Phew! These things are a lot of work! All the quilters out there are
probably chuckling right now - I have a newfound respect for you guys! I made this quilt for my cousin's wedding (in July, but this took me a while) and it is pieced with scraps from our Nonna's fabric stash (she passed away in 2003).
I am ashamed to admit that it took me a minute to contemplate parting with those scraps, but now I'm glad I did so that I could share something of hers, hopefully something that my cousin and her husband will pass to their kids as an heirloom. I'm also ashamed to admit how much I began to really not enjoy making this, but that is how much I love her I guess!
OK, you're really going to laugh now. All my moaning and groaning? This quilt is like, 45"x 60". Uh, it's really small. Like lap blanket or baby blanket. 88 4"x"4 patches with a 5" border and thin bamboo/cotton batting. It felt like a king size battle!
Since the patches were kind of all over the place with colors and patterns, I attempted to use a checkerboard pattern with darks and lights to make it somewhat cohesive.
I think my cousin likes darker pallets and I didn't want to make it too
cutesy, so I used a gray pinstripe linen and an olive binding. I have
to say I'm really pleased with the colors and contrast.
Hated: Cutting the squares, sewing the binding (I machine stitched it), and jamming the thick parts through a machine that didn't want anything to do with it. And the length of time I spent on this project!
Loved: Connecting the pieces, making the sandwich, and sewing the quilting. Aside from the corner above, I did a decent job aligning seams.
OK, I guess it wasn't all bad. But this is my favorite part:
I hope they like it! Because they will be the only ones in the history of man possessing a smunch-made quilt!
It is beautiful, Lauren.....I wish I was going to be the recipient! Mom
ReplyDeleteCrap. Maybe I'll make one more. !
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! I find sewing incredibly difficult and frustrating, which makes beautiful pieces like this all the more amazing.
ReplyDeleteSome people would say that about knitting, but you clearly conquered that! Sewing does have it's own tribulations though. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteI can only agree to the other commenters...it's beautiful! I love the color combinations with the grey and olive, but that the squares are pieces of your grandma's makes it really special. I've done a few quilts but all machine pieced and handquilted...I never did master machine quilting. Every time I tried it the seams would come out terrible and the layers all shifted and bunched. I gave up after a few very frustrating attempts. I like handsewing but I simply have no time to do quilts anymore, so I'm keeping to clothes these days :)
ReplyDeleteHa - my seams are certainly crooked! I like the handmade look to it though, so I don't mind too much ;) I can't handle the hand sewing, even for the binding.
ReplyDelete