Blogger's Quilt Festival

I am going to try this and try to link up.  I've never done this before.  Here goes...

I started this quilt in the winter of 2006.  My oldest daughter was pregnant and we planned for me to go to Savannah for the baby's birth.  I knew I would be there for a week or so, and I wanted to have something I could do hand work on while I was there.  I got the pattern out of Quilter's Newsletter and started cutting and appliqueing and piecing.

I managed to get the top finished and basted the quilt sandwich before I had to go to Savannah.  But in her final two weeks, my daughter was put on bed rest and so I packed my things and headed south early to sit with her and wait...and stitch.
So as we watched a ton of TV I worked on this quilt.  I hand quilted different things on each heart and the surrounding background.  I let the patterns in the fabrics guide me.

My sweet little V was finally brought into the world and the quilt was soon forgotten.  I tried to work on it from time to time, but many projects got in the way.
Almost one year later I was with daughter number 2 waiting for the arrival of my number 2 grandson J and again I took this quilt with me to work on.  Once again some stitching was done, but not much as there was lots of baby cuddling to do.  When I came home, the quilt was put aside yet again.

Finally, in the winter of 2010, I picked it up once again, determined to finally complete it.  I made myself keep going even when I didn't feel like it because I knew that I wanted it to be finished so I could truly enjoy it.  I just had a hard time with all that hand quilting.  I didn't want to skimp on the later squares.

The quilt has been done for almost a year now.  It was my facebook profile picture for the longest time.  Everyone who has seen it loves it and wants one.  I just laugh at them.  Then I found it had a job to do.

My oldest daughter got married in front of it.  Her son V was there, looking on with the rest of our families and friends.  This was what she chose for the backdrop to her wedding.  This was its destiny all along and I never knew it while I stitched away.
I guess that's why I loved this quilt so much.  It is now a family treasure.

Here is the link to the Blogger's Quilt Festival at Amy's creative side.  Check out all the great quilts.

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