A beginning

Like any quilter worth their salt I have a stash of fabric waiting to be used. Unlike many quilters, I imagine, my stash is made up almost entirely of clothes. My side of this quilting adventure didn't happen by accident. Making quilts from unwanted clothing just makes sense to me.

I am a bit of a hoarder when it comes to clothes. I probably wear the same 10 pieces over and over, especially now with the need for readily accessible boobs and a body still not sure what shape it will take, but I do love clothes. That being said, I also purge clothes quite frequently. I give bags to charity shops regularly. However, with every sort there are some items that never leave and get tucked away in a box or drawer. These are pieces which have meaning and while they are no longer (or never were) wearable, I cannot fathom parting with them.

One shirt in particular has followed me through numerous moves and across the sea. When my grandfather died I took one of his shirts. The shirt itself didn't hold any meaning and if I recall it was just laying around the house, but I took it to have something of him.

It's time has come. I have had an idea for this shirt for awhile now. Like all my quilt ideas it is evolving as I go along but the nugget of the idea remains. I am finally making a quilt for us. For Pete and I. Not for a baby, not for a friend, for us. Our clothes are taking the brunt of the fabric work. Grampa's shirt is taking a hearty portion of the work and some charity shop finds are making up the rest.

The idea for this quilt is to explore some traditional patterns. I had a lot of fun with those geese. I enjoyed the quickness of making a block and I felt some progress could be made in shorter intervals, yet they still allowed me some creativity and the possibility of happy accidents in the final design.

I am starting with some sawtooth stars. I'm not sure why. I don't think the whole quilt will be stars but I will make them until I get bored.  The first is by far my favourite.

I made this one from the shorts my husband wore in Africa, where we met on holiday, and my maternity jeans, the most recent chapter in our story.  Pete's shorts required a bit of work before they were usable. I had to unpick some cargo-type pockets to get a bigger usable space which resulted in the reveal of the original colour of the shorts.

As I smoothed out the pockets to cut a square I felt grit along my cutting board.

Sand.

It probably isn't from the African continent but, as Pete can't remember the last time he wore these shorts, I like to think they are a few kernels from the beach in Malawi where we first shared a tent or from the dunes in the Sahara when we returned to the continent six years later.  Wherever they are from, it is a testament to my second-rate housewife skills as I am sure those shorts were washed before going into storage.

So many chapters in just one square.

Quilted moments

Two months ago today I finished the quilt I started in July.  A day late for the baby's 6 month milestone in November.  The majority of this quilt was sewn in a state of frustration, exhaustion, tears.  None of which had to do with the quilt and all of which had to do with being the mother of a 2-6 month old.

For example, most 'geese' were made one afternoon while my husband took the baby away for two hours.  I had called him home from work because I couldn't face being a mother that day.  The rest were made in tears one night after the baby finally went to sleep a week later at the end of another trying day.  For awhile, the quilt was keeping me sane.  It was something to look forward to in the few moments the baby didn't need me.

This quilt, though not for me, provided me with a connection to who I was before the baby.  A connection that was very weak, still is, and threatening to break completely.  It meant a lot to have it waiting for me.  If it had been for myself it would probably still be on a shelf.  So much I did for myself before the baby seems postponed indefinitely.  As this was for someone else I made myself find the time to chip away at the project.

It was the perfect combination of directed work and improvisation.  The geese served as somewhat mindless work which became meditative at a time I needed to loose myself in something repetitive.  The improvisation, in the form of the layout, came at a time I craved some creativity with minimal mess.  Taping geese to the dining room wall while the baby bounced nearby meant I could work on the composition over time.  I could look at it all day and consider changes or notice happy accidents without having to pack it up at the end of the baby's naps.  The fate of geese for quite a few weeks.

Piece by piece it came together and it was time to quilt and then bind.  A fair amount went wrong.  I had a fair amount of unpicking and fixing and before the baby I would have outlined each one for you with pictures. Post-baby I realize dwelling on and pointing out my faults and mistakes is not only a waste of time but also, occasionally, an exercise in reverse bragging.  Not allowing myself to be proud or excited about each quilt because of imperfections only visible to myself.

Imperfections make quilts the very special things they are.  Imperfections make people the very special things they are.  Perhaps a bit deep for talking about a simple quilt but I find the story that comes with the making of the quilt, makes the quilt.

