For many years, I wanted to make a quilt. My husband and I both are very fond of the Double Wedding Ring--I even have a pattern and the requisite templates. About six years ago, my neighbor (I mentioned her in a past post--she makes handbags) invited me to go with her to one of our LQS since they had some sort of open house or special. I really can't recall exactly what. At the time I had an infant whom I'd only really been apart from to go to work or grocery shopping--not many opportunities made and/or taken for an adventure that didn't involve an infant or shopping for necessities. As much as I wanted to make a wedding ring quilt, I knew (and still know), my skills at curved piecing and color selection are just not at a level that I would do such a classic pattern justice.
I settled chose another classic: The Irish Chain. I spent a few hundred dollars on fabric and batting for a quilt for our bed. "Oh how nice it will be to have a nice warm quilt upon our bed," I thought. I mean, isn't it logical to jump in to make a queen-sized quilt?
I came home and, after checking on the baby and making sure all was well, showed my husband my purchase (sans receipt). Oh, the weight of yards and new smell of fabric. I set about cutting 2-1/2" in strips. Trying to cut strips from backing fabric (essentially, double the normal fabric width of 42-44") was an adventure. They certainly weren't exactly straight. Yes, I did use a ruler and rotary cover. It's a bit tedious to cut ~60 strips, so, I would cut a bunch of strips and then sew them together. Light-dark-light. Dark-light-dark. Then to break of that monotony, cut them into 2-1/2" pieces and sew them together. Not the most square 6-1/2" block, but I didn't care.
Then life caught up and space for holiday decorations was needed and sewing forgotten. Then came walking and everything else. I had quite a few of those 102 blocks complete; but it wasn't all of them. It also wasn't all of the 97 plain blocks needed, either. Two years later, I took some vacation time and spent hours sewing over that time. I'd sew the blocks to make rows and then sew the row rows together I managed to get all the strips together (notice, they are far from square). I even managed to get the border and corner squares attached--all before Christmas!
It took me another chunk of time before I finally tried to lay out the back, batting and baste it all together. My in-laws were remodeling, so I packed it all up and laid it out on the un-done flooring. All those pins! There was another large gap. Being queen-size, I figured I would need to do this on a long-arm machine, so I folded up my three layers and hung them up in the crap closet. There is a LQS near my home (closer than where I purchased my supplies) that does allow people to rent their long-arm (at least they used to). I just needed to figure out when I could schedule a session.
In the meantime, I made a "get well" quilt for my FIL and pieced together a quilt for my oldest. We welcomed our second child and went back to the hectic life of a newborn and a preschooler. While I was off, I decided to start Amy Gibson's BOM. My husband convinced me to sign up for the long-arm class (a requirement to rent time with it). I spent the afternoon getting comfortable with the machine and felt kind of excited about maybe finally finishing the thing. Of course, using the long-arm meant no need to baste. Out came all the pins...except for the ones I used to mark where I had a seam that didn't quit hold. I had to figure out 1) when I was going to press the whole thing (at the time, I didn't have a full-size ironing board) and 2) when I could find four or so consecutive evenings to quilt and 3) how I planned to quilt it.
I signed up for Ann Petersen's "Quilting Big Projects on a Small Machine." I finally started to watch the videos a couple months ago. I pressed the top and back pieces and mended a few places that needed it. My husband helped me to baste with it laid upon our dining table. We had a pretty good process where he'd open the pins and lay them down and I would then place them. It took just over an hour. I noticed a few other "holes" and also that I'd stitched a few of the plain blocks wrong-side-up. Oh well....I wasn't about to lug this through three rooms, dig out the seam ripper, figure out how to re-stitch while the rest was basted and then press it. Not worth it.
My workspace was set so the weight of this monstrosity would be supported and not pull.
This was the first time using invisible (clear mono-poly) thread and my machine's walking foot. I "ditched" the outside borders. They aren't straight. Then for the traditional diagonal lines. For the most part, this was pretty easy to get through the harp of my trusty Kenmore. It was only a bit awkward and tight when I started a line from the opposite end I should have. These lines are not straight--really, have we not yet established I cannot sew a straight line to save my life? There are actually a few spots where I wondered if I was drinking and / or fell asleep at the needle. There are a few puckers on the back, but nothing I'm worked up over.
This was my first pieced quilt top. In the time between this and my next endeavor, I've learned quite a bit to improve the accuracy of my piecing. Strips can be considered straight. I can even manage to nest seams to align the blocks in rows.
I could choose to be disappointed with the outcome:
- The blocks aren't square
- Some blocks are wrong-side up
- There are a few puckers on the back that are too severe to hide with pressing
- The lines on the chains aren't straight
- The seams aren't necessarily the most stable
I look at this quilt, though, and am pleased. When I see the imperfections, it makes me think about the fact this was made by me. It was not made in a factory. It was not made by a professional. The Irish Chain pattern is a classic, but, even so, this particular quilt is unique. It is light, yet warm and it brightens our room up dramatically. No, not perfect, but still beautiful.
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