Monday, May 25, 2015

The Making of a DOCTOR WHO Quilt

I had made quilts for all of my late husband's grandchildren except the youngest one. I have to admit when the last grandchild of my late husband said to make a "Doctor Who" quilt, it wasn't so easy to design it. In my grief, I was hardly being creative anymore. 

A phone booth? I hadn't been watching that long-running "Doctor Who" series, but I found out the phone booth is where the characters go to call the police. Then I read about the little space figures that are in this long-running TV series from the UK, and I wondered how I could use that in the quilt. I had a pocket from one of my late husband's shirt. Not so sure how it would be possible. 

How do you turn a phone booth 
into a quilt?!
Her father made this cardboard phone booth for her.


I started with the phone booth and used jeans fabric for the structure of the phone booth. Jeans fabric is easy to piece you just sew on top. Then the jeans seemed a little harsh, or masculine, so I added some lace. 
My deadline was to give it to this wonderful young lady before I moved from Plant City where she lives. I found some flannel material with those "space figures" in them for the back on the quilt. 



One Thanksgiving
Granddaughter as an infant stole her grandpa's heart. 
A quilt with a little of her late grandfather in it--a pocket from one of his shirts sewn to the back for the use of a cell phone! Her cousins had those grandpa shirt pockets in their quilts. Gradually I got some of my creativity back. I bought flannel with space figures for the back of the quilt and blue and white poke-a-dot fleece for texture and a little warmth for the top and for the side binding. The phone booth sign came from
http://www.spoonflower.com/tags/doctorwho; however, I am not sure they still have it. 


I set out to design it with great tools.


Near the end I had to rush to Lakeland's Fabric Warehouse for help.


Becky and Brandon to the rescue. I hadn't been sewing much since my husband, her Grandfather, passed away last June. This helpful staff came to my rescue and refreshed me on how to use this great Swedish quilt-making machine, a Husqvarna Viking.

I had slept by my husband's hospital bed in a single bed. After the hospital bed left the house, the master bedroom became a sewing room, with a single bed in it. Didn't do much sewing however, until I made up my mind to finish this project before I moved next month. 


I used the stool from the pub table from the den to sit on as this height helped me not have trouble with my carpal tunnel syndrome in my wrist. Yes, I missed that pool table for quilt assembly, but it came together on that single bed. The top of the phone booth even has a place for a pen and a tablet.


Tonight  I heard that this granddaughter is pleased with it! 

8 comments:

  1. Very creative! I am sure she will treasure it for a very long time.

    betty

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    1. Thanks, Betty! You kept encouraging me in my widowhood to get it done and it does feel good to have finished this quilt.

      Okay, prayer partner. Pray for the father of this young lady now. as he is having a hard time recovering from surgery.

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  2. Great! I will definitely show this to Michelle.

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    1. Jane--thanks for the tip on the DOCTOR WHO insert source that I used above.

      I cherish the quilt you make for my late husband and myself for our wedding.

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  3. Carol, this quilt is awesome! Good job! Wishing you well with your move and live in general! You are very talented!

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    1. Thanks, Karen. We never know what we can do until we try. Have found this with quilts, and have found this with my raps.

      Now in two weeks I will be moving to Huntsville, Alabama. The second bedroom in my leased apartment, a den, will have a banquet table in the middle of it for projects--the first of which is a dissertation on caregiving.

      Yes, there is great joy in finishing something.

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  4. Very special quilt! What an accomplishment since I'm sure you have so much to finish for the move. I know she will treasure it through the years.

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    1. Thanks, Georgene. The moving van comes tomorrow and I head out for Huntsville on Monday in my car with my Huntsville brother driving the van. Hope everything fits in the van!

      Friday afternoon a quilting friend comes over to help pack material and to get the rest of my material.

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