I pulled the last few stitches of the binding just before the babies were due dinner.  I bundled up my baby, ran up the street to the other baby, delivered the quilt, enjoyed a glass of wine and returned home.  It wasn't until after I put the baby to bed I realized I didn't take a picture of the final product.  The closest I have is a quick Instagram of the dining room wall.

And even in this last moment with the quilt there is a lesson.  So much of my day is getting through the schedule of events to get to the next nap time.  I frequently get to the end of the day and realize I didn't take the time to enjoy my son.  I wake up and he's eight months old and I can't remember when he first grabbed at a toy or sat up.  I do, however, remember the first time he rolled over.  It was the night before I sent him away with his dad while I created some geese.

That moment will forever be locked in someone else's quilt and I will never forget it.

Wordless Wednesday

Wordless Wednesday

Summer Break

Hi!  Ariel and I are going to soak up the last days of summer by taking a hiatus from this blog for a month or so.  You can still follow us at Queen City Stitcher and Chronicles of a Reluctant Housewife, if we decide posting isn't unbearable in the heat.

See you in the fall!

Packed away

This time last year I wrote about the B*tch Block. The first block of my first quilt.

How excited and inspired and motivated was I back then?  In two weeks I would find out that my life would forever change.

Today I packed away the squares I cut two weeks ago. They sat untouched for too long, mocking me. I have no idea when, or if, I will get back to them. It is one of the many parts of me that are being packed away for awhile. I think that is the hardest part (after the sleep deprivation), temporarily losing the things that made me, me.

I no longer have time to write, or run, or quilt, or practice yoga, or even dry my hair.

I will try to keep writing here, but it will not be about my own quilting adventure for awhile yet.  I may have been too ambitious to think I could return so soon.

Squares

Prepare yourself.

This quilt is going to drag on and on.  Gone are the days of feverishly cutting and piecing, getting lost in the fabric and calmly hand-stitching while watching TV.

It took me a week to cut the pieces for this small quilt.  I have no idea how long it will take to actually piece it together.  I'm not sure how much I can wax on about the incremental steps each week, but I'll try to keep it somewhat interesting.

As I said last week, this is a quilt for Pruin's best friend down the road.  It seemed only fitting that Pruin help.  Of course he couldn't do much more than babble his agreement or criticism from his spot on the floor next to me, but at least I don't feel guilty about neglecting my son while I try to do something unrelated to his upkeep.

During last week's heatwave we camped out on the floor (where is was coolest) and cut out squares.  Despite picking out seven fabrics, I concentrated on the shirt given to me by my mama friend.  To my mind this is the centerpiece of the quilt so the other fabrics should act as compliments instead of stealing the show.

This decision made it easier to figure out how many squares I needed.  Actually, that makes it sound organized and intentional.  Really, I cut as much as I could out of the shirt and that is going to be enough.

I can't bring myself to plan the design.  I find I enjoy the quilting process a lot more when I just let it flow a bit.  Of course I have yet to follow a pattern so maybe I would enjoy the direction and structure (especially as my time is now limited) but there is something about the serendipity of working with 'non-traditional' fabrics.  I'm never quite sure how it's going to turn out but I find it makes the process just as satisfying as the end result.

Because the materials are somewhat wonky shapes I made templates to ensure I got every usable bit out of each shirt piece.  This doesn't always work.  I tend to slowly shave a bit off during each pass which means later pieces aren't the same size as earlier pieces.  I'm hoping it washes out in the seam allowance.

I am going for a Flying Geese pattern in this quilt.  This pattern has called to me since we started this venture so it seemed the right time to give it a go.  This is as close as I got to planning a design.  The design will come once the 'geese' are sewn together and I see what evolves.

Best Friends Forever

It begins.

Yesterday Pruin helped me pick out the fabric for his best friend's quilt.  I know they are a bit young, but his mom and I are carefully orchestrating this friendship.  They are even the stars of their own talk show.

We aren't pushy at all.

But just in case it does fall apart, this quilt will tell the story of their early days.  Before they got tired of their moms pushing them together.

This quilt is made up of fabric from Pruin's quilt, the Dino quilt, new fabric and a shirt from my mom friend.

Stories abound.

We're going for a flying geese pattern with this one.  I have wanted to attempt this pattern since we began the blog and now the time has come.  Of course there will still be an element of my trademark improvisation.
Mostly because too much planning requires a bit of quilt math and I really can't handle voluntary arithmetic.

