Quilt Emergancy!!!!!!!!!!!help!!!!!

[lilyka]

I make a quilt for each of my babies. Spending hours looking for just the right fabric, just the right patteren. Lovingly quilting and finishing with hand stitches. Each one a labor of love. And I must say my childrens quilts are by far prettier than anything else my own hands have ever made. And they love them. Both girls sleep with them nestled near thier angelic cheeks almost every night.

SO WHY DID SHE CUT IT!!!!!!????? My almost three year old took my sewing sisscors (which I accedentlly left out last night but that she knows not to touch - or so i thought) and cut a large hole out of our rocking chair (overstuffed like the ones they sell at pottery barn. 2 years old), a huge chunk out of our baby swing (just a couple of months old and we were kinding banking on the resale value) and by far the worst offense of the day is that she cut a huge chunk out of her beloved (by both of us) quilt. Out of the three girls hers was by far the nicest. it was the pretties quilt I have ever made and one of the few things that was special just for her. It is in all bright colors (red, orange, yellopw, blue, purple and green) in a star pattern with several layers of tiny little strip quilting around the border. Some of the peices are smaller than 1/2" square. Agghhhhhhh! I am OK.

So I have all the three peices. it was two completely removed peices and one long cut. Of course it is right in the middle of the star, not on a big chunk of white which would be easy to patch. Not beautiful but easy. enough so she ould still love on her blanky.. Is there any hope. the diamond that make up the star are about 1 1/2 inchesl ong and 1/2 wide. And very brightly colored. Any suggestions?

I sent them to thier room unil I could calm down (you would have thoght someone died. Once i could breath again I went upstairs and pulled Lily out from under her bedand screamed at her for a while ( I know, we talked I groveled she forgave). When I went up again (I obviously wasn't ready the first time) she was in her bed whailing. Think he rsister had done something to her I asked what was wrong and she just sobbed "My star quilt I hurt it" She had just relized what she did. I felt so bad for her i started crying for her. Noone else gets to even look to closely at this blanket. I doubt she will be able to sleep well tonight without it.Even though I am totally pissed that she would even consider cutting it My heart breaks for her at having to deal with the consequenses.I was so crushed by the look on her face when she relized the seriousness of hat happened. Later she camne down and saw it and the lok on her face was heart breaking.

So if anyone has any suggestions please tell me. I am starting to have some idea but I am hoping someone will have a better idea because the one have is tedious and sucky and I still don';t knw if I will be able to pull it off.

Well off to start sewing on the swing because the part she cut can't be replaced.

What a crappy day!

[mamaduck]

Oh man!!!! That totally sucks. What a wretched day.

If it were me, I'd pack the quilt away somewhere safe for a few weeks, and then try to deal with it when I feel less emotional about it.

Maybe it is easier for me to see this -- being emotionally uninvolved -- but, whew -- she could have REALLY hurt herself with those sisscors. Make sure you remind her of how dangerous it was, how much more important people are than things, and give her lots of hugs.

[lilyka]

Your right. It was really dangerous for her to have those scissors. i hadn't even thought about it. Thanks for reminding me.

Just incase this day didn't suck enough, I got the insurance papres for dd emergancy room visit and they aren't covering any of the $700 (that would be for more or less a dropper full of tylenol). Aaagghhhhhhh. i am scared to leave this room because there are still several hours left inthe freaking day!!!!! The potential for it to get worse is still there.

[mamaduck]

(((((hugs))))))) Hope things improved.


And, contest the insurance decision. It couldn't hurt to try!

[Jane]

Mamaduck has a good suggestion about leaving it for a while. When you get around to repairing, though...
I would suggest three different things to repair it.
1) Applique on another shape on top of the cuts after stitching down the edges to prevent raveling. I don't think it'd look on purpose because you're dealing with a geometric pattern, but adding hearts or stars or flowers could be a fun "personalization." And it could look great!
2) Actual repair...take it all apart and stitch in brand new fabric pieces for the cut ones. A lot of work, and you'd have to have scraps in your bag still
3) Piece repair. Lay in a backer panel under the missing piece. The fabric stores sell iron-on patches for the knees of pants, but I like to make my own with fusable webbing and a suitable color and feel to the fabric. Cut this backer panel as large as possible, to the seams of the piece that the cut is in. Tuck it in under the top layer, on top of the batting, fusing side up. Make sure to get it flat. Iron the cut piece onto the backer. It should know "look" whole again. You will need to had stitch a tight zigzag around the cut piece, but it should be not-too-hard since the backer will hold it steady. If you can get the backer to "stop" at the edges of a quilt piece, it won't show as much. It will make it stiffer in that area, but it will be durable if you get a good set on the fusing and you are careful to take a short stitch with the sewing.
HTH

