A Labor of Love

Or “What I Do With Quilts When I’ve Made Them”

I’ve posted a couple of times here about quilting and people generally not appreciating handcrafted materials.  I love to quilt.  I love to play with fabrics, and colors, and create new things.  I like planning, cutting, piecing, pinning out the “sandwich”, quilting it.  While things may get tedious at points, I can’t say that there is anything about the process that I don’t like, or would pay someone else to do…

Ok, part of that last statement is because I am cheap… I’ll admit it…!

Despite the general populace not appreciating and/or wanting to pay for a quality, handcrafted quilt, there are indeed many people out there who appreciate the artistry of a quilt.

One of those people is Perry (whom I’ve mentioned here before).

In fact, shortly after he found out that I quilted, he said:

“Would you make me a quilt?”

Yeah, right….

That’s a HUGE request, from someone I didn’t know very well at the time.

However, it was also interesting… a MAN asking me to make a QUILT….

…!!

Then, several weeks later, I brought a quilt with me on an outing with Perry

Bringing a quilt somewhere is NOT unusual for me.  Due to a heart condition, I get COLD… constantly… consistently….  I even have a small flannel quilt that stays packed in a cute tote bag (that I also made) and gets carried to movie theatres.

Anyway, I brought a quilt – a blue one actually – with me to visit Perry.  I wound up leaving it there.  I can’t quite remember why; I don’t think he asked me too, or that I forgot it, I think it was just to have something there for wrapping up in should I need it.

This is the quilt.

Perry went ON and ON about the quilt.  It’s a simple design – squares….  Nothing fancy, nothing complicated.

I told him that it was NOT for him; my actual words included “that color scheme is not for you”.

That was in March.  Perry’s birthday was in June….

Hmmmm…..

I won’t make just anyone a quilt – there’s a lot of work, and a not insignificant expense involved. 

Quilting is something I love to do… but it is labor… so thus, a labor of love…. 

Perry APPRECIATED my quilts.

Perry asked me to estimate what I would sell the blue quilt for.  (Translation:  He understands the cost – both of materials and labor involved)

Ok, this became a no-brainer for me…. Perry DESERVED a quilt….

So, I set out to do that.  There were several things to consider and act upon

• Pattern
• Color
• Did I want to surprise him?

The last item was a resounding YES….  However, that decision brought on a whole ‘nother set of issues

• Can the Aspie girl keep a secret?
• How do I figure out a pattern he wants without asking?
• How do I figure out colors?

Solving for Pattern

Since Perry was fairly new to viewing my quilts and a lot of quilting in general, ferreting out information on what he wanted was pretty easy.   I started conversations with him about what he liked in patterns.  This came across as me simply sharing my hobby and trying to engage in conversations!

Stars became obvious

Then I questioned whether he liked a single star (Texas lone star, etc.), or many stars. 

He liked many stars. 

Ok…. There are lots of star patterns available

But I wanted something with a twist….

Oh, what to do….?

And then…..!

Somewhere on the interwebz, I found a picture of a lemoyn star done in a scrappy pattern.  It wasn’t simple; rather it had the star part pieced together from scrappy bits.

This would work.

I used my handy, dandy MS Visio program and created paper piecing templates for two different star blocks.

Plan A – make enough of those two stars to be a queen sized top.  No sashing – just the blocks together. 

Solving for Color

I’m not quite sure how the color scheme came to my mind.  I don’t remember exactly how/why I picked it, but it was perfect.  Also, somewhere along the line, I determined that I needed to make it “scrappy”.  I think that that was because of Perry’s fascination with the blue quilt and how seemingly unrelated fabrics pulled together and created a color “wash”.  I figured that he would appreciate the “order from chaos” with the scrappy fabrics.  It’s a technique that I think I do very well.

I dug through my fabrics and put together a pile of fabrics I thought would work and hauled it upstairs.  I laid them all out, and then culled them a bit.  Chris (husband) is fantastic with colors and gave his approval.

Then, I needed some sort of “approval” from Perry.  I didn’t want to put hundreds of hours into this project only to have it not be colors that he liked.