Now if I could just get Pruin to help me cut and piece we would be golden.

...now take a vacation.

On the hottest day of the year (so far) I decided I would finish this quilt come hell or high water.  Or in this case, fussy baby or low bourbon.

The binding was already cut.  The next steps were easy.

-square up
-find a way to attach vinyl back to fabric front
-bind

Easy.

My machine had other ideas.

As I always do, I forged ahead without looking for advice on sewing vinyl.  (At some point I will learn, I promise.)  I thought the hardest part was going to be getting a needle through the layers.  Turns out vinyl is pretty easy to sew through.

If you can get it through your machine.

NEWSFLASH: Vinyl does not slide smoothly between the foot and the deck.  Think sweaty thighs on vinyl seats and you'll know what I was battling.

I managed to attach the layers by simply sewing the edges together. Rocket science, I know, but it was actually quite difficult. Not only did the vinyl not slide through the machine easily, it also was a real b*tch to manipulate outside the machine.  It doesn't fold or move easily so the weight of the rest of the quilt constantly pulled the edges out of the feeder dogs.
I moved on to attaching the binding and halfway through decided the only way this quilt was going to be finished was by hand.  My poor machine couldn't take much more.  It was literally falling apart from the effort.  The light bulb fell out during the third side.

Great idea in theory, poor execution in reality.

Once again, Emily came to the rescue with the suggestion of tissue paper or matte tape.  I went with tissue paper.  I covered the entire sewing deck with yellow tissue and took a first pass at 'stitching in the ditch.'

It worked.

The weight of the quilt still pulled at the feed causing some serious wonky stitch lines, but the vinyl slid through like a dream.

And just as Andy Murray finally won Wimbledon (Good job, son. Now take a vacation.) the quilt was finished.

Finally.

Good job, Ariel.  Now take a vacation.

Back in the Saddle

Happy 4th of July to the Americans out there.

This is the first year in the seven I have lived abroad I will be celebrating with a proper BBQ.  And by proper I mean with guests.  Usually Pete and I have a twosome of burgers and corn on the cob.  I wear red, white and blue and play some classic rock while we shiver on our back deck.  This year may be the same but at least we won't be alone.

But on the the quilting...

This week I managed to finally make some progress on the Dino Picnic.  I managed to cut out strips for binding.  It's a small step but considering I did it over the course of two baby naps I think it is major progress.  I even managed to clean up after myself.  I don't know if you appreciate what a big deal I consider this achievement.  

I believe I mentioned earlier that I purchased a pair of khakis for the binding.  My mother in law was a bit horrified I purchased clothing just to cut it up.  I explained they weren't new and I was fulfilling a bit of a mission for myself of always reusing where possible.  I don't know that she really understood (who does really?) but she was less horrified when I said I only spent £3.  Of course purchasing used trousers isn't really the same as using a pair I already have but let's not split hairs here. 

I was determined to get as much as I could out of these chinos. I went with a bit wider of strip than usual as I plan to 'stitch in the ditch' with this quilt and I want to be sure I have a wide enough binding to catch.  I went with three inch strips which left me with the waist band, pockets and a zipper. 

Actually, I'm thinking of trying to salvage the pocket lining fabric for a future project.  I'll keep you posted on that one.  After careful placement and trimming I ended up with a variety of lengths.

I have no idea if this will end up being enough so I wasn't going to waste any bits.  Next up is sewing them all together and hoping I have enough.  

All of this was done in relative silence.  Perhaps not remarkable to anyone else but a first for me.  Remember back at the beginning when I had a soundtrack and inspiration for each section of quilting?  How wonderfully organized and thoughtful of me.  This week I worked in relative silence so I could hear the baby waking.  Of course there was a weak soundtrack of the procedural crime dramas I left on the TV in the other room as white noise for the baby but that doesn't really count.  

Despite the silence, I found I was eerily efficient.  It's amazing what you can get done in 20 minutes when a baby could wake at any moment.  Let's hope the efficiency holds when I finally manage to get the sewing machine out of storage and get to work attaching the binding.  

My hope is to have the quilt done by the end of the month.  That may be ambitious seeing as I am working in 20 minute intervals every few days but it's worth a shot.  

Are there any new mums (or veteran mums) reading?  How do you manage sewing with a little one around?  Or am I courting disaster and heartache by trying to resume any hobby which can't be accomplished one-handed from the couch? 

