in the last couple of weeks i've put all my projects on hold..my vegetable garden, cupboard and door stripping, sanding and painting, vintage sheet and spare room quilts, shed rearranging, card and tea towel making and so on..except for a quilt that i've been making for my daughter alexandra that was due to be completed for her 30th birthday in may..i didn't finish it because i found it tedious..for one thing i made the mistake of starting it too soon..what happened was that i started one for my eldest daughter katerina for her 30th in 2009 and i got so carried away with how much fun it was choosing the fabric with her that i thought i might be fun to get alex's fabric too and then i thought it might be nice to do just a little bit of alex's so that we could sort of see what the finished product would look like..i think there was too much of the not right sort of thinking going on!
by the time i finished katerina's quilt for her birthday, with the completion date and my initials embroidered on it and all, i had a few (understatement) quilty ideas that needed expression so i started three more..one called 'kitchen scraps' (photo below) made mainly with vintage aprons that i'd been collecting for years, one made with vintage embroidered table linen (photo below) and one with vintage sheets (photo below)..and i got carried away with them at the expense of alex's quilt..i mentioned earlier that i found alex's quilt tedious because i started it too early but it was also tedious because she'd chosen the same design as katerina who'd chosen the same design as one i'd made for myself (photo below)..so by the time i was due to get seriously stuck into alex's quilt i found myself struggling to get excited by the design because i was now making it for the third time..and while i didn't find the fabric she'd chosen particularly inspiring either it was when she commented that she might have liked one like the vintage sheet quilt that she saw me making that i lost the alex quilt plot completely..
anyway i had a bit of a talk with myself recently and what i had to say to myself convinced me that a loving mother puts her daughter's quilt ahead of all other projects and, as well, she overcomes mental roadblocks in the form of excuses..i have to report that the talk i had with myself went well because i've only got two more rows of hexagons left before i finish piecing the main part of the quilt top (photo below)..then all i need to do is make half hexagons to fill in two sides of the quilt, hand sew the border on to the pieced top, sandwich the top, batting and backing fabric together and then i can get onto the hand quilting followed by the binding and the embroidery of my initials and date of completion..and i'm determined, above all else, to have it done before the end of the year..
and just as well i had that chat because my son nicholas turns 30 in two years and i have a brother who turns 50 in 3 years and they both want and have been promised quilts..
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| 'kitchen scraps' quilt |
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| vintage embroidered linen quilt |
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| vintage sheets quilt |
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| my 'sweet cherry dreams' quilt |
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alexandra's quilt
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I am in love with your kitchen scraps quilt and wish so much that I was one of your children and had a quilt to look forward to. Like croissant making it's something I may never get round to, chiefly because I am rubbish at sewing. I think you are an artist with your quilting and all the other many beautiful things you create. :D
ReplyDeleteoh..thankyou joanna..i must say i am at my happiest when i am creating..and i'm with you on the croissants because i've been thinking about making them since a new zealand friend in greece told me how she had arisen at some unimaginable hour to make them for her husband's breakfast! :)
ReplyDeleteI can't even imagine how much work goes into one quilt! I made a small one about 15 years ago, when the kids were little, I was SO pleased when it was finished! I guess I just don't have enough patience. I do love your finished results thought.
ReplyDeleteGorgeous
Bugger, I did a really long comment yesterday and something happened with the computer- so didn't come up.
ReplyDeleteI love, love, love the embroided quilt. Absolutely beautiful Jane. I'm not at home at the moment and am knee deep in sewing projects that I've been saving up for this week away (more space at my mums!) No where near as talented as any of your quilts, I'm just beginning. Lots of enthusiasm and not a whole lot of skill. I'm trying though :-)
They are really gorgeous! And hehe I love that you had a talk to yourself-I do that all the time! :P They're all gorgeous but the top two pictures are just so special!
ReplyDeletethanks brydie..i would love to see or hear about what you are making..and i hope that you are enjoying the break at your mum's..
ReplyDeletei love using fabric nqn that has a history like aprons and embroidered tablecloths..as i work with it i conjure up all sorts of scenarios..
Oh boy, I feel ya on this one. A hand-pieced hexie quilt just ONCE would do me in. I think you can do it, though. Hack away at it a little at a time. All your quilts are lovely, btw--very muted and vintagey. My favorite kind. :)
ReplyDeletethankyou for the encouragement kristen..i'm just finishing sewing in the half hexagons and i hope to get the border done by monday..so i've made really good progress..
ReplyDelete