EMBARKING SOON
on a quilting adventure of epidemic proportions.
And I need your help.
I've reached the point of sew return, where I start cultivating skills I want to teach my daughters. I can stitch here and there, but have never attempted anything required buckets of patience. I've never made a full-size quilt before--when I was young because the thought of sitting so still drove me wild and when I was older for even more foolish reasons.
I've got good timing, though. My mother, an accomplished quilter who's bought $3.00 worth of things for herself in the last 30 years (the same practical and selfless mother who asked for--and recieved--an egg beater for Christmas one year) has recently purchased a BERNINA. (It follows, of course, that she uses it daily to create quilts for everyone but herself.) Available during too-infrequent visits to Nanticoke, it stitches a mighty fine line for those of us whose sturdy machines don't particularly care for applique.
I'm envisioning a summer quilt with a crazy-quilted sun-of-scraps in the center (shades of red, yellow, and orange) and a border with room for illustrative applique. I think parts of the border will be made of twining vines, berry brambles, and branches, but I need some ideas of what to put inside the border. So far, I'm thinking of an odd assortment of long-limbed rabbits, squirrels, maybe a fox....? Color shades....?
I'm also quite sure that my visions are overreaching my talent.
So what should live in the border of our summer quilt?
Share your whimsy.
6 comments :
Not over-reaching your talent, I am sure, but probably your patience. I always dream up great, grand projects, and my talents are always quick to catch up. However, it ALWAYS takes at least 2 years longer than I expected to finish my grand masterpieces. (And I've always thought of applique as one of the most time consuming ways to put a quilt together, although it can look quite cool.)
That said, I love your quilt idea! My whimsy would be to make the border just as the tree tops, as though the trees were reaching up to the sun. The animals would be squirrels, chip-monks, and an assortment of birds.
(My reality is is still pieceing togther my purple and green irish chain with stars quilt, and still hand-quilting the blue pin-wheel quilt I made for my parents 25th wedding anniversary, which was last year.)
By "summer", I meant NEXT summer, of course! I'd like to finish it by the end of this summer or fall, but reality whispers in my ear.
I love the way applique allows one to almost sketch with fabric, but you're right about the time. I'll probably need a support group after a few months.
Thanks for the great ideas; bird(s) will definitely be included, and I'm going to doodle different borders this week. I'll put your idea on paper to see what I can see...
Good luck with your quilts; I laud you for hand-quilting! It's fast becoming a lost art, and you can take more pride in your work that I will by cheating with a machine. You're putting me to shame. :)
I definately think birds is a must, and though it seems a bit more spring-y, I would include nests with big-eyed babies peeping out!
I too, am embarking on my first quilt ever. Not full size-not even twin. I am making a quilt for baby Samuel. At Elizabeth's shower I had each guest write (with a special fabric pen)a special message to Samuel. Unfortunately, there were stragglers who insisted on extra time to make the "perfect" message. I only just received the last square! So-now that he is born...I am shooting to have it finished by baptism day...which is planning to be on Mother's Day.
Birds it is! (At least one bird...) I tried to sketch out Talitha's idea, but I was adding details on details, and things were getting too complex even with pencil and paper. Sigh, and my novice status works against me; I'll try to keep things simple. Maybe you should start shaping that idea once your other two are done, Titi! :)
Rebecca, let us know how yours progresses. You've got one week left, which means you may be too busy sewing to even read this comment! And, of course, I always enjoy pictures...hint, hint.
I'll post the design in a few days, and a year from now (if this blog still exists), I'll post a picture of the finished quilt; we can all have a good laugh seeing the difference between the two.
Oh well, Abby, there are a lot of other things to do with sewing machines, that aren't as hard and don't take so long. I just finished a cute dress for Youngest Purdy Girl, a.k.a. Deirdre. You can see it at http://www.geocities.com/talithajunk/deirdreinchickendress.JPG
I used Simplicity 7189. But there are a lot of cute girls' dress patterns out there (just buy the patterns when there on-sale for a dollar each, and I bet your two cutie-beauties will understand the concept of dresses a lot easier than quilts.
But if your heart is set on a quilt, I suggest a quicker (but more boring quilt). One I've seen made a lot looks sort of like lattice work, or basket weaving, and it's done by strip-piecing. The fabric is all cut into strips a few inches wide. The strips are sewn together in sets of three. (They usually use a color-combination of dark-light-dark and light-dark-light.) Then they're all cut into squares. (For intance, cuttingn strips all 1 1/2 inches wide would mean cutting blocks that would be 3 1/2 inches square, with the 1/2 being used in 1/4 seam allowances.) Then the blocks are sewn together, alternating d-l-d blocks with l-d-l blocks, making a checker-board pattern. The d-l-d blocks have their stripes running one direction (say, horizontially), and the l-d-l in the opposite (vertically). After the quilt top is assembled, you can add border(s), people usually seem to do two, a wide one and a small one. Then you put on the backing, quilt it, and put on the binding.
I pieced the Anniversary quilt by machine; I am only hand quilting. And I am doing the green and purple one completely on the machine! The main reason for my hand-quilting was, alas, not to practice a lost art, but because the queen size quilt would not fit under my machine, and I refused to have such a personal quilt "professionally" quilted. I'm still working it. . .here's a rather awkward picture of what the peiced top looks like. You can't really see any of the quilting. I was told, much too late, that doing so many triangles as a first project is a bad idea, because it's so hard to match them. It WAS hard to match them, and more than I care to admit aren't really matched.
http://www.geocities.com/talithajunk/aniversaryquiltbig.JPG
The only quilte I've been involved that has actually been completed was one I arranged as a baby shower gift for Mom when Deirdre was born. It was a "baby" sized quilt, and each block was for one of us kids--whoever made it had to embroider the kid's name and birthdate on it. Your mom actually made two blocks for it, Teman and Arlan. I only made one--Cadence's.
Keep us informed of your sewing progress!
Titi,
I love the chicken dress! It looks awfully cute on Deirdre, and I think that I could possibly handle something similar without tearing my hair out (the Simplicity patterns, by their very name, instill confidence in me!). She is blessed to have a talented older sister like you. I have yet to sew Debbie, my ONLY younger sister, anything. Once again, you unwittingly put me to shame! :) (D'ya think Debbie would look good in a chicken dress? Christmas comes but once a year...)
I would like to make the girls some dresses and will have to sort through my mom's stash of patterns when I visit next. She always picks up dollar-deal patterns at Jo-Anne's, and I'm sure she'd lend me a few.
But, yes, my heart is set on a quilt, and not just any quilt. I like setting goals for myself that are just barely attainable--ones that I can reach only through dedication and perserverence--in hopes that one day, I WILL succeed. :) The strip-piecing is something I think my mom showed me once, and your description does indeed promise greater ease, less frustration, and an actual, eye-pleasing, final product, instead of only a nice design on paper.
The beautiful thing about my mother's new machine is that it accomodates large quilts so nicely. My mom always tied off her quilts to avoid the bother of hand-quilting, but with the miraculous Bernina, that's a thing of the past! If I inherit a lot of money from a stranger, I'll buy Berninas for both of us.
I'm impressed with the Anniversary quilt. The color scheme is really lovely, and I love the design! I'm sure that as I plod along with applique, I'll think on yours more than once. Hm, if I wasn't so pigheaded, I'd switch my idea, but once I've got it in my head to do something, I often keep on going until my skull hits the brick wall.
I will post the design soon (although methinks I already promised the same a few days ago...). Never fear, it shall appear!
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