Mimismami: Barbara's quilt- written in English

Liebe Mimismami-Leserinnen! Ich hoffe Ihr habt Verständnis, dass der heutige post ausnahmsweies in English ist. Meine liebe Tante Barbara ist Amerikanerin, ihr ist der quilt und der Beitrag gewidmet und sie soll ihn lesen können....

This post will be written in English. I am doing that because I want my aunt Barbara to be able to read it herself. This blog-post and this quilt is dedicated to her. Its been her birthday lately and I wanted to make her something special because I love her to bits and she's been going through tough times bravely fighting cancer. I admire her strength! But still I though she must be in need of a bit of comfort... (aren't we all sometimes?!)..and whats more comforting than a quilt?!

There was only one slight problem once that idea had planted itself in my head: I don't make quilts! I make easy-peasy kiddy-clothes and bibs and burp cloths and a few doll clothes....small projects. The biggest I have done were those sheets for Mimis bed.

Nevertheless I had my mind set on a quilt! I dreamed about it and browsed the internet for tutorials and finally came up with a super simple (beginner!) pattern, that I liked. 6x6 Inch squares all in pastell, mute colours, put together in a "scrappy" way...meaning just how they come, no rhythm or pattern.

It was the funnest project I've done for a while, even though it was sometimes tideous and I was worried I'd never have the stamina to finish it. But I did! Here it is:

What to see how it came together? Warning: I caught the "quilting bug" on this project...or possibly earlier reading this blog....and I believe its highly contagious. Proceed with great care, I am not taking any responsibility if you catch it, too!

It all started out with choosing fabric from my stash (I have tons...). I decided on pastels in pink, blue, green and yellow, plus some cream and some sand....I love sand-colour....

Than I cut 6x6 inch squares...lots of them!

And then it came together....step by step: first I sewed together all those strips. (Probably the step I liked the least...it was a bit boring to be all honest.....)

When the strips were done I put them together to make the quilt top....and as it grew I got more and more excited and liked quiltmaking A LOT all of sudden. Its very satisfying to see it grow....oh and when it was finished.... I just loved it.

Some of the seams came out perfect (others less so, but we'll not look so closely at them!)

I added a sand-coloured border:

and loved it even MORE! Now it was time to make decisions on the backing fabric and the binding....difficult ones. I think I found the perfect fabrics for the purpose though:

This beautiful backing fabric came from IKEA, its a duvet cover. It was pretty, great quality and really large! (And being IKEA it was also affordable....) I think duvet covers might be my choice for future quilts as well :-)....Now came the batting, and the quilting:

I had decided on diagonal lines all over...ain't it pretty?

Time to make some binding....

I did the binding partially on my sewing machine and partly by hand.....several nights in a row watching TV while I was doing it. And then...all of a sudden. It was finished. Just like that. I sewed my last stich of the binding and there it was. My first quilt fisnished. Wow.