Sunday 26 September 2010

Confession Time!

When I first caught the quilting bug, several years ago now, no one was more surprised than I  as to how addicted I became in a very short time - after all I hate 'sewing' to the degree that DH has resorted to replacing  all his missing shirt buttons instead of having to beg and plead with me to pick up needle and
thread ,whilst repairs and alterations to clothing can lie in neglected piles for weeks on end.

Now, my sewing machine has become my most treasured possession instead of being left to gather dust in the bottom of a cupboard and I can't wait to get all the mundane daily chores finished so that I can get into my room - but then patchwork & quilting isn't really 'sewing' is it , but rather a form of expression and enjoyment as opposed to a 'chore', well, at least that how I feel about it .

Having got to the stage where I am reasonably happy with the quality of my work and have even got over the dread of  stipple quilting (let's face it I am NEVER going to hand quilt as it would mean using a needle) I really want to move onto a bigger variety of quilting patterns -  so I armed myself with a whole load of books





which quite frankly scare the pants off me at first :-)  I even invested in the Pajama Quilter  videos which have been great fun to watch, and with the help of the workbook.....

 

........which Dawn was kind enough to sign for me......



 .....and after hours of drawing all kinds of weird shapes on the white board - I still can't quilt!!!  The 4 inch sample squares are fine, but when it comes to a whole quilt everything goes out of the window so its back to a  of scrap batting & fabric and the practice..practice ..practice routine




...and maybe someday my feathers will end up on an heirloom quilt, but in the meantime I'll settle for them looking less of a mess!

Twelve blocks finished for the  'Soot & Ashes' quilt along



Number 13 is available, but rumour has it that the last 2 blocks are appliqué and as that would mean using the dreaded needle - maybe I'll be sticking at 12 :-)


4 comments:

Jo in TAS said...

You could always do the appilque on your machine using a blanket stitch or even a blind hem stitch for the needle turn look! Love your blocks!!

Gina said...

It'll come I promise you. I've only now gone away from sqiggle quilting.
My advice would be not to pressure yourself into only having show quality quilting. So what if it's a bit off or the tension isn't perfect. I never panic about it as my quilts are for the house or family and they're not bothered either.

Love and hugs Gina xxx

PS the book I found most useful was the Freemotion Quilting made Easy book that you show in your photo

Wil said...

Ann,why don't you use Golden transparent paper to draw your design on, or another transparent paper. Pin this on the sandwich and follow the drawn lines. Much easier :-))

Jeannie said...

Way to go Ann!! You never know when the quilting will kick in so keep at it. I think your doing great!!