I finished the "basic" cutting of pieces for the next quilt last night. This was (a) a series of 2 1/2" strips of the colorful fabrics (3 x 12) and an equivalent number from the "background" fabric, plus two, 4 1/2 inch strips (to be made into squares at a later date) from each of the 12 colorful fabrics.
I also started sewing some of the 2 1/2" strips together.
About being in a "mood" to cut fabric - it seems to happen more often in the summer. I think it's because piecing quilts is more appealing in hot weather than sitting with a wool sweater sleeve on your lap, or sitting with your entire lower body covered by the quilt you are hand-quilting. (Though by that argument, probably thread crochet is the 'coolest' summer craft).
I also think it's because in the winter, my sewing room - which is at the very end of the "chain" of ducts - gets kind of chilly. (Well, it's hotter than the rest of the house in the summer, but somehow that's more tolerable).
I think one of the reason I seem to get a lot of quilt tops done is because I HAVE a sewing room - it's a small room off the room I have as my bedroom. It used to be a screened porch in the earlier days of the house; someone who had the house before me had it closed in (and a walk-in closet built into part of it). The person who owned the house right before me used the room as her bedroom (and I think she used the room I use as a bedroom as an office).
The room's a little small (and too warm in the summer) to be a good bedroom, but it's really nice to have a sewing room. I can leave it as messy as I want to (and yeah, I do need to get in sometime and pick all the fabric scraps off the floor) because no one but me ever goes in there. So I can start a project and leave it when I get tired of working.
Before I lived in the house, if I wanted to sew, I had to set my sewing machine up on my kitchen table (which was also my dining table) and sew there (and sit on the sofa to eat, or take the sewing down before every meal). And when I lived at my parents', I had to set the sewing machine up on a worktable.
And when you have to spend 20 minutes setting up to sew - and budget in 20 minutes or whatever at the end to take it down and put it all away - it kind of cuts in to your desire to work on stuff.
So having a separate sewing room is something I'm really grateful for, because I can just go in there when I feel like working and START. And when I get tired, or when I have to stop to go somewhere, I can just leave it - all I have to remember to do is turn off the sewing machine and shut off the iron if I have it on.
I also think (though this is not the case right now, other than summer school being a "OH man it moves FAST" situation), working on quilts - especially either pressing off fabric or cutting it - is kind of therapeutic when I'm upset about something or irritated over something. I think part of it is simply the fact that it is cutting - it is something that "seems destructive" (though it is in the service of something constructive) and that it requires a more careful level of attention than most knitting does.
The other thing is that you're standing up and moving around (at least the way I cut fabric: most of the cutting I do is done with a rotary cutter), and there are times when I just can't sit still. So it works well to cut and prepare fabric when I'm anxious.
I also pressed off some fabric last night. One thing I tend to do - if I'm not going to use a fabric immediately - when I buy it is I pre-wash it (to make sure it doesn't shrink or bleed, and to get out any excess resins or sizing). And then it goes into a big pile of fabric. (I used to be better about pressing stuff off).
So periodically, I'll take some time and grab stuff out of the giant pile (which is actually more of a mound right now) and press it. And organize stuff, either into groups of fabrics I intend to use together, or sort them by color/theme, whatever, and either put them away in the walk-in closet or stack them up somewhere in my sewing room to use eventually.
Sometimes there are nice moments of serendipity - I will run across a fabric I had either bought simply because I liked it, or for another project, and realize that it will go even BETTER with another stack of fabric I have...so it's always a bit of a treasure hunt when I'm pressing and stacking fabrics. (That happened last night. I have a bunch of "cute" fabrics - including some of the "weird cute" Garden Friends (I have the deer in green, the rabbits in pink, and the orange mushrooms.) I also had some sort-of coordinating fabrics from totally different lines - including a very very cute one with pastel trees on it. I had "finished out" the twelve with a floral print I had had on hand, but didn't really like - it was a slightly different shade of green from the deer background, and while it would MATCH, it didn't match quite well enough for me.
