What I Learned in Recent Days
 

I'm fmq a quilt for a GGS which has a rectangular pieced center panel. It is then surrounded by many many borders. I have not counted, but there are atleast 9. It is queen size. What did I learn??? Never, never will I ever make a large quilt with so many borders. I chose to use a different quilting pattern for each border. So, do one side to the corner, turn the bulk (the "gorilla") and work to the next corner, wrestle the gorilla, work to the next corner, wrestle with the gorilla. Do this over and over and over again. Do you understand my words, "never, never"?

Needless to say, no more gorillas in my sewing room. I will be so glad when this one is completed. It is turning out great but I will be glad to see it go out the door.

My GGS is now wearing bifocals at 3 yo. The backing fabric has dogs, some wearing glasses. When he saw the fabric, he remarked that the dogs were wearing bifocals. How many 3 yo know about bifocals?

:DYeah, never say never. When that sweet little face asks for another seemingly impossible sewing task you will say, " of course sweety" .

How about quilting the center before adding the borders, joining all the borders of each side and quilting each before mitering corners as you put together the five separate quilted chunks?

Lol..Yes you will....for grands

Do 2 or 3 borders at once. That would cut down on turning the quilt so often.

I would also do a few of the borders on the same side before I turned it. I would love to see the completed quilt! I adore sewing for small humans :) and really enjoy seeing what folks come up with.

That is a bittersweet comment about the bifocals. Both my grandsons are vision impaired. The older one never mentions it. The little one is very frustrated. There is no cure or treatment for their conditions. They go to a low vision expert at a major university. Best they can offer is thick reading glasses. I have only made 3 borders.

9 borders? Yikes...I'll be anxious to see this gorilla. Lol! And, your precious GGS is so worth the angst. He is already admiring it. Just love that story......as to maneuvering this bad boy, I would do all the borders on each side at a time and use a design that incorporates multiple borders for design. I did this on a quilt of mine and it looked great but it was not anywhere near 9 borders...

Snippn, He had double crossed eyes and has had two surgeries to correct same. Another surgery is necessary. His sister started wearing glasses at 3 months. She has no peripheral vision. Her lenses are like coke bottles although the doctor says that eventually, her eyes will reverse and correct themselves. I hope your DGSs will eventually find a solution to their vision problems. I know how difficult it is to see their challenges. -- Of hope, my DH had a stroke and was left with double vision. We found an opthomologist who operated on both eyes and corrected the double vision. John was an avid reader and with new lenses, he was able to read w/again with both eyes. (Coincidentally, he is the same surgeron who had operated on the GGS. We love this guy.)

The DGGS saw he dogbifocal fabric on the apron I made for him at Christmas.

My GGS also has very poor vision. He has a genetic condition that will eventually blind him. The condition also effects his kidneys and heart. He has been in school since before he was 1 year old because he has severel learning disabilities. With all of his problems he is still the nicest little 5 year old boy you could meet. I guess I should make I'm a big boy quilt as he is still using the one I made home when he was a newborn. Will have to find him some special fabric. He loves minions!