Wednesday, May 11, 2016

SOME THOUGHTS ON QUILTING, AND MELODY'S QUILT SO FAR


Well it's 3 o'clock in the afternoon on Wed., and I have finished the piecing part of Melody's quilt.  I still have to add two borders before it is officially ready for the quilters, but it seems like a good place to stop for the day.  I have had REALLY mixed feelings about this quilt.  I am going to go ahead and type them out here and see if I can't make any sense of them at all.  First, I guess I can say without ANY hesitation that I ABSOLUTELY love quilts.  Just everything about them.  The different styles, colors, patterns and overall "feels"of a beautiful quilt could have me swooning over them all the time. MUCH of my free time is spent browsing online and dreaming over quilts. HOWEVER, I am not sure at all that I really enjoy the process of actually making one myself.  Let me tell you just a few of the problems I have come across since I first began. First of all I have a hard, HARD time choosing a pattern and fabrics.  I am really just kind of wishy washy. Many times I have thought I knew what I wanted, went so far to buy and put it together, only to decide NO I don't like it after all.  I will go ahead and admit I never did truly love the quilt I made for Sophia Rose, and truthfully if it wouldn't have seemed like a total waste I would have just started all over. Or at least gotten rid of that awful bright pink fabric. Now don't get me wrong, there were parts of the quilt I liked, but just overall I was not happy with it.
REMINDER OF THE QUILT
 
Then, there is the never ending problem for me of trying to figure and do the MATH that is necessary in quilting.  I guess it was always my most hated subject, and it certainly hasn't changed at all.  Then there is ALL the cutting. Cutting out the fabric is my LEAST favorite thing involved with ANY kind of sewing, but goodness in quilting there is just a never ending abundance of it.  Then...there is the fact that the cutting must be PERFECT, the stitching must be PERFECT....and on and on. It is a very exact, precise, and did I mention must be PERFECT process or it throws the look of the whole quilt off.  Garment sewing is sooo much more forgiving.  The cutting can be off a tid bit here and there and so can a seam and trust me no one is ever the wiser. But in quilting to be off AT ALL sticks out like a sore thumb, or at least it does to this OCD gal.  And finally, quilting is just pricey is the only way to say it.  Fabric is expensive.  Or at least the GOOD fabric that I feel you need for quilting is, or maybe it is just the fabric I like.  Then I have found you need way more of it then I would have ever thought, and of course there is the batting, the backing, the quilting that I have had to have professionally done, and of course the binding.   Just expensive. And to finish it all off there is the never ending stressing fretting WONDERING if the person I am making it for is actually going to even like the fabrics or the pattern.  I feel like I am forever second guessing myself about that.  Sooo you might ask yourself, what in the world is she doing even making quilts?  And the answer would be I guess I am not sure.  I love the idea of the completed quilt.  I love the idea of something that can last for years and years and be something of myself I leave behind.  I love just having them to snuggle under or lay out to be seen too I guess, and I doubt I'd ever spend the money you would have to in order to just buy one.  I do especially love the one that hangs on the wall year round in my dining room. 
QUILT IN DINING ROOM
  And I guess I keep thinking that eventually I will figure out ways to do the math quickly and make my cutting and sewing more precise, and I will enjoy the whole thing more,  But truthfully so far NONE of this has happened.  Sooo after getting all of this off my chest, let me tell you about this latest quilt I am busy making.  The fabrics are REALLY pretty, and considering they all come from the same line, they blend together perfectly. They are predominately grays which is what she wanted, and have both navy and a light blue in them as well, which were the other two colors she wanted to bring into the quilt.  They seemed perfect.
ALL THE FABRICS
 I guess I was never really totally sold on the pattern, but decided to go with it anyway.
THE PATTERN
  It took me well over 3 hours [closer to 4] to cut it all out. I took my time because I was trying to be as exact and as precise as I could possibly be as I know now from experience how critical that is.  When I FINALLY finished all the cutting and pressing of each individual piece, I put my strip sets together. The pattern specifically said NOT to worry about which 5 different strips of 2 and 1/2 inch pieces you put together, as they were going to be cut into 2 and 1/2 squares and sewn back together to make a rectangle that was made up of 10 2 and 1/2 in. squares. Let me just say that ended up NOT being true.  I had a very hard time making sure that no like fabrics were ever touching, and there are a couple of times they just were no matter what I did. And looking at that pattern now I CLEARLY see another one of the problems with the overall look of the quilt.  I should have gone with the darkest fabric as the thin border pieces that are on the large rectangle pieces and are the first border of the quilt as well. But the gal at the store suggested the light grey I went with it, and it seemed like a good idea at the time, lol. 

And yet, even with as carefully as I cut, and as carefully as I sewed my 1/4 inch seams, I STILL had to MAKE the fabric work sometimes, and while the quilt does lay perfectly flat, there are some places where it is not exactly matched as it should be and has an ever so slight wave to it.  Not I know from experience as well that NONE of this will matter once the top is quilted, but it bugs me nonetheless. I also fretted and stressed as well TRYING to get all the colors and fabrics evenly distributed throughout the quilt, and truthfully I don't know as if that couldn't have been better as well. 

