Tuesday, November 2, 2010

It's Election Day and I'm showing my second quilt!

This is my second completed quilt and I'm participating in the Blogger's Quilt Festival.

First off, lets see the quilt and then I'll tell you the story behind it.

Here is the front
And here is the back
A close up of the front (ignore the the fact that some of the blocks didn't line up right)
From the many imperfections you see on this quilt, I'm sure you can tell I'm a beginner quilter.  I start quilting not too long ago, about 5 months ago to be more exact.  I'm not sure if there is a story behind this particulart quilt.  I needed something to do and I started sketching out something on graph paper and started sewing.  However, I'll tell you why I started quilting.

I've always been a crafter/diyer.  My entire family likes making and fixing things.  My mom is a knitter, my dad loves fixing things around the house and building things, my grandmother makes clothes for my little cousins, and for the longest time, I've been a crocheter.  Then I got addicted to fabric.  I had piles of fabric even before I learned how to use a sewing machine.  I wanted to make something with these pretty fabrics and I've never been a clothes maker, so I turned to quilting.  5 months ago, I was gainfully employed and never had the time to pick up a new hobby. So the fabric pile just sat in the corner, slowly growing. Then I quit my well paid job as an immigration attorney to follow my husband to his new assignment.  Because of a series of events, I didn't end up moving and I didn't go back to my last job.  So now, I had a ton of free time on my hands. Too much time actually.  Aside from doing the normal housewifey things, my hands remained idle.  Idle hands and idle time leads to a lot of unnecessary thinking and stress.  I mean I didn't have the stress of going to a job I didn't like alleviate some of the stress I was feeling before, but not having a job brought on new stress.  Not being able to find a job, worrying about the future of my career, and blaming myself and slightly my husband for it was slowly turning me into a person I didn't want to be.  I *needed* to do something, anything to prevent my mind from going to the worst case scenario.  So I picked up a new hobby: quilting.  I had a simple short arm sewing machine and a pile a fabric, so I turned to the internet for sewing lessons.  It was nice to be concentrating on learning something new.  I like designing a look, picking out the fabric, cutting the fabric, focusing on the right seam allowance, and finally arriving at something new and pretty.  I stopped over stressing and over thinking EVERYTHING.  Don't get me wrong, I'm still worried and stressed over my current state of joblessness, but now it's more manageable.

Things I've learned about quilting while making this quilt:

  • seam allowance matters
  • pressing the seams open and ironing the seams open are two different things
  • thinking synthetic/cotton blend material would be okay and would not affect the overall quilt is wrong; doesn't matter how much synthetic material is in the fabric, it's gonna shrink and mess up the measurements when you put a hot iron to it... 
Things I've learned in general while making this quilt:
  • it's okay if things aren't perfect; it's just another opportunity to find a way to correct your mistakes
  • don't buy fabric just because it's pretty; it might have synthetic material in it and is completely useless
  • don't worry about the small things; everything will work out in the end

5 comments:

  1. Thank you for the lessons, I am a beginnner.... Love your quilt

    Greetings from france

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  2. E' bella la tua trapunta!
    Tutti siamo stati principianti, poco a poco s'impara.
    ciao Domenica

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  3. I love the quilt, and you must love what it did for you. Thank you for sharing your story with us.

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  4. Life is really messy sometimes and quilting is so beautiful, fun and rewarding! It seems like quilting came at just the right time for you. Thanks for sharing your quilt and your thoughts. You did a great work! Keep at it!

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  5. So pleased you found quilting.
    I think your quilt looks great and I hope you make many more.

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