Forget Autumn; Santa Has a Looong List!

Christmas gift spoiler alert! Let me say right now, IF YOU ARE MY MIL, LOOK AWAY!

Truthfully, I don't think my MIL knows about this site, considering I haven't told anyone about it, but if you are reading this and recognize the projects or the style or the writing and think there's even the slightest chance you may be the mother of my husband, consider yourself warned. This is the big "pow!" gift for you, and you'll have to act surprised and impressed on Christmas day even if you see this now.

So. Out of all of the things I worked on last week, there's one project I'm most proud of. My MIL is a professional seamstress and expert quilter. She has always been incredibly supportive of my crafty endeavors, and since I found my love for embroidery, I wanted to make something for her that captured both of our interests. I drew up a pattern for embroidery, keeping it fairly simple but allowing myself the pleasure of adding some detail since I am a detail gal. (It's hard to see in the photos, but there is even a single strand of ecru outlining all of the smaller squares on the quilt.)


Then I taught myself how to make it into a square in a mini quilt. I can sew, but I am not highly practiced at it, and I have never done "real" quilting before. Thanks to YouTube and online tutorials, I figured it out and I think it's not half bad for a first quilt.


She loves batiks. They're not my personal favorite, but I wanted to really make this something she would love. I tried to keep the design traditional but also make it more modern, since she is moving away from "country" decorating in her house. I was very happy with how the fabrics complimented the floss colors on the embroidered square.



I put this one off for a while because I was intimidated by the idea of learning to quilt, but now I'm so glad I did it. I can see myself doing many more of these in the future, especially as I will be able to combine the quilting with embroidery. I think my MIL will be thrilled with this. (The real test will be to see if it makes her cry!) I know I am quite pleased with the result.