My dear friend is getting married, and I had no clue what to get her. Yes, her registry was very diverse and varied, but I wanted to give her something a little more personal and from the heart. But what could I give her? I've known her for years... you would think that it would be an easy choice, but no. The date for her shower as coming up and I still had no idea.
Then I came across this tutorial: granny square quilt. Ooh.... Hmm... That looks simple enough to try. How would I manage to fit that into the kitchen shower theme? I really don't know what path my brain took, but somehow a table runner came to mind. Her kitchen colors are blue, white and yellow? I think I have a bunch of those colors! Boy howdy, I did! Actually, confession time - I didn't have to purchase any fabric for the entire set. That's how much fabric I've collected over the years.
After I finished the main table runner, I had quite a few 2.5" squares left over. I could do something with those too! :makes hot pad: Wow. Still have a lot of pieces left. I think I was a little over-zealous with the rotary cutter. I was starting to be done with granny squares. Yeah, they're simple and go together fast, but you can only make so many before you need a change of pace. What else does a table setting need? Place mats! Do I have enough for two perhaps? Oh, and the math worked out perfectly? I think I might have actually had my brain turned on while I was doing that... o_O In the process of making all these quilted items, I realized how much I despise making binding. How can I cheat my way through that one? After some thought and sleeping on it, aha! Extra wide, double fold bias tape. Now, I love sewing on the binding. Just do the hand sewing while 'watching' tv, and you have yourself a gorgeous, almost flawless binding! I almost did the happy dance when I looked at the finished product. Okay, I lied. I did do that happy dance.
But I couldn't stop there... If I do something, I tend to go all out. I dive in head first and fearless. The assembly is not complete until I say it is. And it was missing something. Then I went through my Sugar n' Cream stash. Lo-and-behold, there was blue and yellow yarn. I can hardly knit, let alone show you how to do it, but I can make dishcloths without paying attention to what I'm doing, therefore, I like making dishcloths. Just don't knit while watching an intense movie; you will break your yarn and kick yourself for it. So, I continued my evening projects, curled up in my fleece blanket and knitting away.
As I was going through the craft closet, I came across a set of coasters that I had made years ago. Conveniently, they were in the same fabrics that I had been working with. So into the gift bag it went!
That is the story of my creative adventures as of late. I couldn't watch my friend open the gift because I knew that I would start crying (I kept myself busy. It's easy to look busy if you really want to). I even played with the idea of having her mom give it to her after the shower, but that idea was eventually thrown into the mental trash can.
I kept asking myself, 'Why are you putting so much into a gift? You have a basket full of unfinished projects yet you focus on this one?' The only answer that I could come up with was that this was my therapy. With every stitch, I was closer to accepting the fact that my friend was getting married. She's not going to be living 5 minutes down the road... (/selfish rant) She's entering a new chapter of life. My time will come, but for now I'm still single. I have the time to put into a gift like this. And I'm happy to do it.
I'll have to post pictures of the shower later - it was a lot of fun and I loved how everything turned out!
So long for now!
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