completed: mother's quilt

front and back

Remember this super secret present quilt, the one I worked on for months and months? Well, it finally got presented as a birthday gift to the intended recipient - my lovely mother! Fortunately, she loved the quilt!

recipient and back of quilt

I scoured the Internet looking for an appropriate pattern for this quilt. The pattern had to include queen sizes and be modern yet traditional. The pattern that I ultimately settled on is The Loaded Sandwich by Frivolous Necessity. The pattern instructions were a little spare and are designed with honeybuns in mind, but with Adam's magical math skills, I made it work for me. 

me and my mother daring to sit on the quilt

My mother requested dark reds and light blues to match her bedroom, and Adam helped me pick out the seven fabrics (one patterned cream, two solid reds, two solid blues, one patterned red and one patterned blue) that I used. It took a long time and a lot of work to create all those striped squares, but I think the quilt came out beautifully. The back is the solid dark blue cut with an off-center strips of extra squares. I bound the quilt with light blue pre-made satin binding, because my mother loves satin bindings.

front and back

The almost-queen sized quilt fits perfectly on the double bed, and happily, the quilt colors match the decor in the room. The quilt is a tiny bit Fourth-of-July, but given that my mother's birthday is in July, I think it's acceptable.

all laid out on the bed

I stitched "Happy Birthday, 2011" on the binding. Sadly, I finished this quilt in 2012. Not quite sure what I was thinking there. I will be adding "2012" to the quilt... someday.

corner detail

I was told that this quilt looks "mature" and "handmade, not homemade". That's what I strive for, and I am so happy that the quilt will be well-loved!