Because 2 days is never enough.

I have been enjoying the process of quilting so much more than I had expected. Before I started, when quilting was my fake hobby (along with rockclimbing) and I sat around imagining what I would do, I had envisioned quilting to be a lot of planning and fractions and perfectionism. I thought I would like it for the product. But there’s an element of discovery to it which has been really fun and unexpected. And last night, I finally discovered what my quilt is going to look like.
As I mentioned in a previous post, I have been thinking a lot about how I write, starting out with some general idea, maybe a character or a scene or a conversation and writing out from there, surprising myself as a plot, a developed character, and ending come into place.

And I realize, this is what I love about cooking, and drawing, and pottery, and even developing projects at work - the blind stumbling, the uncertainty, and then, just around a corner finding that you actually made something you love. Of course, the risk in this is that you can also make plenty of things you hate, and I have piles of embarrassing short stories, lumpy mugs, inedible meals, terrible sweaters, and general craft failures for each victory.

Anyway, it’s probably still too early to declare the quilt a victory. But last night, I pieced together the top and I really love it. It looks NOTHING like what I thought I would make when I signed up for the class. And it looks nothing like what I imagined I might do once I bought the fabric. And it looks nothing like what I was ready to put together when I finished the first big pieces last week (which was overwhelming and terrible and looked like it would belong to someone with a houseboat or a water bed). And that, “nice to meet you, stranger” feeling is, I guess, the fun and astonishing part.

Fabric and tools:

Strips ready to get sewn together:

Squares:

Rows:

Quilt top all assembled (bad lighting, late at night):

Next up is the ultra-laborious hand quilting part of the project.

I’ll probably report back in a year.