An Actual Needlecraft Project

I finally took a quilting class in February at Purl Patchwork. This is still surprising to me because I have never been much of one to actually sew items. Knitting, yes, but finishing, always put off. But Purl just has such great fabrics and fun projects on their blog that I couldn't help myself. All of the years of my wonderful Grandmother doing all of my projects for me while I "helped" (watched and chatted) and of my husband's Grandmother giving me quilting books which sat, unused, on my crafting shelf, were now a thing of the past. I decided to DO it.

Not that I hadn't tried...

I have one quilt that I started with my Grandmother at least 6 years ago. I picked the fabrics and the pattern, based on a quilt that I saw at anthropologie which was too expensive for my college student budget and she sewed it all together for me. Then I started to quilt. I had an elaborate plan of a flowery pattern in between the printed patterns on the fabric (I'll post about this quilt more specifically later) of which I did one repetition and then never worked on the quilt again.

Last year I saw a quilt in Joelle Hoverson's (Purl again! You'd think I'm obsessed. . . ) apartment in an article in my beloved Blueprint which inspired another quilt in me (I'll also post on this one later). Which also had lovely fabric picked for it and was pieced (this time by me) and then I started to quilt. But I put it down and never went back. Now I realize that what was happening was that I didn't know what I was doing and was afraid of ruining these quilts that were, up until the quilting, turning out exactly as I'd envisioned. Which so rarely happens with handmade things.

And so now I've taken a class and I do feel like I actually know what I'm doing (thanks Cassandra!) and that I'm not ruining the project. And what have I done? I've started yet another quilt. . .

But that's just me. So this one is for my husband. I have a vision of his one day having a nice, big study, where he can write and where there will be a sleeper-sofa for our frequent houseguests (who currently have to sleep on an air matress in the dining room -- I guess that's the price for free lodging in the NYC area). And this quilt is to be a throw on that sofa / an extra blanket for the guests.

He likes muted colors. I tend to some that are a bit brighter but I think that this one looks like him. This fabric on the back (which is a repro 1800's fabric which happens to look very art deco) especially looks like his decorating taste to me. And I'm having a LOT of fun with this quilt the print idea. I don't have to make up a quilting pattern or even follow piecing lines! I just go along the pattern already printed there for me. This has the added benefit of making the print look more dimensional.

And I think it looks pretty appropriate from the front as well. I'm just glad that my camera isn't good enough for you to see the uneven stitches. But it's handmade, right?