My Own Project

I am not craft-y.  My mother and grandmother both sew wonderful things, but somehow I didn't get the decorator/crafter gene from them.  What a bummer.  Really, I wish I were the kind of person who could sit down and create beautiful, useful things.  However, I somehow managed to find peace with myself as a non-crafter.  (I'm kidding-- it was pretty easy to resign myself to a non-crafting lifestyle after a few disastrously failed projects.)

Then I married Beloved.  And I married into a family of crazy-passionate sewers/quilters/creators.  My mother-in-law has a quilting frame in her living room.  Both of my sisters-in-law sewed their own wedding dresses. 

Clearly, we were not going to bond over discussions of compelling literature or shared politics (pictures of George W. Bush on the refrigerator at one BILs house...  that's all I'm saying about that).  And that was fine!  But we needed something to talk about and do together, something time-consuming and benign.  So quilting was it!

(Aside: Oh my gosh, I have got to quit talking about Beloved's family!  I sound so snobbish when I talk about them!  Really, only a few of them are nuts, and they're a nice kind of nuts.  Gross, sometimes.  Odd, sometimes.  But generous toward me, and gracious, and they try really hard.  But, oh, how I wish I could tell you all the stories!)

I don't mind sewing and quilting.  I am happy to do it, actually.  It just isn't something that I would sit down and do myself when I have time to do whatever I want.  I generally need the company and encouragement of other people working on their own projects in order to do my own. 

But while on vacation last month, I went with my mom to a quilt shop.  And I got inspired.  I don't know how it happened.  There were fabrics.  And patterns.  I was overcome.

And now I have a project.  Perhaps I flatter myself, but I do think it's nicer than the UBP (Unfashionable Butt Purse).

It's this pattern, and these fabrics.  There are no fancy cuts, and all straight lines to sew.  Easy-peasy.

I cut the strips and laid them all out in blocks.  The blocks will move around, but I just wanted to get groups of four strips organized so I won't end up with all one fabric or color in any of the blocks. 

Once they were all laid out, there suddenly seemed to be a lot of red.  You can tell I'm a novice because the name of the group of fabrics is "Peace on Earth," but I thought there was enough blue and yellow to keep it from looking too Christmas-y.  There are quite a few leftover strips, so I went through and took out all the red strips and replaced them with brown, blue or yellow strips.  Then I split up the reds and put half of them back in. 

It's now been laying on my floor for a week.  I keep walking by and stopping for a second to move strips around, or look at it in a different light and think, "Oh, it's totally a Christmas quilt!" or "Gee, I think I should take more red out"  or "Maybe I should put more red back in." 

You see why I need other people present to accomplish anything?  What do you think about the colors?  Christmas?  Or all-season?  (Susan?)

(These pictures, by the way, are with all of the red strips in.)

Comments

[Kohana]

It doesn't look overtly Christmasy to me, but I can't see the print up close. Maybe there are thousands of tiny Santas? :) Are you machine sewing it or going by hand? I've made a crazy quilt but not a proper quilt. Even though I sew, I'm afraid something like that where everything has to be uniform and even might drive my obsessively organized personality insane. Good luck with it. Of course we want to see pictures when it's done. :)

[susan]

First of all I'm flattered that you'd want my opinion. And guess what, when I saw your quilt pattern all I could think is that I want to make one with that same pattern. I really like it!

As for colors, even with the red I didn't think it looked Christmasy. Maybe I'm not up on my holiday colors, but I thought it just looked like a great colorway. I really like the blues in it.

[DeAnna]

When I saw your fabric, I didn't think Christmas. I love that pattern, it looks like it is going to be really pretty -- and now you will have something to bond with the inlaws over. :) Although, I really think you should take an old pair of Sparkle/Pumpkin's jeans and at least make a change purse. :) LOL!

[Julie]

Hello
I stop by once in awhile and thought I'd add my two cents :-) (our family is transracial and we've adopted so I enjoy your thoughts on that). At first glance I thought it was a brown and green quilt and that maybe the designs were some sort of African art print. It must be the distance. Upon closer inspection of the fabrics at the fabric site I can see why it feels Christmas-y. What happens if you remove all or some of the prints that contain holly/berries or similar designs? Whatever you decide it looks great! I admire your courage to do something so big. I too am not crafty but enjoy doing small baby quilts (before kids I did anyway!!)

Good luck. I'll stop by the next time all the kids nap at once!

Julie A.

[haze]

"Christmas?" Nope, don't see it at all. I just see "gorgeous" and "kudos!"

[Leah]

Wow is all I can say. You are something of a super human...and you can quilt. Simply amazing.

[cloudscome]

It's beautiful! I don't see any reason to limit red and all the other colors here to Christmas. Unless there is something small in the print design that says that, like Santas, ect. It just looks lovely with all the red and the other colors.

I think it's a good idea to lay it out and keep walking by thinking about it, adjusting it, making little changes. Sometimes I've thrown a quilt together too fast and later, after it's done, I see a glaring error in the pattern. Like one square upside down or something. Take your time with building the design and you'll be happer in the end.

I think quilting is the perfect project for bonding with family. I know just what you mean about going crazy in the fabric store when you see all the colors and patterns. Isn't that fun?

[Katie]

No, I didn't think of Christmas when I first saw it, though I see what you mean...Guess it could depend on what the "background" will be, because that could really steer it away from being Christams-y.

I think it looks great! Very impressive!

[Katie]

Oh, and I especially like the red matchbox cars at the bottom corner of the second picture.

That's a nice touch! ;o)

[wendy]

That will be gorgeous! It is my dream to make a quilt. You have inspired me to at least try.