[lilyka]

Option three was what I was thinking. I was going to find a peice of the white I used on the back and replace that in all one big peice. For the front I was going to undo most of the quilting and hand sew all the peices back together and then requilt whaI can and the stick fusable interfacing under neath it all. Mostly i want it to hold up reasonable well so she can snuggle it. The hole is too big for an aplique. it is an 8 point star and the whole covers two full points. poor baby. She came up and sat vetween me and the quilt and started crying again "and said I do love it mommy. I miss it already" and then later when we were about to come home and get ready for bed she burst out crying and said "I want my star blankie" Good grief what was she thinking. there were a whole stack of blankets there and other than her sisters quilt (and that would have been a much easier fix as there isn't nearly as much quilting and I still have tones of the fabric laying around) they were all pretty worthless in comparason yet she chooses to ruin the one she can't live without. her sadness has pretty much made me forget how upset I am .

thanks for the sugesstions

(as for the insurance it is a deductable thing. There is nothing I can do but I think I can contest some of the bill, the fact that their nurse freaked out and told me my baby was in grave danger when she was just a little conjested and I wasn't even calling about her breathing, And why the he!! does it cost me 4900 to have something done in the emergancy room that my Dr. can do for $200 -and will only cost me a $15 CO-PAY!!) On the up side I made a chocolate cake and my day got better

[mamaduck]

mmmmmmmmmm--- chocolate cake....... yummy!

[Jane]

That repair sounds plenty durable, lilyka. You'll get good warning if it starts to ravel, anyway.
Your poor daughter, I feel so sad just from you description.

[jjquilter]

Oh... how I feel for you! Thank goodness she didn't hurt herself.

Perhaps you could do something like a 'stained glass' pattern, where you edge the pieces and then resew so it looks like stained glass. I've most often seen it in black, but white might work.

Otherwise, it sounds like it's going to be a lot of work. I'd love to see a photo of her once beautiful quilt. Did you ever take a picture of it? It might help us to get an idea of it, too.

[lilyka]

I will try to post a picture soon. If Ilay it on the floor with the peices inserted it still looks great It is just when you pick it up there is a hole the size of a small nation.

[lucimomster]

Big sigh. Ah yes, I've got an almost-3yo, too.

My guess is that she was trying to make a quilt like mommy does, and she was taking pieces of some of her favorite fabrics. I'm thinking she wasn't meaning to be destructive, but CONSTRUCTIVE and creative.

I don't have any great suggestions for repairing the quilt, other than remembering that someday when she's grown-up, you'll all be able to look at the repaired quilt, see the "healed scar" and say another prayer of thanksgiving that nobody got hurt.

The quilt will still be exquisite, because it's still a symbol of your love for her. Now it'll be even better, because it shows a sign of her wanting to be like mommy ... and mommy's best, loving repair work.

My advice is, don't try to make your repair invisible, but just make it obviously loving.

Take a nice deep breath and give your sweet daughter a hug. You both deserve it.

Lucimama

[jjquilter]

Lucimama,

I bet you're right. I bet that lylika's daughter just wanted to be like mom and do quilting herself. Maybe you could get her involved in fixing it?

I actually dreamt about this thread last night. When I was young, I had a blanket that I toted along with me. When it ripped and I was mortified, my mother didn't want to fix it, perhaps because she was afraid that she couldn't possibly do it as well as I wanted.

So instead, she had me sew it myself. Now that I think about it, that whole experience might possibly have started me off on my sewing hobby. That blanket that I loved so much became a patchwork of pink stitches that I sewed myself. I knew that the sewing wasn't very good, but it was the best I could do at the time and I was proud of myself that I had done it myself. Last night in my dream, I was a tiny girl, sewing big stiches (surgical -- my mom taught me and she's a nurse!!) on my blanket. What a nice memory.

