Not every gift can be in the 10 dollar category. A few years ago I took up quilting. I did a couple of very small lap quilts, but the true quilting–cutting blocks of cloth, forming patterns and then quilting a top and bottom–was too much work. I switched trains and began buying lovely patterns such as the one in the picture. It’s still quilted–the back has a bunch of little bears all over it (I always get a busy or colorful pattern on the back because it hides my mistakes!). The inside is a very nice punched cotton that resembles felt. The entire quilt is cotton–nice and heavy and most importantly warm.

I quilt along the patterns, outlining the bears, the rocks, and the clouds. The trees have quilting too, but that is more random. I think the quilt turns out looking a lot nicer than when I tried to stitch blocks together. I don’t have the patience to do fancy patterns that way. As it is, a lap quilt takes me almost three months. I do all of it by machine except for the mistake corrections, which are little repairs that require some finessing.

This particular quilt went to dad for Christmas. Really, he was cheating because I already made him a quilt. The problem is that dad saw this material for another quilt I was making. He immediately decided he *needed* one with this pattern! I still have to make him a pillow sham, but with this type of Christmas gift, you get it when it’s done…and not a moment before!