The Tipsy Quilter: Happy 82nd Birthday, Grandma!

I don't usually post this many pictures of my quilts but I feel particularly proud of the quilt my cousin Jessica Pierre'auguste and I made for our grandma for her 82nd birthday. Her birthday is December 26, and we gave it to her on Christmas Eve.

Jessica and I decided we would make a double-sided quilt and that we would each make one side of it. The catch - we had no idea what the other was making. We did not discuss ideas, colors or patterns. I made my side a little larger so it would work on the longarm.

I mixed Moda collections Ruby, Just Wing It and Fa La La with Kona white to make my Bento Box pattern side of the quilt. Jessica used beautiful blue, green, pink and purple batiks on hers.

Moda's Ruby, Just Wing It and Fa La La collections

Laying out the Bento Boxes

I am also very proud of how Jessica and I overcame a few major issues with this project. First, we used a longarm quilting machine that we had never used before. Turned out it was a lot different than the one we were used to and the quilting was not our best work. We quilted the entire thing anyway, then spent two weeks ripping it all out and replacing a couple of torn spots, and then requilting it. Second, my quilt side, which acted as the backing, was placed on the longarm just slightly crooked. When we squared up the quilt, the borders on the top and bottom were not quite right. See the "oops" photo below. I suggested cutting out some border fabric and appliqueing it to the crooked borders in an effort to make it appear perfect. Jessica took it a step further and hand sewed the pieces down using a blind stitch. You cannot even tell there was ever an issue! Finally, we wanted to wash the quilt so the tiny holes from the previous quilting would dissappear. I washed it with three color catchers but one of the red Moda fabrics bled onto the white in a couple spots anyway. I used a bleach stick on the spots and rewashed it. Most of the bleeding came out and when it's dry you cannot see it.