adventure + sewing + education
Don’t forget to take it outside tomorrow!
June 15 is Quilt in Public Day in Europe, but there’s no reason not to celebrate stateside, as well.
Join me in taking your stitches out in public. Quilt proud, quilt public! 🙂
Don’t forget to tag your pics on Instagram, Twitter and now on Facebook! #quiltinpublic
When I said that this would be my project for 2013, I thought I was overestimating, giving myself a little wiggle room. But I think that first guesstimate on the time it will take was right: all year.
The stitches are a little wonky–both great-grandma’s piecing and my quilting–but with this project I don’t really mind. Usually I tend to be a little on the perfectionist side when it comes to sewing and I just want it to be as perfect as possible. So much so that just the thought of improv quilting gives me hives. That’s probably why I’m in love with Ebony’s post about publishing and selling crappy work.
This is a different sort of project. I’m not offering it up as some landmark piece and I’m fully aware that my great-grandma couldn’t be bothered to square up a damn thing, mixed all sorts of fabrics and didn’t make particularly small, neat or strong stitches.
I don’t mind though. I just keep on stitching up. down. up. down. up. down. until my neck tells me it’s time to quit. It’s usually about an hour at a time, enough to finish one block before tucking it back into the IKEA bag that keeps it tidy for me.
With every stitch I’m closer to finishing and closer to the great-grandma I knew only through letters and quilts she left behind.
What I’ll be finishing up this weekend while recuperating from the car crash…
I started working on this a couple of nights ago and I’m loving how the poly batting is making it so puffy and magical. Kinda like snow, don’t ya think? And the red with the black, always a favorite, plus it goes perfectly with the backing. Of course, I neglected to take a picture of it, so you just gotta believe me–it’s perfect!
The one thing I don’t love about this project? The finger-pricking. I just keep stabbing my poor little finger with that darn needle, trying to find the right spot to go in and come out of. For the first quilting session, I got to use one of these cute little Poke-a-Dots. I got a sample one at Quilt Market in Houston (brought home stuck to my name tag). I wish I’d bought a whole box there, but I wasn’t sure I’d love them. I do and I need them. Now.
My left index finger is already protesting, but I need to get this finished. My motivation for completing every painful stitch? I get to put the Xmas tree up! It’s been an amazingly difficult year, capped by a nasty rear-ender last week that’s left me much less ambulatory and joyful than I was hoping for this holiday season.
This little skirt and the tree it will grace are bound to help me feel the Christmas spirit a bit more. My first tree skirt in our own little house… it’ll be great. I just have to get it done!