nichepoetryandprose

When I visited my mother-in-law during her last year, I started a small project with her. As I sat and talked with her, we worked at a lap-sized quilt for her granddaughter, my husband’s niece.

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She could not do much of the work but she chose the fabrics from a selection and showed me how to organize the patches. I sewed them together as we talked.

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When she was younger, she loved to quilt with her neighbour friends and sister-in-law. My husband remembers a big quilting frame set up in the living room and the ladies drinking tea and sewing. When my father-in-law died, I helped my mother-in-law set up a smaller frame in her living room and visited her during my lunch hours to quilt … we made a huge quilt with green and amber autumn leaves. I learned a lot about quilt-making from her.

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The quilt we made for my niece was simple, made of squares of two patterns:

• one is of violets in shades of blue, with green stems and leaves and interwoven silver;
• one is of tiny yellow roses on a background of vines and leaves.

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For the backing, we chose a bright floral print, showing pink and red flowers with green leaves.

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Now, many years later, I have decided to finish what we began. For the binding, I have chosen and ordered a pretty pattern of green leaves from Spoonflower. The greens will match both top and underside of the quilt.

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During November, I will finish sewing and binding the quilt. Instead of setting up a quilting frame, I will do the quilting with the fabric stretched across a large wooden hoop.

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This will be an enjoyable and warming project during the dark evenings of November. When I am finished, I will mail the quilt to our niece, along with the story of how her grandmother helped with the quilt.

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Are you doing a project to ‘warm’ the November evenings?

All my best,

Jane (a.k.a. Alexandra)