Quilting

Yesterday I started a new project. Quilting. Over the years I've learned how to sew, knit, crochet, do embroidery, needlepoint and cross stitch, and have made everything from tiny doll clothes to huge comforters, but this will be my first time trying the quilt thing. My great and loyal friend, Catherine, has encouraged me to try this, and after seeing her wonderfully organized quilting room full of fabrics and supplies, not to mention her finished and in-progress quilts, I couldn't resist giving it a go. Even so, it has taken a long time for this project to grow legs and get started down the path. I've lurked around a couple quilting shops, not knowing what I'm looking for nor what I'm looking at, but fascinated nonetheless. Along the way I've picked up a cutting mat, a couple sizes of quality, razor-sharp fabric cutters, some patterns with detailed instructions and some fabric.

Finding myself between knitting projects, I dug out all that stuff, did some math, laid out my ideas on graph paper, and finally started cutting some squares. After a few stacks of fabric had piled up, I decided that I had gone beyond the fun part. It seemed like such a mindless effort, all that precise cutting. The next step would be to sew all those pieces together (more precision work, and likely to be frustrating considering my tendency to decide that close enough was good enough). Maybe the math part and the choosing fabrics part were the only best parts?

We'll see. Today I lay out the squares in the pattern I constructed, stack them up in rows, and finally start sewing. Maybe tomorrow I'll have a picture to post. One thing for sure, I'm going to have to put some music on to keep me awake. Right now it looks like a pretty boring exercise. :(