In the Mood to Sew

Just as our regular day to day life has its rhythm and flow, I've noticed an unintentional rhythm in my yearly craft projects.  In late summer and early fall, I'm on a knitting rampage, knitting everything I can think of and squirreling it all away for Christmas gifts.  After Christmas, however, something changes.  I start looking forward to Spring, sunshine, breeze - and start looking at fabrics.  And imagining that I'm any good at sewing (I really am not).

It was during this time last year that I made my very first quilt - using Anna Maria's beautiful flannel.  That quilt was chock full of mistakes, but it sure keeps us warm!  Shortly after completing it, I purchased some fabric to make another quilt.  The idea was to make a baby quilt, but I purchased too much fabric and changed my mind somewhere along the way.

Each time I make anything, I learn something new.  Knitting, sewing, baking, cooking - it doesn't matter.  Each and every time I create, I also learn.  Most of the time it is "what not to do."

I screwed up the quilt.  Not so that anyone else would notice, but enough that every time I looked at it, all I could see was the big bright MISTAKE.  So I put it away.  For months.

Last weekend, I brought it out, shook it off, ironed it nicely.  I finished cutting the squares and ignored the trouble areas.  I finished the quilt top. 


As of this writing, I am about 90% done with the hand quilting on top.  Why not just quilt it on the machine?  I was honestly wondering the same thing the other day when I started to get bored with it.  But the truth is, I love the look of a hand quilted quilt.  With using a machine for pretty much every other part of it, its nice to get back to the handwork aspect.  My girls have been helping me a bit and getting very interested in sewing, which is fun for me as well.

All in all, yes it has mistakes all over it, but it really isn't that bad.  It is actually pretty cute.  Having 4 kids so excited to try it out definitely helps.


What are you working on?