A Quilt 20 Years in the Making

I’m extremely proud that a little quilt I started at least 20 years ago has been finished.

Until about a month ago, only the center, with the grey and the blue and pink flying geese was almost completed. (It’s my own design, for what it’s worth.) The unfinished quilt top sat in my stash of fabric for years. Once in a while, I’d take it out and look at it longingly, wondering if I’d ever complete it.



What happened? Why didn’t I finish it? It wasn't that big. Quite simply, I never made space for myself to sew (although I thought I had), I never knew how to put on the binding (this was true), and I never had any real motive to finish it (this was also true).

Why did I finish it? Several reasons. About seven years ago, I joined a fiber art group that meets once a month. Meeting once a month encourages you to complete things to show off, so I knitted, for which I have developed a passion. I completed a large “quilt” and an advertising banner. I knit three sweaters. I knit a pillow top. But, I never finished my little quilt.

One day, a wonderful member of our group named ellen edith called me up and said, “Come on over, I’ll show you how to do the binding.” You bet I took her up on it. She made a sample for me to take home to refer to. I made a “cheater” quilt of fabric I recently designed. I made a set of placemats. I made another set of placemats and some napkins (also 20-year-old projects!).  I still knit.

ellen edith passed away. The threat of mortality struck me. I decided it was time to finish all the projects I have hanging around.

I had only one more excuse. No space. I had a room, it was just poorly arranged with the wrong equipment. I bought a new sewing table. What a present to myself! Why didn’t I do it years earlier? Forget the cost. Look at the reward!

So, now I have no excuse to finish the rest of my 20- and 15- and even 25-year-old sewing projects. It feels so good!

Thank you ellen, thank you CCTA, thank you my dear, sweet husband, thank you everyone who’s given me encouragement through the years.

You, too, can finish things, all you procrastinators. Just be persistent. And be very kind and giving to your fiber friends. Actually, be kind and giving to all your friends. You never know...

Fiber Finish

This time it's the quilt I've finished.

The first fabric that I ever put on Spoonflower in 2010 was from a small watercolor painting that I did in a class in maybe 2000 at the Art League. I thought it would make the most wonderful fabric: bright, geometric and colorful. It does make a great fabric. Later, I combined two other paintings I did after that class into a one-yard "cheater" quilt for a Spoonflower contest, thanks to software help from The Artist. I thought they would make a great front and back to a quilt. They did.

But, I had no binding. For that, I had to paint another watercolor. The watercolor set I use, by the way, is a set of Pelikan paints that I got for an even more ancient Art League class. Since all the watercolors are straight from the pans, and not mixed, they always look bright and vivid, with the usual watercolor gradients.

I finished painting the binding in late summer, then finished the quilt and sewed on the binding. I'm not a watercolorist and I'm not a quilter, but I love this quilt. The sewing has problems, but the design really lends itself to making an easy "cheater" quilt that really shows well and vibrates a little.

I plan to "hang it high" so you can't see the mistakes, but only the beauty.

Knitting Thrill

Well I'm just thrilled that I was able to get ravelry.com to look at my blog. I just have to keep it up!

The Artist has had an independent study student for the month of September. They've been great for each other. She has brought out an interest in teaching to the artist and shown to him that there is hope for today's youth. (That's age showing.) She has done very well and made two pieces. They will probably appear in a show together.

We're getting ready for Open Studios. This will be The Artist's 10th year as a participating artist and my 10th year as "Artist's Assistant": the beginning of my life in The Arts.

With that lead-in, what am I working on? Knitting, sewing and reading, what else? (But I'm thinking of taking up spinning and weaving!)

I finished a hat last week with some yarn leftover from my purple Noro sweater. And I still have more yarn left, enough for a second hat or even a third. They will all look completely different because the varigated yarns start and end in different places.

Hat Unfinished

I also knitted a teal necklace from some crochet yarn that a friend found at a flea market in NYC. I like this one; I thought it needed a little something, so I added metallic.

Knitted Necklace

I'm waiting rather patiently (for me) for some yarn to start another project. It's been ordered but has yet to arrive.

The big event for the weekend is to finish the one-yard quilt from fabric I designed and had printed on Spoonflower.com.  I finished the watercolor of the border over Labor Day and just received it yesterday. It's all quilted, but the border remains. I'm not a good quilter, and I don't particularly like to quilt, but I like to design. The front and back were actually painted several years ago when I took a watercolor class. The originals hang on the wall in my studio in little frames.

Reading? I just received a box of books in the mail from my dear friend and fellow book devourer, the ex-bookseller. Great authors, and a big thank you. Must go take advantage of them...