Thursday, January 7, 2010 at 3:32PM Braggity brag brag braaaaaaaaag
I didn't post much in December, and that was mostly because I was drowning in madness.
Like most crafters, I have really, really bad ideas. This bad idea started as a good idea - let's make a quilt for my parents! I had a plan to start it in October, slowly and dilligently finishing before Christmas.
I started on December 1. I finished on December 20 at 1:07 a.m. There was nothing slow about it and I am just now regaining the use of my fingers.
My good idea also included not using a pattern, nor a standard size of, well, anything. Have I mentioned that up to this point, I've only made a lap quilt? And that I can't draw? It's a good thing I try to do impossible things every day.
The idea for the quilt came to me while in the car back home from Iowa this summer. I wanted to make something celebrating my dad's Habitat for Humanity activity (he's a crazy man, currently overseeing his first house) and my mom's gardening skills. She's a Master Gardener and self-admittedly knows everything about everything, even bugs.
I present to you the B's Christmas Quilt, 2009.
It ended up being about 64" x 78", a perfect size for two adults and a dog. The gorgeous batiks are from Ruby Mountain Dyeworks. I can't even tell you how lovely this fabric is. I bought the Shenandoah colorwheel, and I have tons of fabric left over. It was colorfast - I pre-washed it just to check - and just wonderful to work with. I used this tutorial to make the houses. They're all freehand.
My favorite house.The flowers took a little more thought. I wanted to embroider them, even though I'd never done embroidery before. (I figured my mad cross-stitch skillz would help in that area.) I also didn't have a pattern. I sat down with a list of my mom's favorite flowers, searched the internet for pictures, and drew. And erased. And drew and erased and drew and erased until my desk was covered with eraser shavings (hooray for stick erasers!). Then I used our glass coffee table as a light box, taped the drawing on top of the table, under the fabric, and traced. Let me reiterate - I am not an artist. I draw like a six-year-old. But these flowers, well, they're awesome.
The poppies were the first. I hadn't planned on filling in the outlines of the flowers, but it just felt right. It also kept me embroidering until December 18. I put together the quilt top on the 19th, then quilted from 4 p.m. to 1 a.m., threw it in the wash, and we were on our way to Iowa on the 20th. I am still catching up on sleep.
My favorite medallionYou can see close-ups of all the other flowers here.
I borrowed the quilting pattern from a Kaffe Fasset book - just a series of perpendicular lines across the sashing. I didn't want to do any quilting in the flower blocks, and it was very, very late, too late, to even think about the houses. Next time.
I admittedly quilted some fabric tucks in there - my basting wasn't even close to great - and there's batting fuzz all over the place. But isn't it, well, beautiful? (That little house on the back is our house. That's my favorite part of the quilt.)
I'm very, very proud of how this quilt turned out. My parents love it, I love it, Justin loves it. It's probably the most heart-felt gift I've ever made. I'm also proud that it cost me less than $100 to make (I love you, Kona Cotton solids) and I am most definitely not afraid of my sewing machine anymore.
Reader Comments (4)
That is fabulously awesome. Truly truly beautiful.
You are teh awesome and you should be bragging! What a fabulous, wonderful, thoughtful gift for your parents. I love it.
You are fearless! What a gorgeous quilt!
STUNNING - i love everything about this quilt .... colors, shapes, fabric, THE STORY LINE, use of mixed techniques such as embroidery and applique and the whole raison d'etre .
WOW kristin of course you love it and of course your mom and dad covet it - it is just STUNNING
GREAT GREAT job ...... i feel like this quilt should be displayed somewhere. it is truly a work of art and a work of love.