the birth quilt

Before my second was born my friends were nice enough to plan a blessingway for me. Unfortunately, Oz had his own plans and came three weeks early so by the time my blessingway rolled around he was already a week old. We held it anyways and just shifted it's purpose a little bit.

At other blessingways I've attended we'd always made birth necklaces for the pregnant momma. While reading Birthing From Within there was a section on blessingways and it mentioned a quilt. I thought this fit me perfectly so I requested that each of my friends make a quilt square. While some of them complained a little, in the end they all made something great. The only problem was that since Oz was already born I was in no hurry to sew it up (having a newborn and all). I told myself I'd finish it up before he was one and I just squeaked in under the wire (he turns one tomorrow and I finished it yesterday).

Let me say this though, I am not a quilter. I've made a few in the past and they're not what you would call spectacular. I was nervous about this one, but fortunately I have a fabulous quilter friend who helped me along. The added bonus is that I'm borrowing her back up machine, which just happens to be a Bernina Activa 145s, and it's a million times nicer than my normal machine. This made quilting it much, much, much easier.

Overall I'm happy with the way it turned out. It's not perfect, but it is certainly filled with positive spirit and will surely be a family keepsake.