Picnics over Duvets

Remember when I started the Dino Picnic quilt I said I had another project in mind for my next project?

I temporarily forgot about that project.  I'm not sure when I will get back to it.  It requires a lot of attention and planning and improvising and I'm not sure I have that brain power.  I have also fallen into a trap of purchasing new fabric.  I have quite a stash building up and for some reason it seems easier to use these and create some HSTs than to create a pattern on my own with improvised materials.

I'm giving myself a pass on that 'other project' as it is for a duvet cover and while we do still have a duvet on the bed, courtesy of the great London summer, it is not the season for duvets.  It is the season for picnics.  Chilly, damp picnics, but picnics still.

That means that I need to actually try and get these quilts done at some point before picnic season disappears and it's time for duvets again.


Which brings me to the where of quilting.  I've pretty much decided I need to move out of the dining room since I don't have time to clean up after myself every time I get time to sew.  Our guest room is currently quite crowded but I think I might be able to find some space in there for my sewing station, at least until the next set of guests arrive.

In keeping with my tradition of re-using materials I have asked my 'clients' to provide a piece of clothing or what-have-you for their quilt and I would pick pieces from my growing stash based on their contribution. I can't wait to see what they give me to work with and hear its story.

The prospect of working with someone else's story is daunting but very appealing.  It is one of the reasons I started this blog (and hobby) and I can't wait to see how their story and mine work side by side. What will I learn from them or about myself?  How will my 'skills' develop with this quilt?  What will I carry on to the next?

It will be a longish journey, but I am excited to start.

Wordless Wednesday

Developmental Stages

I finished those last four lines of hand-quilting.  I even managed to cut the vinyl for the back.

I haven't found a way to attach the vinyl just yet.  Fabric glue didn't work.

I have found some fabric for the binding.  A pair of pleated khakis I found at my local charity shop.

Last week Pruin and I had a nice schedule going and I was optimistic we might find some time to get the front and back together.  This week he is going through a 'developmental stage' and all schedules have gone out the window.

I have, however, got two commissions for baby quilts made out of scraps and old clothes.  How I will get these out before Christmas, I'm not sure.  Actually, I've told them not to expect them before Christmas.


I did find time to make a slipcover for a pillow.  By hand.  Pruin had two unexpected morning naps and I managed to whip something up in-between checks of the baby monitor.

I find I don't have much time for anything beyond the needs of my 5 week old squirmer.  I don't miss most of those 'anythings.'  However, I do miss my quilting.  I never saw myself as a crafter, but there is something about figuring out fabric and pattern that makes me feel a bit more human.  This very traditional past time makes me feel less trapped in the cycle of babycare.  Much like finding time to iron and clean and make dinner make me feel a bit more competent.  With all the uncertainty of Pruin, accomplishing these small tasks keeps despair at bay.  These are problems I know how to solve and there is a sense of achievement when done; a clean counter, smooth shirts, a meal that doesn't come in a box.  Things are not so straight forward with Pruin.  Thus far, my only reward is contented silence.

But with quilting there is a tangible reward.  I have yet to figure out how to grab moments of cutting and piecing.  I don't have a dedicated sewing area and Pruin goes from sleeping/content to desperately needing attention in seconds.  Leaving everything out on the dining room table for hours/days is not really an option currently.

For now I have to be content with unfolding and folding the fabric pieces in-between cries and diapers changes.  In a week I should have managed to cut some binding.  I suspect sewing it will take much longer.

One Month

It's been a month.  Thanks for your patience.

I didn't finish the Dino Picnic quilt before Pruin arrived.  In the last month I managed to quilt two lines.  I have at least four more.  I had initially planned some more hand-quilting, I may rethink these plans.

I'm hoping to be back in this space from here on out, but let's not hold our breath.  I'm writing this with one hand while the other one holds a little man squirming on the boob.

We are slowly finding a routine and I may be able to find more time to work on the Dino Quilt and other projects.


We have been enjoying the quilt Emily made for us. So far it has made appearances in Greenwich Park, London Zoo, IKEA and many living rooms.


That's it for now.  I hope to see you here next week with some progress.

Sew it would seam

Hand-quilting again.

And again, the lines don't quite match with the seams so I'm improvising.

