My brother and his wife recently had their sixth baby (a boy). That of course precipitated a baby blanket. The timing of these babies always ends up influencing the final product, of course.
My nephew arrived in February, right around the time I discovered free-motion quilting online. In order to explore free-motion, I researched and ordered a new sewing machine that my parents brought over to me when they came to visit around the time of my second surgery. I also happened to have a large stash of shweshwe fabric in my closets. All of that together is what catalyzed the details of this particular blanket — one of the largest I’ve attempted yet.
I found the “stacks of books” idea on Pinterest and it looked simple enough — cut and connect a bunch of strips that are roughly the same length and then cut them in different places to give it an “off-set” look.
Piecing was easy. The quilting part was much harder. I spent a lot of time watching YouTube videos of different free-motion quilters. I particularly fell in love with a meandering leaf echo pattern (or flame) and wanted to try it in the blue sections. I also wanted to use the text setting on my fancy new machine to write in book titles on every book … yes, ambitious.
Long story short: the free-motion part was so hard and stressful (I broke more needles on this one project than I have ever broken in fifteen years of sewing) that I didn’t finish the blanket. I simply outlined each of the books and packed the thing in my bag to take to the US for the summer break. Once at my brother’s house, I used my sister-in-law’s machine to finish the rest of the leaf pattern. It took a little blood, lots of sweat, and just a few tears to finish quilting it, and I never put the book titles on. I didn’t even bind it because I ran out of time. What a gift! My sister-in-law had to bind it herself and then send me the picture.
I suppose that makes it a collaborative labor of love. I hope this boy likes to read … or at least look at colorful books.
Creative Joy 