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| My sons baby quilt, repaired today after 14 years of love. |
Today I spent some time repairing my oldest son's baby blanket. After 14 years, this blanket is really holding up well. My sister-in-law made this adorable quilt for my son when he was born. She was a new sewer back then, and I'm pretty sure this quilt was one of her first big projects. When I got it, I suggested hanging it on the wall in his bedroom. Stephanie was insistent that we was use the blanket; she made it for him to enjoy. Well, she got her wish. My dear son sleeps with this blanket every night, even now as a teenager. Yesterday I washed the blanket along with his sheets which prompted a conversation about how it doesn't smell "right" after I wash it. We all had a snow day today, so he asked if I could take a look at his blanket. It looks like one of the fabrics that she used in the bottom portion of the quilt wore out faster than the rest of the blanket. There were regularly spaced worn squares all through the bottom part. I did not attempt to replace the fabric with some thing new; I thought this would give the blanket a "Frankenstein" look. Instead, I used a zig-zag stitch around the missing squares to secure the rest of the blanket.
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| A closer look at what's left of the bear face. I secured what's there with zig-zag stitching. |
The brown fabric from the sleeping bear was worn away in large patches. I trimmed back the straggly spots and used a dark brown thread to zig-zag around the outline of the bear, which secured any brown fabric that was left. The pink ears and paws have held up really well, so I stitched around them to tack down these areas. As I was working on the blanket, I though about all the history this blanket has in our family. I remember tucking him into bed with the blanket near his face to help him sleep. When we took a trip across the world to India, Yves chose this blanket as his "comfort item" from home. This blanket traveled all around this exotic country with us, and made it back home without getting lost! And what mother can forget those days when her child has fever from the flu. This blanket was always there with him to help him feel better. I hope that my repairs today will help give us many more years with this sweet blanket.
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| Our cat Adam enjoys the blanket just as much as Yves does. |
