Spin Cycle

After I had my second daughter, I started mulling over what to do with the girls' room. I knew we wanted to keep them in the same room for a variety of reasons, one of the main ones being that we weren't ready to give up our two other bedrooms (including my sewing room...)...but the biggest reason is that I think it's good for kids to share a room. To have to get along. I'm hoping that it will work long-term, but we do have space and could separate them if needed.

 I spent a lot of time brainstorming how to decorate their room, and finally had to decide. My baby isn't a baby anymore, and I knew the time was coming when she'd need a big girl bed. And I hoped to have a room ready to decorate when that happened. I finally decided on a couple of quilt patterns and a color scheme and set to work. I planned to let the girls fight over the quilts once they were done, but they were so interested by the process that the decision was made before the tops were even finished.

This first quilt is for my oldest daughter...it's Allison Harris's Spin Cycle quilt, but I adjusted the size by making it with six rows of four instead of five rows of five. I felt like that made more sense for a twin bed. I really love Allison's patterns, I think they're so fun. Time consuming, but fun.

And for the color scheme, I knew pink would be involved. I also wanted to include gray, and then had to convince my girls that blue would look really fun, too. My oldest protested the dark navy herringbone, saying, "yeah, you can include it in the other quilt..." I took the hint and used less of it, but still really wanted it to be that contrast you really need. I think it turned out beautifully. I used several prints from Allison Harris's "Wallflower" line, as well as Gracie Girl, Sweetwater "Noteworthy," several from Zoe Pearn's "A Beautiful Thing," and a couple others.

It took me an extra long time to finish because when I got it back from the quilter, I was busy preparing to leave for Italy. I did manage to get the binding prepped before I left, but it still took a week before I was ready to bind after I got home.

And when I did, I took it in to her (she was already in bed, but definitely not asleep), and tucked her in with her new quilt. She was SO happy, it was heart-warming. She was so appreciative, and stayed up far later than she should have counting the flowers, and the plus signs, and the squares...and laying it out on the floor and dancing on it....and caressing the flannel backing...she even wrote me a note and delivered it, which told me she loved me and the quilt. It was very sweet.

I made sure to remind her of why I made her a quilt, and really, seeing her accept the quilt with such joy reminded me of why I make quilts. They allow me to shower people with love, and to bring joy to those I love.

And then, I remembered I forgot the label. *doh!* (I definitely unpicked a corner and added it on, don't worry.)

Spin Cycle
Completed May 2015
quilted by Abby Latimer