The quilt fiasco

I almost don't even want to post ever again because I don't want to push that sonogram photo off the top of the blog. I understand that ultrasound pictures just look like blurry blobs to most people, but isn't that one CUTE? I mean seriously, you can even see his CHEEKS. I can't get over how adorable I find it. He looks like an actual squeezable BABY.

Also, I swear more than ever that he looks just like Torsten. The morning after the ultrasound I woke up and Torsten was lying in bed with his head tucked against his chest and it was a MIRROR IMAGE. I suppose we'll find out when Piglet is born, but I would really not be surprised at all if I gave birth to a mini-clone of my husband. And I kind of hope that I do. Except maybe he could have curly hair? What do we think of curly hair on boys?

Anyway, this weekend I decided to finally make a quilt for Piglet, which I've been planning to do pretty much since I got pregnant. I went to the fabric store without any clear idea of what I wanted, except that I wanted to do something with the baby in mind rather than my own personal preferences, which is why I opted not to do something purple. I ended up going with a blue and orange, castles and kings theme, with the hope that it would be kid-friendly without being babyish, and have a bit of a mod vintage vibe.

I made it on Saturday and I felt really proud of it. It is a really nice, quality quilt, if I do say so myself: the fabric is soft and nice, and the sewing is good (not that it was difficult; it's just a bunch of straight seams done on a sewing machine, with an ever-so-slightly more complicated zigzag seam on the edging). Here it is:


And closer up so you can see the detail:


So I finished sewing it, proudly showed it to Torsten... and he wasn't exactly enthusiastic (as those of you who follow me on Twitter already know). He tried to be, and he liked the quality of the quilt itself, but I think he thinks it's ugly. Specifically, I think it's the crown fabric that threw him off. He thought it was "weird," and when questioned further said that he had been envisioning something more along the lines of "teddy bears."

Of course, it was late, and I'd been working on the quilt for hours, and I'd been all happy to be making a special quilt for my baby that he could keep for the rest of his life, and had thought it had turned out sort of lovely and bright and original, and to hear my husband be like, "But why does it look like that?" instead of, "Oh my god it's gorgeous!" was very... deflating. Combine that with those ever-present pregnancy hormones, and there may have been a bit of a tearful meltdown involved.

I went from thinking that the quilt was pretty and meaningful to thinking that it was hideous and shocking and everyone who looked at it would think that I was color-blind and I would have to throw it out (along with the money spent on the fabric plus the time and care that went into making it) and start from scratch with a new quilt that wouldn't feel special because I had already made one that hadn't been up to snuff.

I was a mess, basically. Torsten did make me feel better, and swore that he really did like the quilt and thought that it was pretty and just had been expecting something a little more childish but it really was nice. And he's been very good about swearing that he likes it ever since. I still feel slightly fragile about it, and am not sure whether I believe him entirely... but it was enough to make me decide that even if he doesn't like the quilt, I do, and Piglet hopefully will too. So I'm keeping it, and not making another one.

But let this be a warning to all of you partners of pregnant women out there: if she spends ages planning to make something for your unborn child, and then really does it and works hard and comes up with something that she is obviously proud of and happy with, even if there are doubts in the back of your mind about some element of it? Or the entire thing? Even if you think it's the ugliest thing you've ever seen in your life and you're feeling sorry for the baby that it will ever have to be saddled with such a thing? It really might be smarter not to say anything other than, "Oh, honey, it's beautiful!"

Just a PSA.