After spending all that money getting my sewing machine fixed, I had to do some sewing to justify it. Not much to show, but I did do a little sewing. I sewed my first quilt ever back in 1997. I had no idea what I was doing, I was just obsessed with making a blanket for my daughter to grow up with. I went to the quilt store (nothing new there, I've always loved fabric) and bought some material and a packet with those thick plastic squares, a rolling cutter and a cutting mat. I cut out lots of the 4x4 squares and started playing around with the pieces. Of course I wonder now, what was I thinking with some of the fabric, but I liked it then. My favorite was white Matelasse' from an old coverlet that was falling apart. I had no idea how to make a quilt, but I knew enough to sew the squares together with the same amount of seam. Thankfully, one of my neighbors is a major quilter and when all was said and done with the front she guided me on how to put the back on. She also taught me how to hand quilt which I quickly abandoned. All these years later, after many washings, the Matelasse' is giving out...mending the quilt, one of those nagging to do projects that is always on my list. Nothing like a little guilt to make one tend to a long neglected chore! So tend and mend I did. It went so much better with the machine fixed, you will see some very poor handstitching that was my attempt without the machine. Below are a couple of the patches I sewed on. I added vintage fabric from some feed bags, some new fabric, (I really wanted to incorporate some amybutlerdesign.com fabric), and some bits from my daughter's clothes. I decided to be very obvious about the patches. I also tried to cover up some of the fabric that I have come to be less than thrilled by. You real quilters might be appalled...think of it as a home made blanket, that's really what it is. The patches are my favorite part now...very handmade, rustic, unstructured...as if that was my plan from the beginning. The Roots and Wings and date and poem stitched on are from the first go round. I actually look forward to it needing some more love in a couple years, it will give the quilt even more personality. I have started thinking I need to begin another, having 2 children now, it'd be nice to have made one for each. That will have to wait for another day, I'm not feeling that guilty today.
