a quilt for Claire

This (queen size) quilt's journey has been a long one.

these colors are far more accurate than the previous photo's

Before Chris and Claire were even engaged,

Lynnet asked if I would help her make Claire a quilt.

We decided that the three of us would work on it together,

making memories

while we made the quilt. 

By the time we actually got started on the making, though,

they were not only engaged,

but we were barreling towards a May 24th wedding.

After we got the quilt all laid out,

Claire said that was the last she wanted to see of it

until it was finished.

Even though she'd helped with the making of it,

there would still be some surprise

that way.

In April

we got the quilt top finished

 the back made

and the two layers basted together

with Warm and White in between,

and my part in the quilt

was also done.

In between caring for her mother,

health issues of her own,

and 

life,

Claire's wedding

(and 1st anniversary) 

came and went

without Lynnet getting the quilt finished.

After I posted pictures on Facebook 

of my brother and his wife's (stunning, if I do say so myself ;-) quilt,

Lynnet asked if she could hire me

to machine quilt Chris and Claire's.

I told her I could work on it in June.

Lynnet had really wanted to do the quilting herself,

so had a hard time passing it off to me

and it was mid June before I had it in my possession.

(It always makes me nervous to have someone else's quilt in my possession.)

(Even if it is a gift made by me, from me...)

Deciding on thread 

(I narrowed it down to 2 choices first, and ordered both,

then settled on a variegated blue)

and how, exactly, I was going to quilt it,

then practicing the quilting

took another few weeks,

so I didn't actually start quilting 'til after the 4th of July.

Knowing Lynnet likes surprises,
I assumed  that Claire didn't know
 that her quilt was being quilted,
so when I shared pictures of my work in progress,
they were only of the back.
(of course, Lynnet was peridiocally treated to crappy phone pictures of the front though ;-)

She decided she wanted me to go ahead and trim the quilt 

and sew, press and glue baste the binding to the back

(and do my patent-pending perfect corners ;-)

so I did that too,

and with relief that I hadn't ruined it while it was in my possession,

returned the almost finished quilt on the 19th.

Just a few days later,

I bought a sewing machine,

so thankful that I had earned exactly enough!

Last Tuesday,

Lynnet finished sewing the binding down, 

and without even sewing on the label or tossing it in the wash,

she called Claire

and shared her big surprise.

At which point, Claire hopped in her car and drove down :-)

I love you, Sweet Girl.

Thanks for letting me in 

on creating an heirloom.

And 'Net, thanks for helping me save lives :-)

linking up with the finishers at Amanda Jeans, and Lee, even though it's finished
(does any one else find WIP finishes tricky?)