Finished!

And here it is! My kite quilt is finished. Or my nephews kite quilt, I should say. It's his birthday tomorrow, so I've been cutting it close - but I did it, and it feels great :-D This also concludes a series of quilts I've been planning and working on for some years now. A self imposed task and a labour of love, but still something I knew I had to keep at, once I'd given away the first one. I have five nephews and one niece and I wanted to give them all one special gift to remember me by - a bed sized quilt.

The first one I made for my eldest nephew for his fifteenth birthday, three years ago (wow - I actually made them all over a period of three years!) His brother, two years his junior got his quilt two months later. Their sister, who was eight at the time, got hers for Christmas that same year - and then I had a break... Last year my two nine-year old nephews got their quilts for their birthdays two months apart, and finally the youngest one gets his quilt tomorrow.

With the three first ones I used the nine-patch as a unifying element. They were all planned at the same time, and I thought it was fun to explore different ways of using such a simple block ending with three so different quilts. With my niece's quilt I had fun using all the pastel colours little girls love, and was rewarded with tears of joy when she received it - no need to ask, she loved it! With the two teens I was thanked with a gruffly mumbled: "cool" and awkward hugs. Not too open with their emotions at that age, are they? However I was moved to tears when sis told me a while later that they had actually started making their beds without being told, because they "couldn't let those cool quilts lie on the floor, now, could they?"

After working with traditional blocks and abstract themes, I had fun making "real kids' quilts" for the three youngest ones. First one where I used bright and cheerful prints of cats, bats and bugs. I had almost finished the top when his mother bought him a new, extra wide bed, so I had to improvise. The cat's paw prints along the border were what I ended up with.
The space ships and kites came from patterns in Quiltmaker years ago. I changed the dimensions, placement and number of blocks and the background, so my versions are far away from the originals, but doing your own thing is half the fun of making quilts though, isn't it?

As I said, this has been a labour of love and I have enjoyed making each and every one, but it still feels as if a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. I have lots of ideas about quilts I want to make, but I have kept telling myself to finish these quilts first, and that has served to curb my enthusiasm a bit. But now there are no excuses, I can do whatever I like! (As if I couldn't before, duh!) So watch out - here I go...

On an entirely different subject. Thank you so much for all the nice mails I've recieved lately, and thanks to Diane E for information about where to find the pattern of the lovely Frost Fire and Leaves Shawl. Tempting. I might be lured back into the knitting realm by this... I have put the book on my wish list, anyway ;-)