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Monday, April 27, 2020

Sometimes It Takes A While


This poor little project got neglected more times than I can count, but finally, irrevocably, I'm calling it done. Just 9" x 12", it was begun in September of last year, on a touring bus, somewhere between Paris and Beaune, France. It had seemed such a good idea to take a little handwork on our trip to Europe, and it was. It's just that the project rarely called to me, and in fact, a sense of obligation and a few fond memories are what finally convinced me to finish it at all.


The fabric came from my scrap basket, and also from little sample packs from Brooklyn Haberdashery that I'd picked up at my last two QuiltCons. And I really did like all of it. Every little block was hand-pieced, and by the time I got home, I had a nice handful.


Then it was time to puzzle them together, and that was tricky. Considering they were all hand-pieced, I couldn't just trim anywhere without risking releasing a seamline. But eventually they were all pieced into a rectangle and it was time to quilt.


I stitched-in-the-ditch along some of the major seamlines, and then started in on some boro-style stitching. This is definitely an area where I'm no expert, but my goal was to try and try I did. For the first time, I used Aurifloss, #2311 [Muslin], so that was cool, though for this kind of stitching, I think I'd use two strands next time, rather than three. But it all worked well enough.


The binding was cut skinnier than usual (1 1/2" to finish at 1/4"), and I did machine-stitch it around the quilt before finishing by hand. And with that this little piece is done. Not my favorite, but that's totally ok. There's some travel stitched in, some exploring, and a fondness for those bits of fabric and those wary stitches. I think all that's enough.

4 comments:

  1. Your Travel Quilt is the best kind of quilt, all the things that are supposed to be in a quilt! Hand work, memories, your own take on life, fabric that means something to you.
    Competition quilts have no soul.
    And your stitching is fabulous.

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  2. It sounds like this mini quilt packs a lot into it. While I'm not one to have lots of projects going at once, I do think it's nice to have an ongoing handwork project and something to explore. Do you think you'll pick up something new in the handwork category after this and the hand piecing finish from earlier this year? I have a bit of hand work that I take with me when I travel for hand quilting / hand embroidery. I don't know how I'll ever decide when it is "done", but it is nice to have something to pick up on occasion.

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  3. it's a sweet little quilt full of memories. i'm glad you finished it up!

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  4. a wonderful idea... and a beautiful result !

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