A Question of Quality

Karen over at Sewing by the Seat of My Pants had a post recently that I gave a great deal of thought to while working on my latest project.  Daughter T requested a couple of quickie quilts for the grandchildren: one for grandson C to match one that I made for his sister a couple of years ago and another for granddaughter B to give to a friend.  Karen's quandary was over the quality of items made for oneself as opposed to those sold or maybe given away.  How much effort and expertise should the sewer put into one or the other?

Now when making clothing for children one knows that they are either going to be quickly outgrown if not stained or torn before that.  With quilts it can be even  worse--you know that they're going to immediately take them outside to build an fort (didn't everyone besides my brother and I rip the blankets off our beds to make an outdoor tent?) or else let the family dog urinate on them.  This made me wonder as I whirled them through the sewing machine just how precise I should be.  My grandson is 5 so I have an idea about how long his will last but the one to give away....Who would see it?  What would they think if I did a sloppy job?  I don't even know this little girl's family but my pride kept surfacing, I'm afraid, as I ripped out and redid the quilting.  I did make them to be easily washable and didn't spend much money on materials, mostly using big scraps from my quilting stash (yes, I have a quilting stash AND an apparel stash--taking up a lot of room in a small ranch).

I guess I haven't yet come up with an answer to this particular dilemma yet but it's certainly something to think about.

Here are front and back of the boy quilt and you can see that his name is Chase.  Thank God it's only five letters, huh?  I used 2" alphabet stencils that are from a hardware store and an applique product from Sew Baby called Sure Stick that they don't seem to carry anymore.  Anyway, it allows for great accuracy.  The front fabric is jungle-y and the back is wolves.  All left over and more boyish, I thought.

I had asked my granddaughter to design the quilt to be given to her friend in order for her to be more involved in the process and this is basically what she came up with.  Both girls are 9 and these symbols are pretty big in their world these days.  When I brought the quilt for her to see she seemed surprised that it would come out as she envisioned it.  I also put a small inscription area on the back for a personalized message, to be done with a laundry pen.  This gave her a little more ownership as well.

The quilt sizes were about 50 X 60--lap size.  Great for a sleepover! says daughter T. We'll see how long they last.:))