Actually, in that photo the seams are pretty good.
One of these days I will master the quilting/seam match-up.

To be fair to myself, the vertical seams are true and that's where I chose to begin the hand-quilting treatment.  The horizontal seams suggest a lack of planning/measuring. I'm not sure if the same hand-quilting treatment will hide the issue or make it even more noticeable.

To be honest, this bit has taken quite awhile and isn't always pretty.  More of this might just clutter things up a bit.

And I still have to figure out how to attach the vinyl backing.


Good thing we aren't picnic-ing anytime soon.

Lessons learned

Well.  I called it.

I finished the top in three days.  It would have been two, but I forced myself to slow down.

Interesting tidbit from the construction which I did not encounter in the other quilts; when designing and cutting, add ~10% to the overall size of the quilt.  When I laid out all my blocks for this quilt, it measured 46" x 52".  When I finished construction, it measured 41" x 47".  I lost five inches all the way around.  I basically lost an entire row and column to seam allowance. Needless to say, the quilt is a bit smaller than I intended.

Lesson learned.  



This past weekend I bought the backing and the wadding.  The backing was an easy trip to the haberdashery department.  The wadding was a different story.  I had it delivered and the postman had an issue with ringing my doorbell to actually deliver the goods.

Apparently, there was a dog in front of our house which kept him from ringing the bell and delivering said packet.  However, the dog didn't prevent him from taking time to write out this card and stick it through the mail slot IN MY FRONT DOOR.  The mail slot which is just beneath the doorbell.  I ask you.

So, yesterday, on my due date, I walked a mile down the hill to the depot, picked up my wadding, and walked a mile back up the hill (and Pruin still hasn't made an appearance) because the postman was too scared to walk past this 'dog' to ring the bell, but was okay walking past it to stuff this note, along with junkmail, through my door.  FYI, we don't have a dog.

Anyway...

All that's left now is assembly.



Coincidentally, I cracked the code on how I could justify to myself the use of all these new materials when my brief is to re-use stuff.  I know you were all really concerned with this breach of procedure but rest assured I have a solution.

In the spirit of lessons learned, I am planning to re-use a technique I kind of 'made-up' in my first quilt.  I learned something in my first quilt that I am going to purposefully re-do here with similar, yet different, results.  Obviously, this happens in every quilt I make to some degree.  We're always learning from what we have done previously, whether we realize it or not, but here I am very consciously pulling on a very specific technique.

Coincidentally again, this justification aligns really well with some theoretical arguments I made in my doctoral thesis three years ago about the passing on of performance skills.  I won't lie.  It's a little bit comforting all that theoretical work isn't going completely to waste.

That's all fine and dandy (I hear you saying) but what is the technique?  What is the relevance?

If you recall, I only quilted the back side of my t-shirt quilt.  This was due to the two sides being completely different designs and not wanting to obscure the t-shirts on the front half but wanting to add some visual interest to the huge blocks of offending florescent colour on the back.  This time around I am also only quilting one side of the quilt.  I will quilt the top and leave the back untouched.

Here's why.  The back of this quilt is to be made of vinyl.  Sounds kinky, but it is for a specific purpose.  This quilt is earmarked as ground cover for Pruin when we head to the park this summer.  If you have any experience with the 'great British summer' you will know that the ground can be counted upon to be damp more often than not.  So I am making the back of this quilt wipeable/waterproof.  To that end, I don't want to put holes in the vinyl with quilting.

I'm also not completely confident in my machine's ability to stitch vinyl.  The final part of assembly may have to occur at my local sewing shop's quilting club where I can utilize their equipment and expertise.  Which again, will offer the opportunity to learn a skill/technique and make it my own in this particular quilt.


The quilt may be made of all new materials but that just makes the passing on of technique and skill and performance that much clearer.  With this quilt the story isn't in the fabric or in the future memories.  From the lesson of seam allowance to one-sided quilting to using a new machine, this quilt's story is about the discovery and re-using and re-honing of skill and technique.

Loopy HSTs

Pregnancy is making me loopy!

It turns everything inside out and backwards.

Yesterday I cut out and sewed together 80-some HSTs (half square triangles) and they are now hanging on my wall as I contemplate their layout.

That isn't backwards in, and of, itself.  What's backwards is that it is all shop-bought, new fabric.

