Remember when I was going to turn these fabrics into a twin sized quilt for the daybed in the guest room at Mom's house? Probably not. It was a long time ago. Here is a refresher in photos.
First I stitched together the quilt top. This was the easy part because I still had a lot of momentum and enthusiasm for a brand new project. It looks pretty cute draped over our camping cot.
Next I cleared all the furniture out of the dining room to make the quilt sandwich. Pinning it all together involved a lot of crawling around on the wood floors. Very hard on the knees, but my momentum was still cranking, so I powered through the pain. The back of the quilt is one gigantic piece of white muslin.
Then I laid down some guide lines in masking tape.
The guide lines were to help me tie the quilt, which I did with a huge needle, 100% wool yarn, and a running stitch. Then I snipped between the stitches, tied double knots, and trimmed all the tails to equal lengths. I may have rattled that off in two sentences, but I assure you it was an ordeal. Time consuming. Kneecap crushing. Blister making. Momentum killing. That was around Christmastime 2009.
And then the quilt sat dormant for a year and a half. Fast forward to May 2011 and Angie's visit to Maryland. Oops, well this is kind of out of order. Right after Angie left I made this quilt plate as a way of procrastinating on the binding a little more.
Here's a close up. I think it might be my favorite part of the whole project, this satisfying little bit of embroidery. Okay, back to work...
Angie got me jump started on binding the quilt. I was frightened of this step for whatever cockamamie reason. I even planned to use a roll of pre-cut binding, so it's not like I had to make my own or anything. Angie talked me through it. Once I adjusted how I was thinking about binding, sewing it wasn't very difficult. The hand sewing on the back was even meditative. But I had to work on it during Mo's naps, early in the morning, and very late at night. It took some doing, and Robb running major baby interference for me. Thanks, hon.
And once the binding was sewn on, I could wash the quilt to make the wool ties shrink up into cutie little tufts and make my whole quilt puffy and crinkly and yummy.
Even my helper likes it. Adorable.
Don't tell Mom, but it's her birthday present. Maureen and I will be hand delivering it to her in about a week. So the apple blossom quilt is finally complete, and I am very relieved. Now what can I start sewing next?
3 comments:
That is hysterical that you did the binding with Angie. Angie is the queen of binding procrastination. Jenny made her a quilt for her High School Graduation... let's see.. Angie's been out of college how many years?? Jenny sewed the blocks...then procrastinated until I squared them up and sewed them together. Next..Jenny gave it to Ange to finish. She had Keri long arm quilt it (same gal that did Mo's crab quilt)..then Angie was supposed to bind it. Fast forward a few years. After she got home from your house she said she needed to get the binding on. (Thanks for the push) I cut the fabric, pieced the strips, sewed them on and gave it to Ange to finish. Three sides are done. The gift of Procrastination seems to be in the Genes...
Beautiful little quilt. Liz will love it.
It gets better: Angie volunteered to sew the binding onto my quilt for me, but I wouldn't let her. I told her that she wasn't my crafting slave. I really needed her to be a technical consultant on the project. So she coached from the sidelines. Glad I got her motivated to finish her quilt too. Yay, team!
GORGEOUS!!!!!
I don't hate you, but I am totally jealous of your mad skillz. That embroidery is so pretty! (and what lovely binding! Can Angie come to my house and be my tech person too?.)
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