Quilt Number 2

I posted about a quilt project I started a LONG time ago.  I'm guessing it's been about 3 years now, since I started!  Now, I have matching quilts for my two oldest girls on their beds.  The original idea was for their bunk beds to have matching quilts, but now their beds are separated and in different rooms.  That's what I get for taking so long!  Still, it is a relief to say they're done.  We'll see if the two younger girls ever get anything like this!

This quilt is now on Audrey's bed.  Some time after getting the purple one on her bed, Audrey gave it to Carissa so that she could have the pink one when it was done.  I wonder when they will want to switch again!

The neat thing that came from this project was the time I spent  hand quilting both of them with family.  The first one was put up at my sister-in-law Daunell's house.  She designed the quilt for me and helped me every step of the way.  She is an amazing quilter!  

The second quilt, this one, was put up at my mother-in-law's house and had more hands working on it.  The girls not only have a quilt with an inspired history--inspired, that is, by the quilt tops my grandmother worked on with her grandmother--but they also have a story about the hands that quilted them together.

Hours and hours and hours and hours went into these quilts to sew the tiny, even stitches that hold them together.  I loved the conversations that happened over the quilt and the chance I had to work with my mother-in-law and her best friend and my sisters-in-law.

My next job is to write up letters to my girls and tell them the story of their quilts.  I hope they will appreciate the love and time spent of them and the rare gift they are, considering the hands that worked on them.  Maybe I can even remember some of the stories I heard from my mother-in-law and her friend, Claire, about their years in Hawaii.  I feel grateful for the association of both sides of my family.  What a great blessing to have relationships with such amazing ladies!