Eiffel Tower for my Dad

My dad's name is Pierre. He went by Pete for probably 60 years of his life, but in the last 10 or so he has started introducing himself as Pierre. Both of his parents were born and raised in France in a little town called Joigny. I'm pretty sure they were married in France before they came to the U.S. so my dad is first generation American. My dad did not always like his name and growing up and through most of his adult life he was Pete or Peter. Now, he is Pierre. He loves all things French. I cannot count how many vacations he has taken to France. My mom has stopped going with him. She has other countries she wants to see. My sister-in-law always gets him a huge basket filled with everything French she can find throughout the year for Christmas. And he loves it.

So when I saw this pattern I thought of my dad. And when I saw it was a class being offered here, I signed up immediately. The pattern actually is for a wall hanging but I like quilts you can use. (Although I think this one is now hung up. And the one I gave my Mom is also hung. Theirs to do as they choose.) I added much wider borders and didn't do the PARIS applique. I like it just as it is.

(notice my little helpers feet with my big helper? so cute)


The quilting on this one turned out better than I thought. The border fabric is a diagonal lined print so I followed that for the outside quilting. The tower itself is from a fabric with a very tight squiggle, so I followed that for quitling as well. I defined the shape of the iron work on the bottom. And then I was stuck. What to do in the large off-white expanse? Why clouds of course. And they turned out good, if I say so myself. Just the thing. Then a large meander in the beige background.


And here is something you may never see again. A picture of me on this blog. Me in all my no make-up, weird hair wearing glory. And of course, with Pierre. I think he really liked it.