well. I can't be perfect all the time.
The other night I had a few sips of scotch and frogged that sweater all the way down to the ribbing. I'm about 4" back up the main body, this time doing those slipped stitches correctly and it's much, much better.
Daniel and I are making a quilt. He saw that I had unearthed a quilt project that is more or less a hodgepodge of flannel squares and decided he wanted to make one for himself. So he pulled out every piece of fabric he could find that he liked and said "Let's use all these!" because he is 7 and likes everything bright and fun and of course it all looked horrible together, like a clown barfed all over an antique bathrobe and then wore it over patched corduroys.
Sigh. I want to encourage his creativity but I also don't want to go to a lot of work piecing together things that just don't look good together, so we set some limits on the fabric choice. I had him choose the one thing he really liked best, which was a large and very bright piece of yellow flannel. Then I found a whole bunch of leftover plaids from PJ pants I've made for him over the last couple of years and cut a gazillion squares out of it.
The next task, which fell entirely to Daniel, was to figure out how to arrange these squares. We printed out a 1"x1" grid on paper and he got to work with some yellow, red, blue and green crayons and came up with a really cool design, which we imitated more or less below when we arranged the fabric squares on the floor:
I'm not sure what to try next. I'm not using my machine again. Hand quilting would take forever. I could tie it in all the corners, but that wouldn't look as nice. Maybe some combination of the two?
I'm going to sleep on it. But first, I have to check out the new Twist Collective.
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Sigh. I want to encourage his creativity but I also don't want to go to a lot of work piecing together things that just don't look good together, so we set some limits on the fabric choice. I had him choose the one thing he really liked best, which was a large and very bright piece of yellow flannel. Then I found a whole bunch of leftover plaids from PJ pants I've made for him over the last couple of years and cut a gazillion squares out of it.
The next task, which fell entirely to Daniel, was to figure out how to arrange these squares. We printed out a 1"x1" grid on paper and he got to work with some yellow, red, blue and green crayons and came up with a really cool design, which we imitated more or less below when we arranged the fabric squares on the floor:
He is very proud of that yellow diamond pattern going on in the center. He also insisted that the pieces all be arranged symmetrically. He and I are living proof, you see, that creativity and a type A personality can coexist in one person.
I pieced the thing in one go on Sunday morning, and then together we pinned the backing on, which is this thick chenille novelty fabric I found at Hancock's last week. It's soft and warm and this way I don't have to layer any batting. I'm a little concerned about the shedding factor, but I'm committed now.
Unfortunately, the quilting part is eluding me. For the first attempt, I put the walking foot on my machine and tried to stitch down the length of the quilt, but it got all bunchy and awful, so I gave up and spent an entire hour picking out the stitches. You can see in the picture below how the flannel pulled all funny when I was sewing it. Yuck.
I'm not sure what to try next. I'm not using my machine again. Hand quilting would take forever. I could tie it in all the corners, but that wouldn't look as nice. Maybe some combination of the two?
I'm going to sleep on it. But first, I have to check out the new Twist Collective.
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