Quilting

Lately I've been toying with the idea of quilting. It would let me collect fabric, play with it, touch it, sew it. Match colors and never have to fit anything. I've been lurking around some web sites, reading threads and downloaded a couple of simple patterns to start piecing. I was thinking of using up some scraps and giving my sewing a new twist.

Well, friends, THAT'S over and done. About a year ago my dog tore a hole in our bed quilt. It's not a handmade heirloom or anything - it was from Eddie Bauer when they had the home department. But I really do like it and the bed looks nice with it on with the rest of the ensemble. I'd tried to stitch up the hole. Not huge, and no fabric was missing though some of the stuffing is gone. Anyway, I'd hand stitched it back together without taking it off the bed. It really didn't do well and hold up well, either. And it's right where I aways sit to watch TV. So, this morning while my sheets were in the laundry I pulled the quilt off the bed and drug it my sewing room. I Stitchwitcheried the rip, then machine "quilted" it back together. Not perfect, but it will do.

But I did realize while I was wallowing in all that fabric, dragging it around, stuffing it through the harp, pulling it into position, rolling over with my chair, snagging the backing, blah, blah, blah that quilting just isn't for me. That even piecing it would start to get large and cumbersome and I just didn't like messing with it. Now I know that repair work isn't the same as creating - I've replaced my share of buttons and fixed hems - but working with that amount of fabric is just not for me.
This is my MIL's handiwork. All hand pieced and quilted. She has more patience than I. She calls it "Widow's Trouble" and pieced it when she was still a child.