I'm not Blue today, but I will be blue for months.
Especially while working on this quilt.
Six years ago I started a quilt by hand. A dear friend, I met on the internet, from Australia was visiting. This was to begin my interest in hand piecing. She taught me the fundamentals of hand piecing and explained how she could hand piece faster than people machine piece. She could! She was amazing. All her quilts were handmade from start to finish. I watched her hand piece and decided I would have to take up the practice. After she left I looked for appropriate patterns to start a hand piece carry-a-long project.
The following is the story of that quilt. I wrote two blogs on it. It is still a top (I haven't decided how to quilt it). I thought I will have to make another so each grand child will have one. Hence the blue one above. Both quilts are made from my stash.
TREASURED TIME NOT TIME LOST
I finally put a hand project I have been working on for the better part of 6 years, up on the wall. I only work on this when I am waiting. Waiting endlessly for planes or doctors or any place else you have to hurry to just to find out you have to wait. I have recently started taking my project bag with me when I ride along in the car. Every where we go takes at least 30 minutes to get there and when I am not driving I am "Waiting". I've been wanting to speed this project up and to piece while I ride along fit the bill. I really get a lot done in that time.
The pattern for this quilt, I think I got from one of the Nickle Quilts books. It requires 4.5" colored squares, 2.5" X 4.5" colored rectangles,
1.5 inch white squares, and 2.5 inch white squares.
One of those sleepless nights I needed something quiet to do and reading didn't fit the bill. I decided to cut out a quilt. This pattern had been in the back of my mind for several years. I wanted a star quilt and didn't want to piece one that had all the points meeting in the center. This is why I picked this pattern. This was supposed to be a relaxing endeavor. Searching through the stash I found a white on white with a minuscule flower pattern on it. It looked like I had an adequate amount of fabric to complete the cutting (I squeaked through and over the years I have lost pieces and mis-cut when piecing, Now I will be hunting in the stash for a white which is close in pattern and value to replace the shortage.).
When I finished cutting all the white pieces and sat down to read the instructions (remember read the instructions all the way through first!) I realized all the 1 1/2 inch squares were to be attached and then trimmed to make the star points. I also realized how small these 1000 plus squares were, and thought, "There is no way I want to sew all these by machine, who am I kidding!" I put the project in a bag with a copy of the pattern (the pattern has since been lost). That was approximately 10 years ago.
I remembered the fabric pieces I had put away so many years ago. I had been in a 5 inch charm square swap for three years. Another influence was I was privileged to hear Pat Spath speak and take an afternoon work shop with her.
I decided the charm squares would be great to use for this. But I wanted some continuity to this quilt. I am a bit of a control freak. When I do a "pull the strip out of the bag and use it in a scrap quilt challenge", If I come across one that to me doesn't go with the one I pull out of the light bag, I throw one or the other back and draw till I get something that I like. You can see by the above photo I even had to have the 4 squares in each of the blocks be coordinated.
To "coordinate" things I decided all the sashing rectangles should be blue or read as blue. What made me finally hang the quilt blocks and pieces on the wall I needed to find out how many more blues I needed to finish the project (I was running out of rectangles). I am trying not to repeat any of the blue rectangles either. I don't think I have more than 10 blues left in the stash. With the blocks hung up it looks like I will need somewhere over 70 blues. At least now I will be able to re-look at the blues in the quilt to see which ones in the stash I haven't used yet.
I am thinking I am going to add another four block row to each row. I am not happy with the long skinny look of the quilt. If that is the case I will be needing I'll be needing possibly another 80 blues..unless I have mis-counted, which is entirely possible. Any one who knows me personally knows I am mathematically challenged, especially if it requires figuring with a gizmo.
One of the major things I have learned while working on this is; I should have never used a printed white on white. The dyes make the printed areas stiff and are very difficult to run a needle through and you can't do a running stitch of several stitches on the needle. It is too, too stiff. Next time I will pick a background fabric with a looser weave.
Each block of four blocks, represents more than an hour of time. Hanging on the wall I can see time which would have been lost. Writing this last sentence has had a side benefit; I have found the name of my quilt.
"TREASURED TIME"
Not only is it moments which would have been lost forever,
but I was thinking of a friend who I treasured the time I shared with her and treasure her.
The minutes spent with fabric in my hands,
Thinking of friends I have in many lands,
Not counting stitches, not counting the time,
The memories I see, they are all mine.
Each of them, joined as if they were a seam,
Blending the real world and the one in my dreams,
A crazy quilt made of many thoughts,
Of happiness and sadness, life has brought.
These quilts warm me in my mind,
They are there when I need them, any time,
I make another, there's no need to measure,
They are great for storing a memory I treasure,
TREASURED TIME, TIME REMEMBERED
I can't tell you how excited I am to be able to show you this quilt. It is still a top. I completed the top last night while we were watching the specials about 9/11. The hours spent on it I did not keep track of, which made me decide I am going to keep a diary with the one I began last night. Yes I began another one, but before I reveal the other one I will show you this one. The pictures aren't great but I couldn't wait (I will replace them with better ones when the camera battery is charged.)
The quilt top grew to be very large. I was unable to hang it on the wall because it was so heavy and being hand pieced I was worried the weight would pull out the stitches.
Here is "Treasured Time"
The top spread over a queen size bed.
The right side of the bed. The border is Jenny Beyer Eyelash (Navy) from her "Moonglow" pattern about 10 years ago (I used all but a couple of inches X 6 inches). It is 4 inches when finished. The squares are 4 inches finished. The drop on the side is about 24 inches.
The left side of the bed. You can't see it in the photos the navy border is on all 4 sides.
I haven't decided how I will quilt it yet. I was wanting to hand quilt it, but when I realized how large it had grown I am contemplating machine quilting it. I don't have a long arm but I do have a short arm, but I am not sold on the idea of pantographs on it. I do know I will not be using my home machine to quilt it!
You can use your stash even when you are waiting anywhere.
Your hands happily making a quilt to be treasured in time.
