Coming down from Shangri-La: my stress quilt
I planned this project before my crazy month began, as a sort of meditation, but it has become much more than that. I cut up hundreds of tiny pieces of fabric before I went up to Wesleyan to help Ez finish up his last semester and sewed on his bed, in numerous hotel rooms, on the plane, in the waiting room, after I got home, during spare moments on graduation weekend, then in libraries and more hotels as I killed time waiting for my Yale reunion to start, then when I got home before Hannah arrived to do wedding errands. By then I had finished this top and started another - and the second one is done now, too. I did them both by hand, one stitch at a time, and now I'm hand-quilting them. I have this excellent hoop I got at the Goodwill for $2.98 and am slowly, slowly stitching my way across the "flimsy." My stitches are not neat or small, but I start each one with the intention of making it as well as I can. The project makes a fine companion to silence.
Labels: art
by melinama @ 11:14 AM
5 comments
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5 Comments:
Wow Jane. Impressive. I've always thought about hand sewing a quilt, but you are the first person I've ever known who has actually DONE IT!
What a fabulous idea. You can actually quilt on the move, without a big frame, etc. Kind of like making a mandala, but not as gritty. Thank you for sharing this great idea!
I'm amazed at your feat! I come from a family of quilters and the last one to do a quilt by hand was my grandmother when she was a child. I have one of her hand-quilted masterpieces and I will treasure it always. It would not even occur to me to attempt what you have done. Kudos!!
What a pretty quilt! Hand-quilting is very soothing. I don't hand piece, though. Ack! I salute you!
Don't worry about your quilting stitch size or perfection. A quilt made with heart is by far better than a "perfect" quilt. Yours will be used and loved, and that is more important.
:-)
Melinama~~You are an amazing Renaissance woman . You can do ANYTHING . My husband's maternal grandmother [his Mammy] made quilt tops for our two daughters when they were born with this warning ''Don't use them. Put them away.'' Ah yes, perfect PA. Dutch advice. I paid Mammy and the other church ladies to quilt them at their weekly quilting session in the church social hall. Mammy cautionned me that ''the women are old so some of the stitches aren't good.'' Mammy was about 88 at the time.
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