The Dilemma of the Youngest

My circle of sewing friends is expanding and we are having a great time stealing what time we can to sew. I love doing something creative with beautifully graphic fabrics.

My daughters have even gotten into the act. The youngest one received a lot of squares from Andrea for her birthday to make her first quilt. This project has been up and down, however.

First, Noelle (7 years old) was very anxious to start. Then, when she got started (this is her very first quilt), everything was going smoothly. Her siblings wanted to get into the act. Then she got mad because they were sewing more squares than she, taking all the cool patterns, so that little piece of heaven stopped.

The she announced she was making this quilt for her father. Not a problem, but as I looked at the squares made up of decent size leftover fabric from Andrea’s many projects, I thought about how this quilt was very feminine, and my ex-husband is NOT an effeminate man. In addition, Andrea had given her enough squares to make a small lap quilt. This definitely wasn’t going to cover Noelle’s father.

So, off I go to find inexpensive additions to this quilt. I have to find enough variety so that it doesn’t look like two different quilts sewn into one, and so that no one pattern dominates.

It is still not finished. It will have interesting combinations.  But she will have made it with love.

I will post a picture when it is complete.

Just … let it go!

I have some inhibitions.

That got your attention, right?

I cannot seem to create anything that is not symmetrical, orderly, matching. So this is going to be a challenging journey for me.

I am trying to become a Modern Quilter. This means that I have to let go of the even steven, and try to just go for it.

This is a tall order for the girl who likes the same style of end table on either side of the bed. Or who likes the same kind of wood furniture all in one room. Or whose food doesn’t touch on the plate.

Sigh.

To combat this phobia of mine, I have enlisted the help of a quilting psychologist, Andrea. She lives on the wild side! She puts all sorts of crazy colors and patterns together. And sometimes, she starts piecing without a direction in mind. (Gasp!)

Sacrilege!

So, I bought this fabric I am in love with. I want to make a small throw quilt for my bed, to bring more color into my bedroom. Andrea said, “Start cutting.” I screamed and ran the other way.

Told you it was a tall order.

So she sat down with me at her kitchen table with an assignment (which of course my daughters, Paige and Noelle, jumped in on right away). We were supposed to take turns “piecing” a quilt together on paper using colored pencils and odd shapes. Paige and Noelle were doing absolutely new-fangled crazy things, having fun with this coloring exercise.

Every time it was my turn, I evened up the pattern. Tried to balance it in some way. My quilting psychologist gave me a few looks.

Fail.

Well I tried. But when I looked at the end pattern, it was so icky to me that I threw it away, so I can’t even post it for you.

So, I have decided to take a new approach.

I know that I just can’t let go (yet) and slice into fabric bought with my hard earned money (ugh) and selected with care (ack)… what I can do is piece together the scraps into a scrap quilt (whew). That will be my foray into true modern quilting.

So far, this is really fun. I haven’t made a full quilt yet … but as I work on my more orderly quilts, the scraps also get pieced, almost as a closing exercise to my sewing time. I get to try something sorta new and free form, and not feel like I am risking wasting $50 doing it.

My quilt psychologist says it is almost like I am working on 6 quilts at once. I love it!

Who knows? Maybe this foray into Modern Quilting actually WILL work!