Now that the gift has been received I can show it, and tell the story behind it.
I can do an acceptable job of embroidery and lace making. Unfortunately, I've never learned to hand sew-but that wasn't enough to keep me from making a quilt, for a gift no less.
I know what you're thinking, and it's true-purchasing a book might well have answered those vexing questions such as "what the hell is a "top knot?", that had me squinting at pictures on line trying to figure out what I was supposed to be doing. I could have even bought a pattern, but you know patterns are for people who don't know how to sew and…. (Wait a minute…) well anyway, the unevenness of it will hopefully lend it some charm. I had to work with what I had on hand for fabric, which instead of being limiting actually forced me to be a bit more creative. I do wish I'd considered the actual quilting when I was designing the quilt blocks, but once they were in I had little choice but to work around them.
About six years ago I began embroidering the blocks for a king sized quilt of interlocking rings. Every few years I unpack it, think about putting it together and then pack it away again. Since I had all the screw-ups fresh in my mind from the last quilt, I decided to bite the bullet and go ahead and piece the blocks together. Amazingly, it worked. Unfortunately, the binding and backing I had purchased for it looked completely wrong when I unpacked them. I looked at the receipt in the bag and realised I purchased the fabric the day before I found out I was pregnant-which explains the atrocious selection of calico. I knew "baby brain" could make one forgetful but apparently it makes women colour blind as well.
So last weekend, after it cooled off a bit, I dragged my behind over to the fabric store and bought a very understated white on white for the backing and a pale blue gingham for the binding. And then, after swearing off ever embarking on another quilting project-I proceeded to spend too much money on (you guessed it) quilting fabric.
The quilt blocks (It is hard to see in the photo) are the chorus of The Unicorn Song. That got me thinking about other songs and stories that would make interesting quilts-here are some of the REJECTED ideas:
The Ancient Mariner-too long, and a downer besides, though the allure of embroidering a dead albatross with its eyes X'd out was hard to resist.
The Iliad: See above; subtract the bird and add a horse.
Naked Lunch-well, if you need me to explain why that would be inappropriate subject matter for a child's quilt…
Quotes from Peter Maurin's Easy Essays juxtaposed with quotes from Covey's The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People-I still might do that one, but only if I can enter it in the quilt show at the county fair.
Anyway, I really enjoyed the learning process and the opportunity to make something for a dear little girl. Hopefully, it won't fall apart with the first laundering.
I can do an acceptable job of embroidery and lace making. Unfortunately, I've never learned to hand sew-but that wasn't enough to keep me from making a quilt, for a gift no less.
I know what you're thinking, and it's true-purchasing a book might well have answered those vexing questions such as "what the hell is a "top knot?", that had me squinting at pictures on line trying to figure out what I was supposed to be doing. I could have even bought a pattern, but you know patterns are for people who don't know how to sew and…. (Wait a minute…) well anyway, the unevenness of it will hopefully lend it some charm. I had to work with what I had on hand for fabric, which instead of being limiting actually forced me to be a bit more creative. I do wish I'd considered the actual quilting when I was designing the quilt blocks, but once they were in I had little choice but to work around them.
About six years ago I began embroidering the blocks for a king sized quilt of interlocking rings. Every few years I unpack it, think about putting it together and then pack it away again. Since I had all the screw-ups fresh in my mind from the last quilt, I decided to bite the bullet and go ahead and piece the blocks together. Amazingly, it worked. Unfortunately, the binding and backing I had purchased for it looked completely wrong when I unpacked them. I looked at the receipt in the bag and realised I purchased the fabric the day before I found out I was pregnant-which explains the atrocious selection of calico. I knew "baby brain" could make one forgetful but apparently it makes women colour blind as well.
So last weekend, after it cooled off a bit, I dragged my behind over to the fabric store and bought a very understated white on white for the backing and a pale blue gingham for the binding. And then, after swearing off ever embarking on another quilting project-I proceeded to spend too much money on (you guessed it) quilting fabric.
The quilt blocks (It is hard to see in the photo) are the chorus of The Unicorn Song. That got me thinking about other songs and stories that would make interesting quilts-here are some of the REJECTED ideas:
The Ancient Mariner-too long, and a downer besides, though the allure of embroidering a dead albatross with its eyes X'd out was hard to resist.
The Iliad: See above; subtract the bird and add a horse.
Naked Lunch-well, if you need me to explain why that would be inappropriate subject matter for a child's quilt…
Quotes from Peter Maurin's Easy Essays juxtaposed with quotes from Covey's The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People-I still might do that one, but only if I can enter it in the quilt show at the county fair.
Anyway, I really enjoyed the learning process and the opportunity to make something for a dear little girl. Hopefully, it won't fall apart with the first laundering.
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