 
*SHOCK & HORROR*


I have gone off the reservation (and my blogging brief) and started creating a quilt with all new fabric.  I was like a machine.  No deliberation about meaning or practical use (although I do have a specific use in mind for this one) just assembly line triangle creation.

This wasn't even the project I planned to start next.  It's a complete anomaly.

I did make a token gesture of going through my stash of old clothes and textiles in a half-hearted attempt to stick to my brief.  I knew it was futile.  These prints were calling to me and there was nothing for it.

I blame my unemployment, really.  If I was on actual maternity leave I would inevitably have a list of projects and books and chores and TV shows I had been waiting to catch-up with in the weeks leading up to 'the arrival.'  As it is, all such 'catch-up' activities have been done for weeks, months, maybe even years, as I have been unemployed for 2+ years now.  I have very little to fill my days as I wait for Pruin to make an entrance.

In these last few weeks, when every twinge or tightening sends me into 'this is it' mode, I need distractions.  I have already re-read every book in the house and re-watched every TV series and movie in our collection.

Why not start a quilt?  I don't have the stuff I need for the backing or the wadding or the binding.  All three of which will probably end up also being store-bought and new.  And at the rate I'm going with this thing I will probably have the top done in a day or two, as long as my machine holds out.  It's been a bit sputtery as of late.

What's the next step?  Do I start ordering the supplies for the rest or do I leave it until the top is finished   If the top is finished and I still have a week to go before Pruin arrives what will fill my days?  How do I redeem this anomaly in terms of my 're-use it' brief?


Loopy still, but loopy and distracted.
 

Binding my time

It's our 100th post!!!

To celebrate this momentous occasion I thought I would write about something really special.  Something really near and dear to the quilters' heart.

Binding.

That's right.  Binding.

I told you it was special.


Recently, I felt as though I unlocked the secret of binding.  In my first two projects I fumbled through this finishing technique, never really feeling I was doing it right.  In hindsight, anything that kept the edges together and neat would be considered 'right.'  But at the time I felt very aware of there being a proper way to bind and  that I wasn't quite getting it right.

With the t-shirts, I was confident I could figure it out just by studying the machine-made quilt on my bed and combining that with my new-found skills, after piecing together both the front and back panels.

Luckily, before I dove in, I consulted the hive mind that is the internet quilting community, and its many tutorials, and saved myself from what was on course to being an 'interesting' improvised solution.  I shutter to think of the melt-down I so nearly succumbed to had I went about my 'confident' business.

With that particular project, and projects since, I have harboured a bit of a stubborn streak about taking advice from other quilters or leaning on tutorials from popular blogs.

While binding Pruin's quilt, I had a bit of an embarrassing epiphany.  One of the reasons we began this blogging adventure in particular was to utilize the collective knowledge of the quilting community.  To experiment and document how this particular knowledge and skill set is passed along and how it mutates with each use.

I wanted to collect stories about how one learned to quilt, with the expectation that within that learning process would always be a link to the skill being passed along tangibly in some way.  Yet, I was refusing to allow myself to learn from others' experience and generosity, be it virtual or tangible.  I was going to figure it out myself, dammit.

But with Pruin's quilt, I wanted to do it 'right.'  I was not satisfied with my earlier attempts and I didn't want to but that frustration and doubt into this particular quilt.  There was enough of those emotions coming in the future.  I wanted this piece to be a bit about my growing confidence as a quilter as well as my ability to compromise.  I had let myself use store bought fabric, why not let myself use pre-packaged knowledge in the form of a tutorial as well.

I sought out five different tutorials online and read them each numerous times.  Comparing the techniques, noticing how each quilter approached corners and finishing a bit differently.  Critiquing the teaching quality of the accompanying text and photos.  Finally combining the wisdom of two tutorials, I bound Pruin's quilt.  And while my hand-finishing mojo still takes at least a half length to get going, I felt very satisfied and proud of the result.

I hadn't reinvented the wheel. I reached out to the community and expertise to learn a new skill.  But I also allowed myself to mutate that skill, or at least the learning of it, a tiny bit by combining the five tutorials' advice with my own confidence and skill level.

The satisfaction I get from Pruin's quilt, despite its uneven joins and quilting (which visually is a step back compared to my t-shirts), is not just from the simple fact that I completed it but also because I completed it with the assistance of my quilting community.  I learned something and that story and skill is now as much a part of the quilt as the story of shirts of which it is made.


Do you remember your first binding?