I'm not a writer like Trina is. The hardest part of blogging is trying to write all the words between the pictures. I spend so much time typing and retyping everything, second guessing what people want to read and am I entertaining enough and do they really care about all the behind-the-scenes. Blah.
Anyway, I made a quilt! Last summer my parents got their mission call to Nova Scotia, and immediately I knew I wanted to make them a quilt. Within a few days I sketched out an idea on graph paper and later did all the math to convert that drawing to an actual quilt. Trina wanted to help as well, and we decided she could do the border so we weren't having to mail a lot of stuff back and forth.
Pretty huh? It took such a long time. After all the planning and math there was cutting the fabric. Thank you so very much to my friend Liz who gave it all to me! She is an amazing quilter who doesn't quilt much anymore, but has rediscovered painting and art. Which is funny since I am an artist who is now discovering quilting!
After the cutting came the piecing and then the project was put on pause while Christmas sewing happened. I also had to wait for Trina's contribution - I mailed her all of the leftover red scraps which she turned into the beautiful border and then mailed back to me. I don't usually do a lot of borders or extras on my quilts, but I really like how this frames the leaf so nicely.
Okay, quilt top was done, so a quick sandwich (a quilt sandwich that is, with top, batting and backing), and time to do the actual quilting. The leaf wasn't too bad, with the basic diagonals. But then came the background. This was the first time I had to quilt something that wasn't a grid. I foolishly used the edge of my walking foot (about 5/8") and sewed straight lines. 100+ straight lines. It took well over a week! It did give it a really neat texture though.
After Christmas I gave myself a Valentine's deadline to get it finished, and it was on February 14th that I put it into the mail headed for Nova Scotia. Ta da! More pretty pictures.
A week later I got a phone message from my mother. They were so surprised! They have been showing it off to everyone and they are so thrilled to have this as a reminder of their mission and time spent in Eastern Canada.
It was quite a journey, from sketch to completion. The most time-consuming sewing project I've ever done, but so worth it to show my parents how much I love and respect them. And it's official - I love quilting!
PS. Did you notice the heart?
No comments:
Post a Comment