What I Did on My Summer Vacation

Now that I am back at school and teaching again I am inclined to think about what I accomplished this past summer. Summer is usually when I get some quilting and reading done. This summer I read only 2 books because I was busy working on a quilt for my Mom's 80th birthday. The books I read were Pillars of the Earth and World Without End by Ken Follett. World Without End is the sequel to the Pillars book. I had read the Pillars book years ago so I wanted to read it again before I read the sequel. Both books are quite large at around 1000 pages, but I love both of them. I love historic fiction and these are two of my favorites.

So what kind of quilt did I make for my Mom's 80th? I decided to make a quilt of my parent's house. I did not think it would take too long, but it pretty much took the entire summer and was more difficult than I thought it would be. These are some pictures of the finished quilt.

When my Mom received the quilt she was really surprised. I think this photo is my favorite photo of the quilt. When people at the party saw the quilt they thought it was a painting. When I told them it was a quilt they looked at me with a puzzled look on their faces. I guess most people don't think of quilts beyond traditional patchwork quilts.

This quilt looked so much different when I first started making it. This is a photo of what it looked like not far into the process. At this point I was almost going to pack it in an get her something else for a gift since it did not look too good at the beginning. So I guess this shows that you have to keep going when making a quilt like this.



So you might ask if the quilt looks anything like the house. Here is a photo of the house so you judge how well I did. I decided to make a spring scene and my Dad sent me photos of the tree in front of the house in the spring. I sent photos back and forth to my Dad to get his feedback. He designed the house so I did not want to mess up. I loved his comment to me, "Don't be so hard on yourself." I should take that advise more often.



And yes, that is a cat in the window on the quilt. The cat is no longer around, but used to sit in the window all the time and make my Mom crazy.

The quilt was named "Grandma's House."

Chris