It's been awhile since I had some inspiration and guidance on this quilt. I have to admit once I started on the back it became very mechanical and lost some of its magic. However, I needed that kind of experience as well. It can't always be all nostalgia and life lessons.
Since we moved I have struggled with getting into a new routine in this house. Cooking, cleaning, writing, sewing, etc. got a bit jumbled up and I have to admit I haven't done much of any. But I did happen upon repeats of The Waltons and Little House on the Prairie. And now I'm hooked. The other day they were quilting on The Waltons. It was a 'quilting' which turns out to be the mountain version of a sweet sixteen. All the ladies of the mountain contributed squares to Mary Ellen's quilt and they all gathered to bring it together and tell stories of their own quiltings. Of course Mary Ellen was against the whole thing. Part of the significance of the quilt was that she was now 'marriageable' and she was having none of that. She was going to be a nurse (have a career) and never get married. I can understand that feeling. In fact I'm sure I had that same feeling at least a few times myself.
But the sentiment that won out was the passing of tradition through generations and doing with it what you will when it comes to your turn. I think I always had it in my head that I would hand-quilt this piece. My first (and only) memory of quilting with my Gramma Rosa is hand quilting with her on her PVC quilting frame in front of the TV. She was probably in the middle of her annual Godfather marathon, but she had a soft spot for The Waltons so there's a good chance it was going in the background at some point. Hand quilting seems appropriate for this particular quilt, and, unlike Emily, machine quilting scares me and I don't think I am up to it just yet.
As I'm not crazy about the colours and block sizes of the back I decided to create a little visual interest back there before attaching it to the front. I'm hand quilting a few sections of the back and then I'll sandwich it all together and try to tie a few yarn bows through the front. Just to make it a little harder on myself, I am attempting to make each side independent, so the quilting of the back isn't visible from the front and the ties aren't visible from the back.
First things first, the quilting of the back. Unlike the rest of the quilt, I had to do a bit f pre-planning at this stage. I wanted the quilting to be graphic to compliment the block pattern already in place (I use pattern lightly). To start, I made a sketch of the back blocks and drew in patterns where I wanted quilting...
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| my very *detailed and to scale* sketch (ignore the spot, camera is on its way to the cleaners) |
As you can see (sort of), I'm not quilting the entire back, just the big swaths of colour.
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| a reminder of the actual blocking, in case the sketch is too abstract |
At this point I have the quilting patterns marked out on the big blocks (which took days and required me to do basic arithmetic and measuring. YUCK!) and am ready to attach the batting so I can get started with the actual hand quilting.
Am I crazy?
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