Attic Window Quilt

Dear Emily,

I finished the quilt last night by 11:00! I took some pictures this morning before wrapping it up. There was one with all the kids in it but Gabe's pjs were so mismatched it was embarrassing! For some reason, he has more short bottoms than tops so he had on two very different stripes. When I put him to bed, I prayed nothing would happen in the middle of the night that would make us have to leave the house in a hurry.

(You should see everyone's hair, too! I will take a picture of all three before and after their hair appointments next week.)

Anthony's teacher has had a picture quilt made each year for the last 11  years or so. Early in the school year, Anthony came home and said, "Mrs. Price asked if anyone's mom sewed and I raised my hand." He was so pleased with himself for volunteering me. It is like our cousin Anne somewhat reluctantly volunteering to be den mother of her son's cub scout den. When he got home from the meeting where she had volunteered, he ran into the house saying, "Dad, Mom won!" Not exactly how she was feeling! Honestly, though, I was honored to be able to make the quilt. Anthony has had such a terrific year and learned so much. And he loves school. 

The class has a pet of sorts, a squirrel who visits through the window and I think has come into the class on occasion. His name is Skippy. Since the quilt had 30 squares but 28 students, I put Skippy in one.

I found the image on the Silhouette site. I used fleece for the tail and grey felt for the body. I added white felt for the belly because Anthony said he had a white fur there. I machine appliqued it with a blanket stitch, one of my favorite stitches for applique

  This went in the other leftover block:

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Ignore the crooked seam on the left and the stitches showing. I ironed on the quote before noticing that I forgot to reverse it. I had to pick the stitches out to remove the white square and sew it back together. And reprint the quote. Not fun since the whole top was already pieced. 

Mrs. Price loved it.

I quilted it in the ditch with white thread around the blocks and the outside of the brown border. On the yellow border, I free motion quilted all the kids' names with orange thread on the top and Bottom Line in the bobbin. I like using Bottom Line for free motion and specialty stitches when appliqueing. (that word looks funny but spell check didn't catch it)

I wish I had taken a picture up close of the names. I linked the names with hearts and even had room for Skippy the squirrel's name.

All in all, it was definitely worth the time to see how excited the kids were and how appreciative Mrs. Price was.

Hope you have a great weekend with your company! 

xoxo 

Monica