de Jong Dream House: jewel box

Tuesday, October 9, 2018

Quilt #116 :: Carolina Jewel Box for Quilts of Compassion

When we designed the house we built in 2012, we knew we wanted to open our doors to whatever opportunities came our way. We knew we would house family from the Netherlands as well as my family from the States, but we wanted to give our one and only child the opportunity to have adopted brothers and sisters around the world.

This month's One Monthly Goal came courtesy of our first exchange student, Marissa.

The second quilt I ever made was actually gifted to her when she lived with us in 2013!

Marissa came to visit us for two weeks. When we talked about how she wanted to spend her time back in the States, one of the things on her bucket list was to make a quilt with me. She decided to make Jewel Box quilt like this one from Auntie Em of Quilt Crossing.

source

Marissa wanted a full-size quilt. I decided to make a smaller, lap size quilt. Mine will be donated to Quilts of Compassion for their Quilts for the Carolines drive. If you aren't aware of the great work this group does, please check out the Facebook page.

It was fun to work on this project together for many reasons. For starters, it gave us many hours to catch up on each other's lives. It was a little strange to think that my craft room used to look like this when she lived with us.

And now it looks more like this:

Actually, last month, I added something new to my craft room. Introducing Allison Janome, my new Janome 9400.

Allison came with a table, the same Janome universal table my Pfaff sits in. I'm still figuring out which machine I like best for each part of quilting.

It's a great set up for sewing with a friend. And fortunately, my faithful Phiona didn't have to sit all alone while I made my first quilt with Allison.

Because Marissa was brand new to quilting, I made her a coloring sheet for her to help her visualize here color choices of blue, teal, turquoise, and green scrappy with a white background.

For my quilt, I also used blues, teals, and turquoise, but added purple instead of green.

I was so proud of Marissa for her focus! The first week she was here, I was pretty much out of commission after my little procedure, so we didn't get to get started until she only had a week left of her trip! It took a bit to get the first block done, but after that, she was off and running!

Can you believe she made this in a week?

We finished late her last night here.

This was such a special project for me. I love Marissa to pieces. She really is my Dutch daughter and I couldn't be prouder for her.

I made a label for my quilt. I realized after I attached it that I put the wrong month, but I started planning it in September, so I'm going to let that go because it's already on its way to its new home.