So I'm currently in between projects at the moment. I've already spent my monthly fabric allowance on a top secret project that I can't show you yet, and you all know I'm not much of a fabric stash-er, so this weekend found me with the itch to make something, and minimal means with which to make it!
Enter the quilt that has been languishing in the dusty recesses of my brain for the past year and a half. I think I posted about this way back when...? I remember spotting the inspiration for this quilt in the early days of my Pinterest addiction when I wasn't so jaded by the never-ending parade of pretty (and unattainable) pictures. I thought it was genius because I had saved the fabric-scrap-bunting that I made for my wedding (an uncharacteristically sentimental move, might I add...) with the intention of making my husband and I a wedding quilt....awwwww....
Never mind the fact that the idea of actually making said quilt sounded like the most horrid thing ever, and I was convinced that it was a task reserved for some circle of hell (perhaps as punishment for, I don't know, cutting out your paper patterns or some other ridiculous sewing-sin...) Or that I really have no idea how to make a quilt. So there my scraps sat.
Until this weekend! When I decided what the hell, it can't be that bad and gave it a go.
I found a couple of old toile's (ahemcloverscough...cough) that were crumpled up somewhere, ripped them apart and used them for the white triangles. The patterned triangles were ripped from my bunting and resized. I plan on spacing out these rows with a plain white row (pretty much a dead copy of my inspiration photo). I have no idea how many rows I'll need to make it actually fit on our bed. Alot probably. So many that I may even need to buy more vintage fabric just to make it work.
I should also probably tell any serious quilters to please, cover your eyes! I'm sure I'm doing about a million things wrong technically but just bear with me here! I think this will work! I'm basically going about this in the same "bull in a china shop" way that I tackled learning how to sew garments. Thank god I didn't have a blog around then!! Y'all would've died of horror...
So after spending an entire day working on this, I've gotta say, I found working on a quilt to be...
(please ignore the weird brown stain... our place is old... yeah... that's it... not dirty, just ollldddd...)
Yeah, no, not fun. Sorry quilters! I just don't get it! I mean... where's the fun in this? All that tedious cutting, and then at the end of it you don't even get to wear it! Don't get me wrong! I will finish this mother fucker. Oh I will finish it. And I will put it on my bed. And every single damn person that comes over to my house will be forced to look at it as I tell them that I made that bitch. Because it may very well be the first and last quilt I ever make!!!
Here's what I really don't get... see that picture up there? You see, I thought I was going to get rid of my scraps by making a quilt... No. Not the case. Instead I just get more effing scraps! Just smaller ones. And more oddly shaped. What now? Do I have to make another quilt with even tiny-er pieces??
God? Is this what hell feels like? Is this for that vintage 60's pattern I cut? Look, I'm sorry! I didn't know!! I only just started sewing! Surely that small sin isn't worth wiling away my eternity sewing short, straight lines, cutting smaller and smaller pieces of fabric until my carpal tunnel acts up, all in the effort to put something on a bed???
Nah. I'm just kidding. This quilting business isn't so bad! It certainly is a way to kill some weekend time. But something tells me I won't be making a quilting conversion anytime soon...wink.
xx
well you sure will end up with a pretty quilt! i never tried quilting but i'm quite moderately intrested in trying and i am usually the one wanting to try all new kinds of things i can do with my two hands and get all excited about it. but quilts?i don't know. it looks soo fiddly!
ReplyDeletealso, what is the thing with quilts? everybody is making/talking about quilts! is it a virus i'm also about to catch?
UGH! It's totally a virus!! Just kidding... I think, at least for me, it's just kind of a low pressure project for in between my garment sewing projects, which is really what I'm passionate about. But it IS fiddly...but also kind of mindless? Maybe that's the appeal...?
ReplyDeleteAAAAAH i love this!!! i thought oh shit there goes another one hoppin on the quilt crazytrain... i'm going to take your kidding as truth. i likes it better that way.
ReplyDeleteLOL this is exactly why I have TWO RUBBER MAID BINS FULL of scraps that are not even close to being quilts yet. I look at blogs like Film In The Fridge and get so inspired and think, Yeah! I'm gonna do that!!! ...and then I don't do that. Seriously though, my scraps are getting totally out of control and they need to die ...I mean. Become a quilt. How bought large patchwork? That sounds so much less intimidating to me than (GASP!) quilt blocks! haha Large patchwork duvet cover! Lets do this!
ReplyDeleteIt's going to be so beautiful! I make quilts, but also have so many scraps! I would love to make a scrap quilt. One of these days...
ReplyDeleteShhhh!! It's totally the truth! I just felt a little bad hating on all the quilters... I mean, is it their fault they landed in this particular circle of hell?? Probably... but who am I to judge???
ReplyDeleteYeah no kidding!! Quilt blocks just sound... I don't know... I don't think I could ever go to that part of crazy quilt land! Haha! But large patchwork... eh it's not so bad... especially with that "design element" of the big white band separating the triangle rows... see what I did there? Yah. Lazy.
