Charis' Quilt

"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

A time to be born, and a time to die; 

a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted; 

A time to kill and a time to heal; 

a time to break down and a time to build up; 

A time to weep and a time to laugh; 

a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

A time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together; 

a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

A time to get and a time to lose;

a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

A time to rend, and a time to sew; 

a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

A time to love and a time to hate;

a time of war and a time of peace."

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

Well, this must have been the time to sew.  ;o)  ...and a time to heal.
The Quilt...

My brother Jim and Marla had their 8th precious child in December.  She's absolutely beautiful and definitely a Halbach since she looks so much like all the others.  We haven't been able to meet her yet, but last December I just wanted so, so badly to do something special for my new, sweet niece.  I didn't want to buy her an outfit or blanket.  I just put it off not sure what to do.  Well, I've also been fighting the temptation to join Pinterest, until a friend posted a bubble quilt from Pinterest.  I had to join to see it, so I broke down and joined.  I'm never on there anyways, so I don't know what I was worried about.  One look at this quilt and I knew this was what I was looking for.  I had to make this.  I could analyze it and say that it was something I couldn't do for Cayla and wanted or needed to make for my niece.  I don't know.  It could be, because I do think it was a very healing project for me.  I'm not good with thinking into things like that too much.  All I knew at the time is that I was making this quilt.  I've never made a blanket or a regular quilt, don't really sew at all, yet felt like I could do this with her tutorial www.awaitingada.com/2012/10/new-and-improved-tutorial-bubble-quilt, so I did.  Sometimes I don't think we realize what we can do if we just put our mind to it.

One of the 90 squares getting ready to be sewed to a smaller white square underneath.

Setting up the final design before sewing them together.

Thanks to Mary Ekholm bringing me her walker foot which made everything so much easier to sew.
I could have never sewed so many layers together without it.
I didn't even know I needed it until she asked if I had one.

My little slits in the back of each square so I could stuff them,
then hand sew every single one back up......

The unstuffed 4" squares in  9 x 10 rows all together laying on the green minky background material.

The beginning of my ruffle.

All the middle bubbles are stuffed and my ruffle is finally starting to look right.
  For all the trouble the ruffle gave me, it was well worth it in the end!

Ruffle is pinned and ready to be sewed on.

Ruffle is on!  Now to somehow attach the soft, stretchy backing. 

The backing is that super soft minky material with the bumps on it.
The soft, mint green made it so nice.

It turned out better than I imagined although it has plenty of
"Aunt Linda made this" reminders all over it.

Rolled, tied up with purple ribbon, and ready to be hand-delivered by my dad
who swung by Ohio just to pick it up on his trip home to VA from Ontario.
Thanks Dad!

I bought fabric, scissors, stuffing stuff, material for a ruffle and all!  I got it in January when JoAnn Fabrics was having huge sales.  My yard and 1/4 of the minky material for the back was 65% off @ $15/yard.  Yay!  I got everything on sale and spent actually very little, less than $30, compared to what these were selling for on the internet... $160-$200.  I felt so good and jumped head-first into doing something I had no idea how to do.  It was wonderful.  I loved cutting, designing, and actually using my sewing machine my grandmother got me 20 years ago.   Every stitch by machine and by hand was all done by myself.  I just worked through it with all the kinks and issues.  If I needed a break, I walked away from it for a few days or a week.  I think after pulling my ruffle out about 4 or 5 times before getting it the exact way I wanted it to look, I took a good week or so off.  That ruffle took me more time than the 90 squares I had to sew together and stuff.  It still was just fun.  I loved doing it.

Something about the quilt has helped me in a way to let go.  I had finished everything except about 6 inches that still needed to be sewn up by hand when I went in for my interview with Seeley Medical and started working.   I let it sit for about 2 weeks before I finished those last stitches the night before my dad stopped in to pick it up and hand-deliver it for me.  I knew my quilt was done, I was ready to take that step forward, admit that getting a job is what God wanted, and let go of my desire to have another child.  It all sounds so simple, but it was pretty momentous inside of me.  The whole timing and God working things out for my job is another post, for another day in the near future.   I did just want to share my quilt though here on Cayla's blog.

I also want to say thank you to Lowell and Samuel for letting me have the dining room table for 2 months as my sewing table...  Love them.