In 2006, Joan (my husband's aunt, long time quilter and seamstress) gave me the best baby shower gift ever: 2 pairs of Gingher scissors and a even-feed attachment for my old Singer and soon after my daughter was born, she helped my acquire my first "grownup" sewing machine, a Pfaff 1467.
It was all a setup (just kidding) because in march 2007, she invited me along with her quilting guild friends to a sewing retreat. Three days surrounded by quilters, with a great sewing machine to play with. It was bound to happen, I tagged along to the local quilt store. Eye candy everywhere! Oh boy was I in trouble.
I bought enough fabric to make a quilt for my hubby and I to cuddle together on the couch while watching movies. The quilt top came along without too much pain. I had received great advice on precise cutting and piecing.
Then trouble started. The quilting part turned into a true nightmare, I was a complete rookie and even with good tips on setting up my machine for free motion quilting everything that could go wrong did: if the thread was not bunching, the fabric was, or the thread kept breaking. The top was 3/4 quilted but each time I tried to move forward it was just driving me crazy with frustration after a couple of blocks. That's when I decided for my sanity to stash the beast away. What I didn't know was that the quilt had been the victim of newbie quilter's mistakes. It was now a UFO.
Fast forward to last January. I started setting up my sewing studio in the newly renovated basement. That's when my UFO resurfaced, nagging me. Armed with my trustworthy seam ripper, I spent hours and hours completely removing all the quilting I had done. Then after researching quilter's blogs for information, I re-sandwiched it with a different batting and set out to start over. Success at last. The batting choice was the single biggest mistake I had made in 2007. After another hiatus over the sprint and summer, I finally completed it a couple of weeks ago, almost 2 and half years after cutting the fabric.
Each block has the outline of an acorn or an acorn leaf. I love the effect on the back. The finished quilt is 70x90 and will be perfect for the long winter evenings that are right around the corner, with a roaring fire in the chimney, a bowl of popcorn and a good movie, just feeling good to be home.
We all have quilts that give us trouble or take us f-o-r-e-v-e-r. This quilt was made with much love and will be fun to use as the cold weather sets in. Nice colors!
ReplyDeleteI love your determination and perserverance!
ReplyDeleteThere is something to be said for putting a project away and bringing it back out with fresh eyes. Great job and beautiful quilt.
ReplyDeleteWow ... that quilt was meant to be and it looks fabulous and a great cuddler!
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