Happy Mother's Day!

I just wanted to take this opportunity to wish all of you moms, moms-to-be, grandmoms, great-grandmoms, godmoms, aunts, and even friends a Happy Mother's Day!! And an extra special thank you is going out to my wife, who I know is one of my most loyal readers and is the best mother in the whole world.

Unfortunately, I won't be able to see my mom for Mother's Day, as she is home in Brooklyn NY (where I was born and raised) and we're down here in Tar Heel country. But we did send her a very special gift, which I know you all will appreciate.

We signed my mom up for a Beginning Quilting class at Purl!

My mom is already a very crafty lady -- she is a world-class knitter that makes absolutely beautiful, boutique-worthy baby sweaters and kids' sweaters (that without fail receive multiple compliments from strangers any time my kids wear them) as well as knitted blankets. But I think she's itching to get into quilting as well. I hope she likes the gift, and I am excited to see how she responds.

We'll be seeing my wife's mother and grandmother this weekend, and this past Sunday I was struck by a moment of inspiration (or was it insanity??). I decided I wanted to give both my mother and mother-in-law something homemade for Mother's Day. I had a jelly roll of Dandelion Girl and no plans of what to do with it, so I decided to tackle a table runner that I saw in a recent issue of American Patchwork & Quilting that really caught my eye.

It's been keeping me up late every night this week.

Here it is, all pieced and pressed. I plan on quilting it this evening.


So I seem to learn something new with each new project. With this one, it was how to sew together angled pieces and still get them into a straight line. This "beginner" pattern failed to mention anything about it! It took me a good 15 minutes of staring at it and 2 ripped seams to figure it out.



I LOVE this and I am so excited by how it turned out. One jelly roll makes 2 of these, with a good bit still left over. Unfortunately, I only completed one of the two. My mom's is all cut and I hope to work on it next week. I already told her that her gift would be a bit late ... but I'm hoping the surprise of the class will be enough to get her through.