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African
Birds Quilt
80" x 70" •
cotton top and backing, cotton backing • 07.09.05
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07.01.05
African
Fabrics Quilt
I'm in Minnesota this week, spending time with my Grandma Shirley
while my mom, stepdad, aunt and uncle take a trip to Canada.
Their trip was planned before my Grandma's Parkinsons diagnosis.
I've got a few to-dos each day to help Grandma, but nearly the
whole day is open for projects and watching movies with Grandma.
But knowing I'm a craftaholic, I brought projects. Surprise,
surprise. One is a quilt made from African Dutch Wax prints
I've collected over the years, and some scraps my friend Amihan
gave me from her Peace Corps days.
The
plan was to bring my African prints with me and buy complimentary
solids once I get to Minnesota. Looking at the pile of fabrics,
I felt I could use some more prints. I found a bunch of great
prints from St.
Theresa Textile Trove. I ordered them Monday and had them
sent to Mom's house, and was delighted to arrive in Minnesota
Thursday, after my fabrics. Here's some of the prints:
Tonight, I took the prints and sliced and diced then into pieces.
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07.02.05
African
BIRD Quilt
After
realizing how many feathered friends were in my prints, I'm
now referring to this as my African Bird Quilt. And yep, I plan
on keeping this one for myself. Today was that irony of quilting
- taking big pieces of fabric and making it into small pieces
to make it into a big piece of fabric again. Some chunks put
together.
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07.03.05
Pieces of a Fabric Puzzle
Today
was a productive day. I got a bunch of panels for the African
Bird quilt assembled:
I interrupt the panels, to tell a story. My mom has always been
a seamstress. I learned a lot from her - in my memory more from
proximity and experimentation with fabric and her machine than
specific lessons. Grandma was sitting with me while I was arranging
pieces and tearing up fabric. She smiled at me and said, "Okay,
Bobbie." Teasing me for being like my mom, Bobbie. She told
me how mom never liked using patterns. She said, "Once she bought
lingerie fabric, laid it out on the floor and just starting
cutting, and made herself clothes." I can't say I'm quite that
freewheeling, but I generally use existing clothes as a guide
and rarely use a real honest-to-goodness pattern. I think that's
why I love making quilts and stuffed animals - I get to design
them on the fly. This quilt more than others. I am my mother's
daughter.
I also went to Joann's with Grandma and my sister Burgundy while
we were out today. Bought batting for the quilt. Bought 5 yards,
90 inches wide. It's probably overkill. Happily the Warm and
Natural, all cotton batting was HALF OFF. Yipee! And I love
how thin the batting is. And after getting the panels together,
I tore a bunch of strips and got them ready to make big, fat
stripes tomorrow morning...
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07.04.05
Happy Independence Day!
And being free and very independent, I felt free to spend a
huge chunk of the day quilting. First thing was to turn strips
into stripes:
This iron, my Grandma's has become my new best friend.
And
after loads of arranging, rearranging, sewing and filling in
holes, I got the top DONE! Woohoo!
I
worked on the quilt between my Grandma's living room and my
Mom's sewing room that is directly across the hall. I definitely
filled the living room floor with the top and had to move it
out to the main living room to take the pic.
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07.05.05
On the Flipside
Now that the top of the African Birds quilt is done, onto the
backing. It's went through three iterations:
Plan A = solid black cotton. Didn't buy any until I knew
what the quilt top size would be.
Plan B = I thought that I was going to have such a massive
amount of patchwork to us it for both the front and the back.
Once I got everything together, I realized I could do Plan B,
but I wouldn't have a very big quilt. Lap-sized, which is fine,
but I already made myself one supersnazzy lap quilt.
Plan C = An A & B combo. I looked at the fabric left over
and thought that I may have enough for the back... So, I began
cutting 7" squares out of the leftover prints and solids:
Ta da! The backing is just about 65% of the size of the top. That's
means I will get some black cotton to make up the rest. I think
it'll work well. Don't scruntize the photo too much - the arrangement
of the squares could have been better. But considering I was using
what was leftover and that I could use so much of it, I am pleased
with the results. Next, I'll add the borders to the back, then
the saftey-pin-fest begins! But that'll haveto wait until my sis
can take Grandma and I out for some shopping that'll include buying
the cotton. Probably/hopefully Thursday night. Onto the sundress
made from the yellow eyelet. Perhaps I'll get it done in time
for the dinner at Uncle Carl and Aunt Kathy's tomorrow night.
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07.0.05
A Basting I Will Go
The backing is done. Had to use Plan D, since I didn't make it
the fabric store to get the black cotton for the rest of the back.
I used the last of the yellow and black print and the yellow solid
fabric. Not bad. I laid the backing, the batting and the top flat
out on the living room floor and got to holding it all together
with safety pins. Oh so boring to do, but a neccessary evil. I'm
using Warm and Natural 100% cotton batting. This is niiiiiice
stuff. It's super thin. Back to pinning...
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07.08.05
Finito!
Wish I new the word "done" in some African language.
I do not.
I
got all of the quilting and the binding done. The quilting was
fairly easy, thanks to that thin, lovely, cotton batting. My
love of quilting is much more about the designing and making
the top; not so much about the quilting. In this case since
98% of the pieces are at rght angles, I just quilted in straight
lines at (nearly) right angles. First, I did lines about 6 inches
apart. (the Warm and Natural says that the quilt stitch lines
can be up to 10" apart. Wow.) Just horizontals and verticals.
Then I just went back in taking all sorts of turns. Fairly easy.
Then
I threw it in the wash. I am of the school that buys good cotton
and doesn't pre-wash it. When the whole thing is done, I throw
it on in the wash on warm or hot so that the whole darn thing
gets nice and broken in and crinkly and stuff. Mmmm, that's
a good time. Here it is just before the wash.
I
was giddy when if was in the washer and dryer - eager to see
it DONE.
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Later
that night...
Oh
my goodness. It is superb! I am delighted with the result! |
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