my sil casually mentioned how much her son loves to look at the map fabric on the back of his placemat that i made for him, and wouldn't it be nice if he had a full sized map : ) that was my cue to make him one. so i decided to make one for him and his brother to share. since i was at it, why didn't i make one for my great-nephews to share too.
"boy my quilting's all over the map lately" hee hee hee. couldn't resist.
these quilts were yesterday's project in between fixing meals and laundry. it was nice to quilt something smaller, but my quilting got a little squirrelly with no guidelines. i really like the solid backings. i used contrasting thread so that it would stand out more. near the end of the second quilt, i ran out of bobbin thread. i was too lazy to wind another, and i heard tim gunn's "make it work people" and just used what i had. then that one ran out. ha! so then i used another color to finish.
while working on these quilts, i had plenty of time to think about quilting. one thought was about perfection in quilting. i've blogged about this before, and i've seen several other bloggers post about it recently too. for me, there are two types of quilts: show quilts and quilts that get used. i would be more concerned by perfectionism if i knew that a quilt was going to hang in a show or be published in a book and if i was following a pattern that had precise points and corners. just because i'm not concerned about perfectionism doesn't mean i'm a shoddy sewer. i sew a good 1/4" seam, quilt with a good sized stitch, and put on a secure binding.
i'm mostly a liberated, free piecing quilter. i've only shown one quilt in a local show. and if i show more, it will be to show that even if we aren't perfect and precise, we can still produce a beautiful, liberated quilt.
i make quilts that are meant to wallow with the kids and the occasional dog on the couch, to snuggle a child in bed, to love and wear out. i like to say that i don't make perfect, show quilts - i make snuggle-on-the-couch-awesome quilts.
5 comments:
Great explanation! In my opinion, the best quilts are those that most accurately reflect the personality of the quilter!
cool map quilts!
I agree, the best quilts are the ones that are cherished and loved, and used ;)
My mother has done a bunch of those quilts. She used the world map fabric too. She gave them to children in the family to encourage them to travel.
I find I am much happier sewing gifts for loved ones, who will be totally happy with a quilt for the love that is in it, not whether the seams matched perfectly. I am also very much in favor of free piecing and experimenting with fabric. So much fun!
Snuggle on the couch,awesome, indeed! And Gwen Marston says the same thing...make it work, just add something else! Gotta love it!!
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