the biggest secret in the history of me

One cannot keep anything a secret from my mother.

She knows everything!  We can't even let her see her gifts until it is time for her to open them because one look and...whamm!...she knows exactly what it is.  Not even our most clever attempts at wrapping can prevent this.

So, back in late September, when I started scheming about the Christmas gift I was going to make for her, I wasn't all that confident that I would be able to keep it a secret.  After all, when you create something that is so big that there is no floor space in the house big enough to lay it out on, you can bet that it won't be easy to keep hidden...

What is this secret project?

Well, I'll tell you.

For as long as I can remember, Mama has been saving every scrap of fabric from our old dresses, costumes, etc.  She always said that one day she wanted a memory quilt made out of them.

Well...

...and here you have my biggest sewing achievement to date.  :)

It started out small, but then I started thinking that she would probably want to put it on her bed, so I started drafting a bigger pattern.  It just kept getting bigger and bigger.  I wanted to be able to focus on each individual pattern instead of having all the fabrics mesh together, so I incorporated as much white as possible.

By the time I was finished drafting the pattern, my little quilt measured 100 inches square.  For those of you not familiar with quilt measurements, this is king size.

At this point, not only was I worried that I wouldn't be able to keep it a secret, I was also wondering if I'd even be able to finish it!

I shocked myself by finishing it in two months. 

Who knew you could piece and hand quilt a king size quilt in 2 months????

Needless to say, I now feel like I can do absolutely anything!

I am happy to say that Mama was completely surprised!  How I managed it, I have no idea.  She knew I was making something and the hours and hours I spent upstairs watching movies made her rather suspicious (I should have kept track of how many movies I went through while quilting!), but she had absolutely no idea until Christmas morning!

*happy dance*

Now, my fingers are itching to start another one...  I started drafting a pattern last night.

We shall see what happens! :)

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Hope y'all had a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful time with family and friends!  I know I did!