my friend from high school, melissa, has a blog where she showcases her amazing talents in knitting and sewing. though i have yet to be inspired to knit (i've crocheted, and i suck!) i was inspired to quilt! my mom taught me how to sew in high school. i don't sew very much (read: at all), but i do have my mom's hand-me-down sewing machine, which is in great shape. i asked for quilting how-to books and a couple of pattern books for my birthday. with my track record of unfulfilled aspirations ("i'll do that project this summer, when i'm off work" are my famous last words), some were dubious that a quilt would actually be produced! i decided to start small, which coincided nicely with the facts that baby quilts are so cute and i have babies a-plenty in my life. jo-ann's fabric selection (or lack thereof) limited my options to a girl quilt. it took about 5 days, all told, but they were looong days...it was complete at the time i wanted to give it to my cousin amy, who was visiting from washington state for my grandma's birthday. i threw it in the wash, but for some reason, it was sopping wet, even after multiple spin cycles, and it was still wet when it was time to visit the relatives. so i didn't give it to her before she left for washington, and i decided to add the personalized embroidered patch. i mailed it off yesterday, so baby bella should get her quilt on monday!!
i am pretty proud of myself, though i can see multiple mistakes! it's funny now they just keep piling up until some of the last tasks are almost impossible! and i didn't have all of the proper equipment (mat,rotary cutter, etc.), making myself resist those pricey temptations until i proved to myself that i would actually use them!
- don't try to alter the pattern when you don't know what you're doing! (i added the chenille fabric, which was not only hard to sew, but led to the mistakes in the pattern layout)
- don't try to combine techniques from two different books!
- take a bath with epsom salts after being hunched over the sewing machine for hours.
- intrusive kitties respond to the dog whisperer's "shhhht" sound when "shoo, kitty" doesn't work.
1 comments:
YES! Come to the dark side, Kelly.
It turned out so sweet, despite lack of fancy tools. I love the colors. I'm surprised you were able to wrest it away from Jake to send it to her.
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