Earlier this year, I forget how (I really don't think my memory is ever coming back after having 2 kids) but I got the idea to make Shawna a quilt that looks like a bookshelf. My sister loves to read, and that is an understatement. I don't know anyone who loves to read more than she does. She reads at least 50 books each year and always carries a book in her purse. She is simply "addicted to the written word" and quite good at writing the written word, too, but that is off topic.
I knew that a bookshelf quilt would be the perfect gift for her, so I set out make it happen. I bought fabric, made very unprofessional sketches in a journal of what I wanted it to look like, did some calculations, and started cutting!
This is when things got tricky. See, I am not actually a quilter. I've made three quilts in my life: 1) a t-shirt quilt 2) a quilt for Connor and 3) a quilt for Landon. All of these were fairly simple, and I got much-needed help from my amazing quilting friend, Jennifer. This bookshelf quilt was not simple. Not in the least (at least not to me). Once my books were cut, I just sort of thought about it and stared at it for several days because I didn't know what to do next. Thankfully it came together and started to look like an actual bookshelf.
Right about now I wanted to send this as a picture text to Shawna (7 months before our birthday) and say "Here it is! I did it!" because two of those four shelves were nearly the end of me--the ones with the slanted books--what was I thinking???? I am not a quilter!!! I honestly don't know how it came together (except for many, many nap times and lots of prayer). But I finished it and somehow managed to keep from telling Shawna all about it. FOR SIX LONG MONTHS.
I thought it would be easier to make a quilt with a toddler and in my third trimester of pregnancy, rather than with a toddler and a newborn. I was right. The only problem was that I finished it in early June. Our birthday is December 4th. Giving her this quilt, along with finding out if we're identical or fraternal after 30 years of not knowing, made for quite an exciting birthday.
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| The Great Unveiling |
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| At first she just thought I made her a purple quilt, which would have been great...purple is her favorite color. But it's wasn't just a purple quilt... |
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| "It's a bookshelf!" |
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| I think she liked it :) |
