I accidentally a new craft
Oct. 1st, 2018 10:03 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kendiefoxIn a fit of I don't know what, I hit Joanne's for quilting supplies and made great progress on a cat mat quilt top. I think I want to add one more strip to attempt to balance things a bit, but then again, maybe I just want to finish the project and say I did a thing. Then I can take those new and dusted-off skills and apply them toward something else.
And that's a bit of a lie. I do know what prompted this craftspiration. My grandmother recently passed and she was the quilter in the family. But I was thinking last week, after the funeral, that it was a shame that there wouldn't be any more family quilts. That my niblings wouldn't have that same feeling of wrapping up in a quilt made specifically for them by someone who loves them. And I looked at the knitting on my coffee table, looked at my hands, and had a revelation. I can learn how to quilt. So I made that Joanne's run (came out of there just under $25!) and started cutting squares.
As I get into this project, the more I realize I had some idea about how quilts are made. After all, I did spend a lot of my summers reading Archie comics in her sewing room. I suppose I picked up more than I realized; I can see where I went wrong, what I should have done, and that there's no real fix. Once it's cut, it's cut. I doubt the kitties will mind too much, and the skill acquisition is worth the mistakes made along the way.
I was still rejecting anything that whiffed of homemaking the last time she was able to offer to teach me (about 15 years ago, before her dexterity was completely shot), so I turned my nose up on a lot of knowledge, but I do know I'm far kinder to myself about mistakes than I was then. And she never did have much patience for novice fumblings. She'd been quilting since she was a small sprout so she didn't really remember the learning process and how difficult it can be the first several times.
Oh dear. I need to reorganize my apartment and make room for quilting supplies. Well, I've been meaning to clear out the closet anyway. New storage tubs!
And that's a bit of a lie. I do know what prompted this craftspiration. My grandmother recently passed and she was the quilter in the family. But I was thinking last week, after the funeral, that it was a shame that there wouldn't be any more family quilts. That my niblings wouldn't have that same feeling of wrapping up in a quilt made specifically for them by someone who loves them. And I looked at the knitting on my coffee table, looked at my hands, and had a revelation. I can learn how to quilt. So I made that Joanne's run (came out of there just under $25!) and started cutting squares.
As I get into this project, the more I realize I had some idea about how quilts are made. After all, I did spend a lot of my summers reading Archie comics in her sewing room. I suppose I picked up more than I realized; I can see where I went wrong, what I should have done, and that there's no real fix. Once it's cut, it's cut. I doubt the kitties will mind too much, and the skill acquisition is worth the mistakes made along the way.
I was still rejecting anything that whiffed of homemaking the last time she was able to offer to teach me (about 15 years ago, before her dexterity was completely shot), so I turned my nose up on a lot of knowledge, but I do know I'm far kinder to myself about mistakes than I was then. And she never did have much patience for novice fumblings. She'd been quilting since she was a small sprout so she didn't really remember the learning process and how difficult it can be the first several times.
Oh dear. I need to reorganize my apartment and make room for quilting supplies. Well, I've been meaning to clear out the closet anyway. New storage tubs!
