The Story of "Grateful"

"Grateful" was commissioned by a friend for her nephew's new arrival.  She described her nephew and his wife as sort of a hippie couple that really likes the Grateful Dead.  She told me that they love to go to concerts and planned to take the baby with them to music festivals this summer.

I used my standard baby quilt pattern - string blocks against lots of negative space.  After talking to my friend, I knew three things for sure.  1) I would use bright colors, 2) I would use batiks for the string blocks because batiks remind me of tie died fabric, which is uber hippie, and 3) The quilt had to feature the Grateful Dead dancing bear, but I had no idea how I was going to pull it off.  I am not good at appliqué and I couldn't fathom a way to piece the bear, so embroidery was the only way to go.  But how would I fill him in?  The bear was too big to be filled with satin stitches.

And then I remembered a project from my 7th grade Home Ec class.  We made pillows with a rose on the front that was embroidered with french knots.  Yes, that would work nicely!  I would use french knots to fill in the bear. The knots would give the bear some texture that I was sure the baby would love to play with.

I had no idea how long it would take.

Twenty-five hours later and it was finished.  Next up was the quilting.  I spaced the lines half inch apart and completely underestimated how long it would take me. There are 72 lines on the quilt.  Each line took about 15 minutes.

During the time I was working on the quilting, I would think about this couple, whose picture I'd only seen once, and their baby that hadn't even been born yet.  I imagined them at concerts, swaying to the rhythm while the baby napped on the quilt.  In my mind, they were a particularly happy family and the baby was always full of smiles and giggles.  I hope that this family is as happy as I imagined them to be.

My friend makes baskets.  I don't mean she fills baskets with cool stuff for gifts.  She actually weaves baskets!  She made the baby a Moses basket so that the baby would have a unique place to chill and enjoy concerts this summer. Here is the quilt in the basket.

I grew connected to this quilt for a reason I can't really explain.  It might be because I spent so much time on it.  I almost didn't want to leave it when I delivered it.  I can't wait to hear what the family thinks of the quilt.  I hope they love it as much as I do.