But I always come back to crocheting... eventually.
You know those beautiful crochet edgings I do on baby blankets? The beautiful edgings I give to those I love... and the ugly ones to people I don't love. YOU of course were the one I love.
I do make beautiful things. I would never say it of myself, but my friends say I have quite the eye.
Well, when I first started I didn't quite know how much fabric I would need so I have some scraps left in my closet. I even bought a quilting square and was going to make a quilt using up my scraps. What a great way to use up leftover fabric! Fast forward many, many months.
Two weeks ago while biking, I mentioned to Melissa I was pretty bored of crocheting again, but not interested in any of the other things I sometimes waste time with... puzzles, embroidery, cooking, sewing, scrapbooking, preparing lessons. She had a couple suggestions, one of which was quilting. Oh yes, right! That day I pieced a little nine square. Then I had to go to Walmart to buy batting and fabric for my backing. Kinda ruined the whole "use up extra material" idea. My mother told me you always end up buying more material for a quilt, but end up with less left over overall.
OK. We'll shoot for that. Sometime in the future.
Last night I finished the first one.
Notice the different materials? Yes, I used to make fun blankets, now I just stick with solid blue for boy, pink for girl. Less thinking involved.Here's the back.
I hand quilted it all that first week, but what took the most time was the edging. I sewed one side on the sewing machine but had to finish the other by hand (according to my 1970's Readers Digest book "Needle Work"). Man that takes forever. I'm also thinking about quilting a star in each of the blue quadrants on the front. Wouldn't that be cute?And today, I pieced and started quilting another one (instead of cleaning the house in preparation for company, cleaning the car in preparation for company, and swimming in preparation for the triathlon).
Birgit might recognize the turtles.
Quilting is the fun part. Binding... not so much.
Any ideas of what designs I might quilt into the plain quadrants of the yellow ones? And who might want such a small little quilt? Its only about 27.5"X28". Yes, its supposed 2 be square.
I'm a civil engineer. Its close enough.
14 comments:
I greatly admire quilts and quilters, but won't attempt it myself. This summer I went to 16 quilt stores with my Mom!
Quilt a turtle in each square!!
wow you are so brave. I can sew squares together but I have never hand quilted anything. I agree with Chelsea you should do a turtle in each square
I love quilts. They are so American but they are so neat. If I chose to do any of the crafts you do, I would attempt to quilt. But not right now... Way to go on trying out new things. I love it.
Awesome little quilts! My new favorite store is Cotton Shops. Of course, I don't really do anything with the fabrics, I just like to look at them...Next time you are up here we should go together!
I like little blankets for carseat usage... ..... .........
Awesome quilts! Small quilts can be given to little girls for their beloved Baby dolls.
Red cross goes through crafts? Huh? didn't quite get that reference. I have a conference quilt. I'm hoping to have all the pieces cut out after this conference. Then I will have to figure out how to put it together. Will you help?
You could take 4 or so little quilts and make a bigger one :)
Smart, you'll have to ask neita how she did the "quilt" with the old jeans. We all fight for that one during winter.
I vote for putting elk or deer silhouettes, or maybe geese or ducks coming in to land on a pond, or a bear going over a moutain to see what he could see.
I don't think I could ever quilt! I do a lot of crocheting...but quilting seems SO much more time consuming!
machine quilt!
If you put tabs at the top and then make another bigger quilt that has the same theme (or colors), then you could give them to someone as a crib set (one for hanging on the wall, one for in the crib)
I'm a little slow reading your blog. So hopefully you'll still see my comment. Its funny, but I thought right away that you should quilt a turtle in each square and then I saw that my idea was not original... I guess its really supposed to be... I love the quilts and am very impressed with how quickly you have picked it up. Makes me kind of envious. Maybe when I'm old and grey I will have time...
Ah man, I just wrote a long comment and it got deleted. I don't know what happened. Anyway - love the quilts and I'm very impressed. I also thought right away you should stitch turtles in the yellow blanket - but I see my idea was not original.
Wow, you are pretty amazing. So glad that you upgraded from dialup, I was worried that you wouldn't get to do much blogging anymore. I really like quilting too, but I hate binding. I made a quilt for Charley's 2nd birthday (2 yrs. ago) and it's still under my sewing machine waiting for binding. Maybe someday she'll get it, maybe I'll save it for when she leaves for college-but then she probably won't appreciate the cute little puppy dogs.
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