My Second Quilt

At first, sewing was just something I did because my Grandma had showed me how to do it. Then, it was just a useful skill to fix holes in clothes without having to bother my mother.

Now? Now I can create gifts for others and garments for myself. The first article of clothing I made was a pair of pants for a costume. It looked terrible. The second and third garments didn’t far much better. I kept at it, making costumes here and there.

A little over two years ago, the news I was going to be an aunt came and my sister-in-law asked me to make a quilt for my future niece.

I had only ever finished one quilt before, and it was a doll-sized quilt.

But, since I knew I could ask my aunt for advice on quilting, I agreed.

I was given only two constraints by my sister-in-law: the color scheme and that Snoopy be included on the quilt. Otherwise, I had free rein to design all other aspects. Because of my niece’s name, I decided to go with a star theme: four pointed stars on all patches except the central one, which would be an eight-pointed star. After consulting with my aunt, I simplified my designs to match my relative novice skills.

The original version would have been far beyond my skills but once I was able to streamline it, things became far more accessible.

The next step would be figuring out what colors I should make the nine stars that would be appliqué-d to each patch on the quilt. I could have just done white stars on pink patches. It would have been easy but for the same reason I had chosen to not make it pink on white—stains—I decided against just pure white stars. That’s when, as I searched for Snoopy-patterned fabric, it hit me: I could have the stars stand for others. As it was, the central eight-point star stood for my niece. Once I found Snoopy fabric, I knew that would be a star that represented my sister-in-law/the mother. After I’d done that, I realized that there would be enough stars to stand for the aunts and grandmothers. Each star representing a woman who would be a part of my future niece’s life. So, I went to each person with a simple request: a small square of fabric that they’d pick out. I would do the rest.

Eventually, I had all the fabric needed for the quilt and it was time for cutting and piecing.

When it comes to sewing, for me the part that is most nerve-wracking is when I have to pick up the scissors and start cutting out pieces. I have trouble cutting in a straight line, and I also have trouble sewing in one as well, so I was worried about things ending up coming out wonky. I was very lucky with my cuts for this quilt. I managed to keep my stars shaped like stars and the sashing looking like rectangles and my blocks looking like blocks. To keep the stars in place before I could sew around the edges with a zigzag stitch, I had ironed them onto the blocks. Going around the stars was a bit challenging but in the end, it looked good and anchored them onto the blocks beautifully. Despite everything, I knew there was another aspect that this quilt needed: my niece’s name.

At the time, I didn’t know how to embroider, but my mother did.

So, I asked her for one more contribution to the quilt.

She did a wonderful job and it made the quilt so much more special.

The reason this second quilt I’ve ever made is something I’m proud of was it allowed me a lot of creativity and it showed how people can come together when it’s time to welcome new life into the world.