ReplyDeleteOops. That was supposed to say 'bout** not bought. See, quilts fluster me into not being able to spell lol
ReplyDeleteHahah this is why I haven't started a quilt as yet. That and I'm too new/sucky still :)
ReplyDeleteI have been saving scraps to make a color wheel quilt for the past three years now. Just sayin'...
ReplyDeleteHaha love this post! Quilting definitely does make more scraps out of scraps and the cutting is SOOOO tedious, not to mention the endless straight seam sewing. But it eventually pays off, you know once it all comes together and you finish that last layer of hell by sewing on the blasted bias binding. I've made several and I guess what keeps me soldiering on is having my very own homemade quilt at the end. Keep it up! You may not turn into a convert but at least you'll be warm and cozy in your own handmade quilt :)
ReplyDeleteYou are awesome. That is all x
ReplyDeleteoh boy... i have boxes of scraps that i intended to haul out with the kiddos over christmas break, then this week while they're on winter break and start cutting quilt pieces from. keep in mind, i have mocked the quilt people (in my head, i'm too nice to say it aloud...) but i just can't bring myself to start. despite your thoughts being exactly my own, you've actually kind of re-inspired me to just do it already then never think about doing it again!! yours does look beautiful. good luck finishing!
ReplyDeleteWow. Somebody has a thing against quilting. I don't think I've ever heard (or read) you curse before. There is no way in hell I would ever make a quilt. No, no, and no. And there is no other reason I wouldn't than it's straight up boring.
ReplyDeleteok, you decided it for me.. no quilting here hehe.. i kind of wanted to make bunch of baby quilts, for ridiculous amounts of babies born by my friends while i was away digging.. but in my crazy head i calculated i can do each one in couple of joyous hours.. but now it feels like couple of painful years (and by the time i finish them quilts, those babies are probably going to be old enough to have babies on they own) so i'm back to my original plan of owl plush toy for each baby, that i can pull off in an hour or so
ReplyDeleteWell, it's going to be super cute when it's all said and done and you'll have a lovely quilt that reminds you of your most special day with your special honey forever... but I hear you on the not getting the quilting thing. I love them, but it's just SOOOOO much work. Did you see Dixie's post on getting the thing quilted with a fancy design at a quilting store? Brilliant. I think that's the only way I would consider it. I should do a post on the quilt my friend David's mom made him when he graduated high school. It is an absolutely INSANELY detailed and beautiful and astounding quilt of GODZILLA DESTROYING TOKYO. I am totally serious. It's mind boggling. Super curious about your super secret project....
ReplyDeleteAnd the scraps become more scraps--so true! But it'll be fun to say you've done it. I keep thinking I might try quilting or any home dec sewing--why *shouldn't* I make my own pillow cases?! because I can?--but it just doesn't sound fun when I start planning. I'd rather appreciate someone else having fun with it.
ReplyDeleteYour quilts are super beautiful! I would love to see what you could do with all your scraps!
ReplyDeleteLisa that is exactly my thinking! I hate having things lingering about so I'm just going to make myself do this (and it's not THAT bad...) and then it'll be done and I'll never have to do it again if I don't want to!
ReplyDeleteI think thats one of the frustrating things about sewing, right?! Now it's like anything I CAN make I feel like I SHOULD make because... well... I can! Never mind whether or not I really have any interest in the thing. And it makes it hard to plunk down the money on new pillow cases when you know what a ripoff it is! So instead I just end up living without pillow cases, or curtains, or warm bedding or whatever. What's the sense in that?
ReplyDeleteSo funny. I even read this post out to my hubby and we were both in hysterics. So worth it for our entertainment, and I am in total agreement with all conclusions. Lol.
ReplyDeleteomg, cracked me up! In fact, I feel certain I have uttered these very same words. A couple years ago I sewed a color wheel quilt and swore I would never do it again... but ... something inside of me shifted. Now I like it. You should just put it away and don't mess with it again until you feel like it. If that is never, then so what? But then, if you ever have a change of heart, be prepared to feel really weird about it. I do! ha ha! Cuz I really did NOT GET why anyone would pay good money for fabric, just to cut it up and sew it back together again ....... hilarious post.
ReplyDeleteAhahaa totally know what you mean... Making a quilt always seems like such a great, serene thing to do, almost in a smug sew-y way, and especially after a dose of Pinterest... And it is fun to begin with, but then each part of the process takes SO DAMN LONG that the novelty wears off pretty fast. Either you bash it out in a week or two and dedicate yourself only to the quilt, or you take your sweet time and go back to it every now and then when inspiration strikes and in a year or three you'll have yourself a quilt! But they are so pretty and SO SATISFYING to look at when they're done. I think that's the point. And yours will be really beautiful by the looks of it!
ReplyDeleteWHAT? That sounds like the greatest quilt of all time!
ReplyDeleteAHAHAHAHAHAHA! I'm with you, although I've never actually WANTED to quilt. My mom used to quilt quite a bit, and for some reason she loves it, but it's all the parts of sewing that I hate-- slow, tedious, ultra precise... blech! But I have something like 5 quilts (that my mom quilts BY HAND), so it's not like I need more anyway (so bratty, right?).
ReplyDelete