty of the internet and the cell phone, Carrie is now a friend. This quilt is her Wonky Little Houses quilt pattern and it went together sooooo quickly!

Do you like my little helper there? She wanted to “nap in the clouds.”

Speaking of those clouds….

I knew I wanted to quilt this myself, but also knew that keeping it a surprise would be tough impossible if I used my mom’s long arm machine. So I called up my friend Angela Walters and said, “I have a huge favor to ask. Can I quilt something on your machine?!” I think she was as amused about the idea as  I was, because she knew something that most people don’t know about her machine. People! She quilts without a stitch regulator! [for my non-sewing friends... this means that the needle is moving up and down whether you are moving it across the fabric or not.]

With my kids tucked away at preschool, I went over to her house and she help me load it, gave me a few pointers and turned me loose. I shared my idea for the quilting design– I wanted it to be very loose and sketch-like, as if a little kid had drawn in clouds and grass. My clouds weren’t going to look like this originally, but she made some awesome suggestions and I ended up with the nested clouds that you see below. She shared some tips for me to do it more efficiently and away I went. She’s crazy talented, but I am so excited for Angela’s book to come out so that everyone can see what a great teacher she is, too. Don’t worry, I am working on a method to clone her.

Naturally, midway through the quilting, my mom called me. “I’m shopping near your house. Want to grab lunch?” I fumbled through an excuse for why I wasn’t home, couldn’t tell her where I was, how long I was going to be there or what I was doing.

It was all clear to her once I gave this quilt to my parents, of course! I thought the wonky houses were a fitting ‘thank you’ for two people who gave us a home when our lives were more than a little wonky.

(Mom, I promise I’ll get that stuff out of your basement. Soon.)

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KCMQG friends, you are such lucky ducks. Carrie sent me her entire pattern line since she’s a) awesome and b) knows how much I love our guild. Prepare for a some guild door prize fun! Not in KC? Anyone wanting to snag one of these for themselves can find them here and here and here!