Food and Fiber Friday - Finishing a 'Vintage' Quilt

For decades now I have carted around boxes and tubs of fabric and needlework 'stuff'. Recently I have donated a lot of yarn, floss and fabric to my local groups. Doing a bit of decluttering. I have also gotten out the sewing machine and decided to make this holiday season, 'The Year of the Quilt'. Everyone is getting a large lap quilt for Christmas. 

Setting this as my goal means several things...

• Gets 'stuff' out of my house
• Means I will spend very little monetarily on presents
• Several half-finished or barely started projects will finally be done

But one of the most interesting items I am finishing up, recycling or donating is the baby quilt pictured above.

I am almost ashamed to admit that back in the early 80's I took my first quilting class. It was at a small quilting store in either Cedar Hill or De Soto, Texas. I vaguely remember the class being during the winter as it was cold and dark driving to and from the class.

And it was definitely 'old school' quilting. I remember cutting out plastic templates for the blocks. Tearing the fabric rather than cutting in order to be sure my squares are 'square'. While the quilt top itself was machine pieced, the quilt was actually hand quilted. In fact, there were no safety pins or spray adhesive to 'baste' the quilt layers together. Over the decades I have pulled out the quilt, done a bit of hand quilting and then putting it away again. 

So...

In going through boxes and tubes of fabric and finished quilt tops to see what I wanted to do for holiday gifts, I came across this baby quilt. Finally I wanted to get it done and get it out of my stash and out into the world.

The quilt will be going to my grandson, MJ. 

Actually, he will be getting two quilts by the end of the year. Once the above quilt is washed, it will be packed into a priority parcel box along with some clothes I bought for him and sent off to Arizona. Then for Christmas he will be getting a much, much larger quilt. Even that quilt has been hanging around for about a decade. 

His second quilt is one I started when Lady K was a toddler. Are you getting a trend here?

It is a flannel quilt with the alphabet and numbers appliquéd to the top. The backing is some minky fabric (really soft fabric) and will be just tied with yarn and not actually quilted. But the quilt will be enough to cover him up as he grows and also cover Savvy or Mr. Arizona as they cuddle and read with him. 

Anyway...

After close to 50 years of being in my stash of WIP it is finally going to a home. Thank goodness!