Grandma was a Badass

I occasionally have people bring me old quilts for repair.  People also ask if I can finish a quilt that some departed relative started long ago that has been sitting in a cedar chest somewhere waiting to start its life.  That is how this beauty and I were introduced.

The pattern is a classic hexagon layout called Grandmother's Garden.  In this case, it actually was pieced by someone's grandmother.  And Grandma was a HAND-stitching badass.

I counted these up, and they average 27 stitches per seam.  I did some sloppy math and got a rough estimate of around 90,000 stitches in the entire quilt!

This quilt is huge.  A generous king-sized quilt.  Large enough that I didn't have a room with enough floor space to lay it out and baste it for quilting.  Thus, I pulled out a tarp and used my back yard (Note the clothes drying on the line - I have a bit of grandmotherly-badassity going on myself).

The Tarp.

Quilt with Warm & Natural Cotton Batting .

I had been avoiding sandwiching this together and basting it for quilting, because it's huge.  That's intimidating.  I do this with every quilt, regardless of size though.  It always surprises me when it goes well and is really not that difficult.  Then I wonder why I put it off for so long.  Now that it's basted, I'm hand quilting it.  I could wrestle it through my sewing machine, but Grandma's tedious handwork deserves to be honored, so I am firing up the Netflix and getting to work!

Because this generation needs a few badasses too.