[lilyka]

Her and her sister were making a collage. he rsister sent her after colored stuff to tape to the paper.

i can look at it now without feeling sick and I don't think it will be as hard to fix as i thougt. I just need to make sure she doesn't get her head cought in the whole while she is sleeping

[EmsMom]

I feel so sad for both of you! I thought that if you added a small border on the top piece with machine stiching to hold all the quilting stiches in place (and machine stich around the outside of the hole for the same reason), you could turn under the border and applique the cut piece right back into place with an invisible applique stich. On the back you could whip stich the batting pieces together, then put a large patch over the whole thing on the back. It might be better to do the back first, though. You could also take some very small quilting stiches along the same lines as the original to hold it all together. If the stiching on the front looks too off, maybe you could use a fancy crazy quilt type stich to cover it. Call it Mommys special love stich that will make the quilt better than ever. Maybe whenever she looks at it, for the rest of her life she will think that Mommy can help make all the broken places better. I made a doll for my DD and everytime the poor beloved raggedy thing springs a new leak, my DD is in tears and heartbroken. Best wishes to you on this project!

[lilyka]

Perfect! Thanks. I have been able to think a lot more rationally about it the last few days. (weeks?) The thought also crossed my mind about a giant band-aid shaped patch. I don't care if it looks perfect, more just usable without being ugly.

[Corriander]

Last Christmas my dad gave me a quilt that his grandmother had made. It had an inscription embroidered on the bottom: "Made by Grandma A. circa 1920s, cut by Corey 1974, repaired by Dad 2002". The repair is obvious and the inscription makes it priceless.

[Quilter Mama]

I totally agree with the "quilting like mommy" comments. I caught DS cutting into some of my fabric stash and when I asked him what he was doing he said "look mama I makin' a quilt like you" . I could have cried with joy to have a 2 yr old son so interested in quilting!

I have a slight variation on the stained glass and band-aid ideas. Make or buy double fold bias tape in colors that go with or contrast to the quilt. Open it up, and iron it so the edges are folded under and it lays flat against the quilt. Hand stich it over your repair work, being on the bias it should bend and curve enough to follow the cut lines. It will show, but like others have said that will be a priceless reminder of your love for her and the quilt in years to come.

I hope everyone has settled down I know it would take me a good week of crying on and off to get over it,
QM

[lilyka]

I have gotton over the shock and have adjusted to never being able to remember what safe place I left my scissors in (It isn't enough to just put them away., thay have to be on a shelf high enough that my oldest can't reach with a chair or in something locked)

i am feeling better about it now although haven't had time to repair it. Can't even think about it right now. I noticed yesterday that she gother sisters baby quilt too. Fortunately she only clipped the binding and if I feel inclned to fix that it will be a very easy fix.

I just wish she could leave things alone that didn't belong to her. She has been on a real destrructive path these last few weeks. Everything is broken aorund here. They broke thier pic-nic table, all of thier easter eggs (plastic ones)tihier beds,thier window shades, shower curtain - new shower curtain, and the list goes on. i wish the quilt demolition was because she just wanted to be like mom. unfortunately I think it was more her need to destroy stuff. She really has a hting for messes. She is cute about it at least and always genuienly sorry that she did it. the thought of dissasembeling somehting cloggs her mind and she isn't able to forsee the consequenses.

[jjquilter]

If it's detruction she's doing, I wonder if you couldn't encourage it in a "constructive" way. I mean, if she has some extra aggression around, maybe you could get her into gardening, or go kick a ball around for an hour a day, or something similar. Even helping in the kitchen, like mashing potatoes, making playdoh, whiping eggs by hand. Now that'll get the aggressive energy out of her!

I remember my friend telling me that her cats were ripping up the baseboards in her house, then a cardboard box -- from that point on, she brought home a new cardboard box from work and the cat was happy. Children aren't much different!

I'm still eager to see a photo of this beautiful quilt... I made one for my dd but it wasn't good enough for me to turn it into a baby blanket for her, so I gave it to someone. Now she's 13 mo and still doesn't really have a quilt of her own, so I'm still looking for inspiration.