Somehow, over the past year, I've become a quilter. Domesticity has never been my strong suit. I'm not a great cook, I keep the house only passably clean, and I am an abysmal interior decorator (it took two years before I finally hung artwork on the walls).
In February a year ago I went to a sale at a local quilt shop with a sister-in-law who is a quilter. I found a pack of fat quarters in patterns I really liked (and they were a really good deal) so I bought them. I had no idea what I was actually going to do with them so my sil suggested making a quilt. We did need a new quilt for our full size bed as our current one was starting to fall apart. So I jumped into quilt-making with a big project at hand.
It took a year to collect all the fabric (there are only 3 sales a year at our only local quilting shop and I was reluctant to start anyway).
This January I tore a nice-sized hole in our comforter while making the bed one day. The need for a new quilt was pressing. I gave myself a goal of finishing the quilt top before the Super Bowl Sunday sale at the Quilt House. Had I realized it would only take a week to cut, piece, and put together, I would have started much sooner. But finishing the quilt top allowed me to pick out my border and backing fabric at that sale. Still it's not a cheap quilt. It's nice that I have a husband who understands the value of quality material.
It's also very helpful that my husband understands the value of the right tool for the job. I really love the look of a puckered, vintage-looking quilt and I wanted to learn how to do free-motion quilting. I took a class and decided my old Singer wasn't quite up to the task. So Matt encouraged me to go ahead and get a new machine, which I did. Then it was practice, practice, practice before finally having a go on the quilt itself.
Free motion quilting is a lot of fun and very therapeutic. Quilting in general is fun and therapeutic. I think the best part is looking back on an hour of quilting and saying, "Look how much I got done today." I can't say that about cleaning the house (because the kids mess it up again anyway) or washing the dishes (because there's always more), or putting things away (because inevitably it all gets brought or dumped back out anyway). Quilting makes me feel like I am accomplishing things.
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| My new machine handled a full size quilt easily. I had no problems maneuvering it. |
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| The design was flowers or petals or leaves, whatever you want to call them. They were easy and fun to do. |
I set up my machine on my desk amidst the bills, my calendar, and an assortment of other things that belong on the desk. In a hurry to get the quilt done, I kept sewing even though I heard a strange sound coming from my needle. I assumed it was gummed up from the 505 spray I was using (even though it is not supposed to do that).
I noticed too late what the problem was -- I sewed an envelope to the back of my quilt. Probably that's why people use designated spaces for sewing and quilting. I ended up having to rip out all those stitches and try to go back over those same spots, catching the old stitches so they wouldn't ravel. What a pain. It was also pretty funny.
Finally, sometime in May, I got the quilt finished. I love the heavy weight of it on the bed, though it looks pretty bumpy because we have an egg-crate style foam-thing on top our mattress. It was very exciting to finish it, especially before summer. Because as fun as quilting is, my machine is going into storage soon until next winter. We don't spend much time indoors in the summer.
Next winter's project: a twin size quilt for Clare's bed. We have the fabric already, just have to choose the pattern and get started. :-)
1 comment:
I LOVE it!! Wow, Amy, so cool! And I laughed out LOUD at your envelope sewn to the bottom of your quilt. That's great. :) I can imagine laughing to tears with you about it. I agree, there is something about a project like this that can give you such a sense of accomplishment. There is a beginning and there is an END. So nice. :)
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