Tommy’s room is done, too…with a couple new features!
Derek decided that Tommy HAD to have these constellation sheets…
…but don’t worry, the beloved robot sheets are still in use on the spare bed…
Grandpa Muller made this great retro piggy bank for Tommy!
And there’s now a clock in his room so that Tommy knows when it’s 7 am (when he’s allowed to leave his room).
And…it only took me three years, but the rocket quilt is now (finally) complete! Derek and I started planning a robots and space ships room back before Tommy was born, I think, but we found that there were no bedspreads available that really were what we wanted–bright colors, clean lines, retro feel. So soon after Tommy’s birth, my quilting mentor, Brenda, showed me this pattern so I could make one myself. Problem was, this wasn’t a strip-pieced quilt like everything I’ve done before–every single little piece had to be hand-traced from templates, cut out individually, and carefully pieced together. The stars alone involved over 300 little triangles to be traced, cut, and sewn. Many, many friends have helped me with this over the years…Eleanor cut star pieces out for hours during one visit, my entire family traced background pieces all through at least one family Christmas, Brenda and my mom handcut many of the rocket components one summer and sent them to me, and Derek traced and counted a ton during the Olympics. And I sewed and sewed and sewed, often distracted by several baby quilts and two wedding quilts that had higher deadline priority. Tommy got his new room after his sister was born but had to make do with my old college quilt for over a year, but I FINALLY finished this up in time to send it off to be machine quilted (after hundreds of hours of work, I wanted a professional pattern) before we moved. I sewed on the binding before we left for Italy, and the quilt made its triumphant debut in Tommy’s room the first week we moved in here!
Each square took several hours to put together, but I think it was worth it.
Derek and I actually saw a fabric we liked for the backing back in ’07, but we didn’t buy it at the time. When I started getting serious about finishing the quilt last summer (!), our favorite pattern was out of print already. A long search resulted in this backing, which we love for the bright colors and funky retro feel.
Now I just have to get started on Elizabeth’s big girl quilt….stay tuned for another two or three years to see that…