While going through the fabric mound, I found a fat quarter with cute, pastel, anthropomorphized ladybugs and other beetles on it...in the same light pastels as the tree-print and a couple others. So I traded out the not-so-well-liked green print and replaced it. And I think these fabrics are going to be the next-next quilt. It's just going to be a simple, big-square quilt - either 6" or 4 1/2" size finished squares, because the prints are big and it's really the different prints I want to show off.)
I like doing the "simpler" quilts. I think that's another reason I get more done: I tend to prefer (both to make and also the look of) the very simple geometric designs. Part of it is that I don't like worrying too much about things like matching points or all of those little skinny slices like on Mariner's Compass, and part of it is I just like the look of the simpler quilts made with 'fun' fabrics.
And you know, I've sort of accepted that. For years I thought I wasn't a "real" quilter because I didn't have that much interest in doing the really complex stuff, the things that would win prizes at quilt shows. But you know? A lot of the "winning" quilts, when I see them in magazines, they leave me a little cold. They seem so rococo - so much effort has gone into them. They don't feel to me like quilts you can put on the bed, or curl up on the sofa with - it's almost like they are now ART, and they demand something of the owner/viewer. Whereas my little quilts are just QUILTS, and they are "happy" (yes, I anthropomorphize everything) to just fill out their role as quilts - to keep a person warm at night, or to cover someone's feet while they read in a chilly house, or maybe (with the ones I will make for Project Linus) to make the hospital a little less scary for a kid, or to be dragged around and loved.
And while on the one hand, I feel a little sad that maybe I will never enter a quilt into a "serious" show - because when I make quilts with points, they don't always match, and I tend to choose "odd" fabrics, and I like the simpler designs - on the other, my quilts do what they're supposed to do, and that should be good enough.
4 comments:
Well, I think tumbling blocks is supposed to be a "difficult" pattern and I've done two of those but I'm generally attracted to simple patterns. I do see more complex patterns that I like but I always think, "Oooo, that would be an awful lot of cutting and piecing; it would take me forever," and I feel sort of lazy not trying some of those but my favorite parts of quilting are the shopping and the actual quilting and I want to get to the quilting phase as quickly as possible.
I rarely sew anymore because I have to lug my machine unto my kitchen table, along with all the other sewing stuff. And then clear it off. Etc. My wish list for "someday" includes a craft room.
-- Grace in MA
Studios ROCK. Just being able to close the door and leave the project in whatever stage of completion it happens to be in is PRICELESS.
I'm with you on the fiberwork as art thing. Sometimes it's enough for a quilt to just be a quilt, without it demanding to be put in a birdcage and each day fed birdseed and slices of pink melon (tip o' the hat to Pablo Neruda). Something warm and comfortable to curl up in and watch a movie on a railny night, without fear of popcorn butter or cocoa.
my take on quilts is this: they were originally meant to be thrifty, and use up left over bits of fabric from clothes-making, and any bits from worn out clothing that were still useable. as such, the fancy quilts originally came from the need to use those teeny tiny pieces, like in mariner's compass. whilei do find that particular quilt absolutely gorgeous, the ones ilike best are the oldpatterns, such as my grandmother and mother may have handpieced. My favorite 3 quilts are ones that both my grandmothers made, and one thatmy mother handpieced as a small child (what happened to teaching 4-year olds practical things like that? they're not going to murder themselves with a sewing needle, for goodness' sake!) one is garden flowers, another is flying geese (my mom did that with all the teeny triangles), and the third is a simple 9-patch made from polyester fabrics that is very heavy, and quite warm. all of them are at least 30 years old (the one my mother made, and the garden flowers are much older, maybe even 70 years old or more). but, when i need some love, i can wrap myself in one of them, and feel the love my grandmothers putinto the quilts (they're both gone now), and take comfort in the fact that while my mother is getting up there (she's 81) she's healthy enough ( all things considered), and spry, and ornery, and stubborn, and, best of all, my mom.
your quilts have love, erica, andthat's all that matters.
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