I know. It's my son's birthday this month, so to celebrate, I'll show you a quilt I made for him in the summer of 1984 right around his first birthday. Now that I think about it, this was actually his baby quilt. He had a hand-me-down baby quilt from his sister when he was born (poor second kids just don't get the same hoopla as firsts, do they?), but since he was already a year old, we'll just call it his kiddie quilt.
We had just moved to a new-to-us house. He had his own bedroom (Yay! No more sharing with his sister). It had bright red shag carpet. In fact, that carpet was nearly everywhere--even in the dining area and living room. We had plans to get new carpet for the living areas, but didn't have it in the budget to change it in our kids' rooms. Instead, we decorated around it. Our daughter got a rainbow theme, and we decided to go nautical in our son's room. His room had paneling in it that had been painted white, so I found a cute wide wallpaper border with a sailboat print in red, white and blue.
I traced the sailboat design and then cut stencils from template plastic and used Accent Country Colors Fabric Painting Dyes to reproduce it. (I don't know if they're still available for sale. I just found the leftovers in my art box in the basement.) It was pretty easy--the dye is a lot thinner than fabric paint and penetrates the fabric. All I had to do was let it dry for an hour and then heat set it by pressing between paper towels.I set the blocks together with sashing and corner stones, then hand quilted around each section of the designs, added some free form quilted clouds and stitched a quarter inch away from the seams in the sashing. The batting is a thin polyester, so the quilt is really soft and cuddly. I folded the backing over to the front for a thick binding, and did some kind of strange miters--two in each corner with a diagonal section across the corner. I have no idea why. Oh, well. The quilt has held up well through lots of washings. I don't know how big it was when I made it, but it's about 36 1/2 inches by 47 inches now. When my son was old enough for a bed, it became a topper on his blue spread until we moved to a different house in the mid-90's.
Close up to show the quilting and those odd corners:
Obviously, I still have this quilt. I suppose I should have given it to my son when he left home. Nah, I still have LOTS of his stuff here. And now his little son can use it when he visits.
My son will be 33 in less than two weeks. I don't think he'll mind if I show you one of my favorite pictures of him. (He doesn't read this blog anyway, so we'll just keep it our little secret, okay?) He was about 5 years old then, and yes, he was a Walking Talking VIP.
Click the link at the top of this post to see more posts about oldies but goodies (quilts, not kids) from everyone else. Enjoy! And thanks, Jenn, for letting us revisit our old projects and share them each month.
6 comments:
Just precious! He's a cutie! Wow, the paints held up incredibly well! The sailboat design is timeless, you could easily use the same template today for maybe machine applique. Thanks for sharing!
It certainly did hold up well! He was a cutie! And you were so clever!
What a super quilt and such a classic design which is good cos it will never date and is suitable for older boys as well as little ones. I started patchwork in 1979 too! xx
That's a clever idea and a very nice quilt. Wouldn't have thought that paint can survive washing so well.
I didn't do a reminder post this month, so I guess TBT snuck up on you! This wee quilt is fun... and I bet that pop of red worked perfectly with that carpet. We had red shag in our guest room at around the same era. What were people thinking?! Thanks for linking up with Throwback Thursday @ A Quarter Inch from the Edge!
That has worn well! I bet your grandson will love using it when he visits. I wonder if he will be as blond as his dad was. I rather like your funny corners. :-)
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