Tuesday, March 29, 2011

New Hobby/Obsession

I have started working on the quilt squares I inherited. Thanks to everyone who gave me feedback on the quilt design last week. I think I will alternate solid squares with the pieced squares in a checkerboard pattern. Whenever I have 5 minutes I try to sew a couple of pieces together. I am making progress, but it is slow. When my mother-in-law started piecing this quilt she did it all by hand. I decided that I would continue with what she started, all hand work, no machines, that would be cheating.

I have learned a few things:
1. I can't sew a straight line to save my life.
2. I am spending more time "unsewing" than actually sewing.
3. If I am lucky this quilt ought to be done by the time I am ninety.
4. Next quilt will be machine pieced.


8 comments:

Camille said...

I feel your pain, my friend. I can't sew a straight line even WITH a machine. At least twice a year I see something I want to sew, so I buy all the crap and decide to try it and end up giving up because it looks so terrible. I have a bin of about twenty half-done, ugly sewing projects - quilts, shirts, purses, a table runner, a diaper bag, a christmas tree skirt...

Connie said...

When I was learning to spin wool, I had a hard time keeping it smooth and neat. One teacher just laughed and said that once you learn to make smooth even yarn, making the 'fancy' yarn with varying widths and lumps again was the hard part. You're not sewing crooked, you're sewing 'creatively' ;D Good luck!

Daniela Swider said...

Oh, it will take time but you are doing it and seem to be enjoying yourself. That's all that matters...

Monica said...

a QUILT??? jeesh. i bow down to you. i can't even sew a feakin' button half the time. my niece is an AMAZING quilter, so if i ever have a need for a quilt i can ask her...........or now........YOU! ;o) good luck.

Jill said...

I'm BEYOND impressed that you're sewing a quilt ... BY HAND!!! I can't wait to see the end result!! I'm sure it'll be amazing!

Kate Husband said...

We did some hand quilting the summer we shared the duplex with you -- do you remember? We had no machine and wanted projects. Aidan's is all pieced (he needs my help to do the backing, etc) and Maggie's is in a bag. You couldn't get me to hand piece a quilt again, not for love or money. I like the hand quilting part, though. Show us when you have an area, or a larger square!

Shannon said...

@ Connie - Spinning is something I have always wanted to learn. How cool, where did you learn? Of course if I did learn how to spin then I would have to learn how to knit or weave or do something with the yarn.

@Kate - I remember well. I think you should just do a tied finish so that Aiden can have it all done, it's quick and easy, works especially well with a nice thick batting so it is comforter like. Is Maggie's still in pieces in that bag? I am hoping to have the top done before we go on R&R so I can look for backing while we are home in the states.

Connie said...

I learned in England. I happened upon a spinning guild that taught me everything from picking out a fleece at a sheep fair, to cleaning and carding it, to hand spinning with a spindle, and eventually, using a wheel. I have a wheel in storage, I sure wish I had it here! (I do have my carders and hand spindle :) !)