A few weeks ago my mom delivered the Gee’s Bend inspired quilt that we designed together and made for my son, Ben.  She picked it up from being quilted by my very talented Aunt Karen, just in time for his birthday and delivered it to me with the binding almost finished.  Yeah!

This quilt was such a long time in the making.  I started it over two years ago.  The blocks were inspired by this quilt from The Quilts Of Gee’s Bend which my mom and I turned into a design for a twin bed.  The bright color theme was chosen by son (along with his bright green walls).  I purchased some of the fabrics, but many of them came from the stash.

The quilt was coming together nicely when I discovered that I hadn’t bought enough fabric for the sashing and borders.  That’s the pitfalls when you are designing as you go.  After searching high and low with no luck, I put the unfinished pieces of the quilt in a box, away on the shelf until I could come up with a solution.  Since the sashing was a solid denim color, and I felt that the design of the quilt would be all ruined if I threw in another fabric, and I am definitely too frugal to buy a whole new fabric.  I just couldn’t picture a way to solve the problem.

The fact that a Gee’s Bend Quilt had been the inspiration for the quilt should have been the first clue that it was time to make it do.  I’m quite sure the talented Gee’s Bend quilter, who inspired the quilt, would have cut up some old jeans and her quilt would have been done.

The solution wound up being one of my favorite things about the quilt.  I found a soft brushed fabric for the top and bottom borders.  It makes the quilt less predictable and much more interesting.  With some careful piecing, we were able to make the rest of the lightweight denim work for the sashing and side borders.

The new quilt really makes his room feel completed and more grown up.  It’s a quilt perfect for my almost-as-tall-as-me, 12 year old kiddo.

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