Slaying the Quilting Dragon
Come summertime, for some odd reason, I find myself wanting to sew.
Last summer I made a doll quilt as part of a challenge on flickr.
This summer I'm all about finishing up quilts I made four or five years ago. See, I love to piece quilts. There is something about sewing that strict 1/4" seam and piecing strips of fabric together that is meditative and soothing to me. I love the hiss of the steam from the iron as I press and smooth out wrinkles.
But once the quilt top is done, I switch into avoidance mode.
Hello, my name is Jeannine, and I don't like the quilting part of quilting. Nor do I like binding.
Quilting, even by machine, takes planning and time and attention to detail. Even with a machine, the binding must be finished off by hand. It really cannot be rushed and precision is necessary. Quilting and binding often reduce me to fits of frustrated swearing. (ahem).
These three quilt tops are at least four years old. One features Laurel Burch Christmas fabric in the Trip Around the World pattern. Another is from one of my favorite patterns, the Log Cabin Stew, and the last is from a Catberry R.F.D. pattern that I originally intended to give to my Dad.
I dragged them out last night to see which one I might take to the quilt shop to pay for someone else to quilt for me. But I looked at them and saw all my little errors (my triangle points don't always line up) and thought about all the work that went into them. I felt so tender towards them all of a sudden and decided I really need to finish these up myself. Stop trying to find the easy way out (which is not only applicable to quilting, but to life, of course ).
This summer I will face my quilting demons and finish these quilts! I have a book and a previous quilt (completed in class and with help) to refer to, and a local quilt shop I can run to if I get desperate.
Learning how to do this will make me so happy and accomplished, and of course, once the quilts are finished I'll need new patterns and fabric to make new quilts!
