I woke up this morning with my husband lying right beside me with that look… So I snuggled up to him thinking it would be a great start to my day.
But it wasn’t what I had envisioned, he gently whispered to me :
“My siblings and I were wondering if you could make a quilted pillowcase with pictures for my mom’s birthday?”
I was still half asleep so I simply replied :
“It’s not a good idea as the colors will fade in the wash, it’s better to make a wall hanging. And I am out of EQ Printables right now to print pictures on fabrics.”
He acknowledged and said:
“OK, I guess we will have to come up with another idea.”
That’s when I started waking up and realizing that her birthday is on Sunday… We are Thursday morning. So I looked at him in shock:
“You really expected me to create a pillowcase quilt within 4 days?”
He looked at me with that look… Like a child being caught with his hand in the cookie jar just before dinner…. He really thought I would stop everything I had planned and make a pillowcase quilt for his mom. So I replied:
“You know the rule of thumb is 3 months delivery time to make a quilt? I have just asked people to make quilts saying it was a rush job that needed to be done in a 3-4 weeks period. And I felt really bad giving them such a short time period even though I was giving them the fabrics and patterns… You expect me to design, choose fabrics, piece and quilt a project in 3 days? I don’t care if you are my husband at this point… The answer is NO. I love your mom but the answer is still NO.”
What is it with non-quilters and their expectation that a quilt can be made in no time? And especially in this case even at no cost!
My mother in law is celebrating her 85th birthday and I guess the idea is really a good one, but it should have been thought of 3 months ago. And I don’t feel guilty saying no, she already has a quilt of mine. I had designed and made a quilt just for me, it was the perfect size to lay on my lap when driving in the winter time. It has wool batting and Colleen custom quilted the negative space beautifully. It was a dark quilt as I knew it would get dirty in the car and the teal-aqua fabrics matched my winter coat. I barely had time to use it when my mother in law noticed it and fell in love with the quilt. I think it took her 3 months to dare ask if she could have the quilt, and it took me a month to say yes.
She now displays my quilt on her Lazy Boy. She proudly shows it to her friends when they come by for their knitting or book club.
So I won’t feel guilty for not making her a quilt for her birthday, please remember should you want to ask a quilting friend to make something: they need a 3 month lead time.
Thanks!