Wednesday, March 12, 2014

A Quilt For My Son


A few months ago, my oldest son asked me for a new quilt.  It's been a few years since I last made him one, so I was more than happy to oblige!

Last winter he started swimming competitively for his high school, then a club over the summer.  It turns out he has quite the ability!  If I've been a bit quiet here, it's partially because I have spent much of the last few months going to high school swim meets, driving his to and from practice, and taking extra trips to the grocery store to fuel the extra calorie needs that swimming for a few hours a day requires.

But it all paid off when he placed first in his district swim meet in the 200 yard freestyle, earning him a trip to the Oregon state finals.  He was also good enough to get an alternate place in 2 relays that also went to state.  He placed 2nd in district in the 400 freestyle.  Only the 1st place finishes go to state, but his personal best time was faster than at least 1 of the 12 finalists.  He placed 12 out of 12 in the state meet, but for a kid who has only been swimming competitively for less than 2 years, we couldn't be any prouder!

My official name for his quilt, is "Plus Squared", but the subtitle is "Gee, you sure can swim!" ;-)  I made it in his high school team colors.

Because I like to hear other people's stories of where they get their inspiration, here is the picture that led to this quilt design.  I stumbled across it around Christmas time, and filed it in my "idea folder".

My son is also good at math, and I just happened to have a few blocks left over that went perfectly on the back.

The quilting took much longer than the construction, but I'm very happy with how it turned out. You can see it best on the back.  Now that I feel somewhat competent at free motion quilting, I am preferring solid colors on the back more and more, as it really highlights the quilting.

It's a 70" by 86" quilt, using a combination of Moda "Comma" fabric, and Robert Kauffman Kona Solid Forest green and curry yellow.  I used a variegated Coats and Clark thread for the quilting, and Kona black for the binding.

It was a joy to make this, as it was to see my son succeed and do so well in a sport he loves.

4 comments:

  1. Love the strong, bold quilt you've made for your swimming son, Becky! And...I have to grin because I think that B&W letters/numbers print you used was the same one I used for my son's Annual Christmas Boxer Shorts last December! He's about to graduate with Diploma #3 -- this one in Digital Media and IT -- so I thought the "bar codes" fitting. May your son continue to enjoy and do well with his swimming!

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  2. well done to your son, maybe we will see him in the olympics in a few years and won`t you be the proudest Mum. A great quilt and so agree about a plain backing, all the lovely quilting is always seen best from the back and yours is a very nice quilting design

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  3. Its always nice to find something you are good at.... even accidentally!!! He will love the quilt.... next winter! Hopefully spring is showing her warmer side... soon!

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  4. Hi, Becky. Cute quilt for your son. I especially like the interesting quilting design. I remember the good ol' swim team days--funny things like the smell of chlorinated pools...
    best, nadia

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