ALMOST 4 HOURS OF CUTTING, AND THESE PILES ARE ALL I HAD, LOL.  THERE WERE 56 PIECES OF THE 2 AND 1/2 IN STRIPS THOUGH, AND MANY MANY OF EACH OF THE OTHERS.. I JUST DON'T REMEMBER HOW MANY

HERE ARE ALL MY STRIP SETS CUT UP INTO THE 2 AND 1/2 INCH SQUARES READY TO BE PUT TOGETHER IN 10 SQUARES

HERE'S WHAT THE BLOCK LOOKED LIKE...WHEN YOU PUT THE BLOCKS TOGETHER, ONE BLOCK WOULD GO THIS WAY, AND THE NEXT YOU WOULD FLIP THE OTHER.  SOMEHOW OR ANOTHER IT MATTERED WHICH SIDE OF THE RECTANGLE YOU PUT YOUR BORDER STRIPS ON, WHICH I FOUND OUT THE HARD WAY, LOL.  ONLY HAD TO RIP OUT ONE THOUGH SO GUESS THAT WASN'T TOO BAD

AND HERE IT IS....I DO LIKE IT, BUT! I CAN'T DECIDE IF IT IS TOO BUSY?  THERE WILL BE A 1 AND 1/2 INCH LIGHT GREY BORDER GOING ALL AROUND, AND THEN A 5 INCH BORDER OF ANOTHER GREY PRINT FABRIC AS WELL.  I AM THINKING A MED GREY MINKY BACKING, AND A NAVY BINDING.
Now I am under no illusions that I am way too critical of my work, and that "perfection" is NOT what anyone is looking for in a quilt, I guess unless you've entered yourself in a quilt show, lol.  I do not think I am done with quilting.  I am sure I will press on and make more and hopefully get better and better as I go.  But I am glad that I have my garment sewing, and most of all my beloved embroidery to do in between my quilting projects.  Meanwhile yesterday I got to hang out with my 15 year old grand daughter Lindsey.  We both went to get our hair done, and enjoyed a tasty lunch out as well and LOTS AND LOTS of conversation. It was such a good time, and I treasured every minute.  Hope you are all having a good week!  Many blessings to you all! Debbie

IT WAS A VERY DIFFERENT FOIL PROCESS TO GET THE OMBRE HAIR COLOR SHE WANTED

SOO PRETTY AND NATURAL LOOKING.  THE OMBRE LOOK ALLOWS FOR YOUR NATURAL ROOTS TO GROW FOR MONTHS WITH NO TOUCH UPS,.

SOO PRETTY.  WE BOTH LOVED IT


MISS CLAIRE ENJOYING THE WARM TEMPS IN HER BATHING SUIT

MELODY BOUGHT THE KIDS A SLIP AND SLIDE TO ENJOY....NEEDLESS TO SAY THEY LOVED IT, LOL

CLAIRE TOO

MELODY DECIDED TO PUT HER SUIT ON AND JOIN THEM.  SHE SAID THE KIDS WERE SOOO EXCITED THAT SHE WAS THAT SHE MIGHT HAVE AS WELL BEEN A LIVE PENGUIN, LOL  SAID IT WAS REALLY PRETTY FUN.  SAM CAUGHT THE PIC OF HER DOING IT, THOUGH HE KIND OF CUT HER HEAD OFF SOME, LOL.

PS...Couldn't get all the font size the same in this no matter what I did.  I guess it was the way I added pics after I had typed things.  Won't do that again, lol


4 comments:

  1. I so admire a quilter. Takes not only an artistic eye but tons of patience. I think you did a good job with your patterns and it should be lovely. Love those baby pics and the hair is so pretty.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well, Debbie, I think your seams match up perfectly in the close up of that block. I do as much as I can to ensure accurate piecing, but honestly, if there are little inaccuracies, I have learned to let them go. I've tried unstitching and restitching and rarely did the restitching really make a dramatic improvement. So why take the time? What caused me (OCD with a heavy dose of perfectionism thrown in) to rethink little inaccuracies is what a fellow quilter said: a non-quilter will never notice the little inaccuracies because they don't think to look for/worry about those little inaccuracies. They're impressed with your efforts, that you made something with your own hands for them. And honestly, even on quilts I make for myself, I have never noticed any inaccuracies while using the quilts ... I mean, who curls up under a quilt and then pours over the quilt looking for any errors or mismatched seams. It has taken me a while to reach that point, though, I'll confess. I'm hoping that you will reach a point where you're more at peace with the quiltmaking process.

    And I love,the quilt you're making for Melody ... I think she'll love it!

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a good mama to get out and play, too! Kids do love that.

    i was surprised by how much I like the quilt. The colors seemed too somber to me, but it really is striking. The borders will just set it off beautifully. Melody will like it very much I'm sure.

    Your teenage granddaughter is a beauty and her hair looks terrific. Nice that you two were able to hang out together.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Amazing photos! Very beautiful. xoox Su
    ___________
    bloom tattoos

    ReplyDelete

I am so glad that you would take the time to comment on my thoughts and feelings, it is such a blessing to me!