The Shark Ray quilt
Today was one of those days where there was no good news to be found. The world is in bad shape on so many levels in so many places. Luckily, I got to spend a rare day alone with my older son, Eli, who will be six in a few weeks.
Better yet, he wanted to sew.
Yesssssss.
Last summer, we made a pillow together. It was a big hit, and something we had on our to-do list for August. In June, the little marine biologist/paleontologist decided that his stuffed shark ray needed a quilt.
He very expertly chose my Carolyn Friedlander mini charms and requested that I cut a few extra orange squares from my yardage. What can I say, the boy has good taste. He picked the layout himself.
He made it about halfway through piecing before getting bored, which was completely understandable for a near-Kindergartener. But after a little TV time during which I sped along, he was very pleased to see the size (it needed to cover shark ray’s tail but NOT his eyes), even though it wasn’t a rectangle. He thinks all quilts should be rectangles. He also thinks that the quilting would look best with straight lines AND zig zags, so we compromised and did diagonal cross hatch. The binding is a gray Dear Stella dot.
It was the perfect little project for a day like today. Between this, Candy Land, and a little too much chocolate milk, we made today a day of simple but meaningful pleasures. I wish you the same.
He has good taste, and the shark ray looks pretty happy with his colour coordinated bedding too. My day’s pretty bad, lots of tense waiting around, and I’m about to lose myself in some hand quilting. It always, always helps…
Sounds like a perfect day to me. Tell Eli the quilt is very cool and that shark ray is a lucky guy. Made me smile on a rough day. Much love……
Adorable! Eli has great taste and an expert eye like his mamma. Glad you were able to enjoy the day together.
This is just so wonderful. I love it. I love that he chose the fabric, the layout, asked for extra of one color, had specific ideas on size, shape and quilting. But mostly that you shared your fabric, time and talents with him, and didn’t over-control every part. I hope he treasures it for a very long time!
I am just so glad you got a simple beautiful day with your son.
You son has fantastic taste, and the quilt looks very snuggly for the shark ray. So glad you guys had a nice, cozy day together to help keep the crazy world at bay with love and care.
Thank you, Melanie… Reading about your beautifully cozy, loving day gave me just the warm comfort I needed today…
Bless you…
Pat T.
in Michigan
(my children and I are survivors, 22 years last month… )
What a wonderful story of this little quilt making project, especially sine Eli seems to have the makings of a designer already, as he knows what he wants and doesn’t want. Happy day.
I really need to find someone to play Candyland with on bad days… 😀 Sounds like you had the perfect cure for a bad day. And my husband would never forgive me if I didn’t point out that technically a square is a rectangle. I don’t know if the mathematical proof would sway a kindergartner though. 😀
Hi Melanie, about the museum class series: One of the skills I’m looking to learn is making up my own designs rather than working from ready made patterns. Will we be doing some of that? The class sounds really inspiring! Daphna
Hi Melanie, I couldn’t connect with the registration person at the museum yet. Hoping the class doesn’t fill up before I can sign up. 😦 What do you think? Thanks, Daphna
So sweet. Sounds like a perfect day!
Why viewers still use to read news papers when in this technological globe all is accessible on net?
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