So, I sent him a picture.  This picture:

And I simply said something along the lines of “fabrics for a quilt”

He liked them…

Game on!

Cutting

The way that I prepare for paper piecing is to cut pieces the approximate size needed plus a generous seam allowance.  I cut them to basic shape, to eliminate that confusion of which way to turn the piece when it’s flipped and isn’t right.

Me, my rotary tool and a pile of fabrics sat down on the couch, turned on a movie, and started cutting.  Standing at an appropriate height cutting table and maintaining straight posture would have been the “right” way to cut.

Me, I’m lazy and get bored.  The couch, the coffee table, and Netflix are my cutting area….

This is what the cutting processed looked like…..

Jude joined me in the living room and gave his approval to the fabrics

Several movies later, I moved on to piecing….

Paper Piecing Explanation

Some weeks into the process of making this quilt, I was talking with Perry on the phone.  It was a small talk sort of conversation and I was sewing whilst talking as I often do.  I wound up giving him an explanation of paper piecing and just how many steps and how much work was involved in each block (didn’t say STAR) that I was doing.

I wanted him to eventually know just how much work the quilt he got was!

He had some trouble understanding the basic nature of paper piecing – how you “flip” pieces to cover seams, etc.  I wound up texting him some pictures of the process…

I was VERY careful to make sure not to send any picture that gave away “star”.  I figured that he might just connect my prying about types of quilts he admired to the stars that I was working on. 

Here are the pictures I sent:

Pattern Alteration

Somewhere along the line, I realized just how much work the 60 or so stars I would need were going to be.

Probably more hours than I had between that point and the end of June.

It would have been a present for the NEXT year’s birthday.

I thought about it, and made a plan to both frame the blocks and then have some wide ish sashing.

Here’s some in progress pictures of the blocks:

You can see – piles of fabric and paper took over the whole table!

It was killing me to be working on this quilt and not be blogging about it and/or showing pictures to Perry.  It was almost too much for me to keep the secret!  One thing to my advantage though, was that Perry hadn’t ever been involved in the process of me making a quilt prior to this, so he didn’t know at that time about how I frequently share, post in-progress pictures here on the blog, etc. That made the secret easier to keep because he didn’t ask me.  He knows artists, and I guess he just figured that I held things close until done.

Supervision was done by both Bronx and Jude.

Somewhere along this line, the cats decided to help with thread choices too. 

Their assistance was not appreciated.

Backing Fabric

Under his nose!

About the time I was finished with the quilt top, and needed backing, the MQ show was held.  Since I figured out that Perry has an appreciation for quilting in general, and since Chris didn’t want to go (I asked him first!), I dragged Perry with me to the show.  (See previous post - "Art and People" - that mentions the show).

One of my main goals for the show was to find a wide batik backing for the quilt.  I just felt it needed a batik back (it’s all batik fabrics) and – again with the lazy – I didn’t want to piece a back for it.

While Perry was with me, and even looking right at it, I bought a pre-cut, 3 yard piece of a brown batik.

It was a slight gamble. 

I didn’t dare bring the finished quilt top with to verify it worked lest Perry see it!

Here’s a very poor – washed out – picture of the backing:

Laying Out

This is a queen sized quilt.  I don’t have space that size to lay out and pin a quilt that big.

Luckily for me, my quilt group had a “mini-retreat” at a nearby church.

A church with a LARGE room…

With a carpet floor….

With plenty of space!

I got a lot of compliments on the quilt while laying it out there.  This really helped my nervousness about making and gifting a quilt to – albeit a special friend who I know appreciates quilting and cares for me – someone who I wasn’t completely sure about their style and tastes.  Also, it was important to me to make this for Perry, which only increased my anxiety.

The quilt surprised me when I laid it out.  You can sort of see it in this picture, but look for it more in further pictures – there’s a secondary pattern that occurs with the sashing – almost circular.

Quilting and Binding

True to form, I had a helper with quilting too:

I take this as a huge compliment too!  The cats generally like my quilts; this one wasn’t even done yet and they were deeming it fit to sleep on.

I did, however, warn Perry when he got the quilt that he’d be removing cat hair for a while!

Time was getting very short at this point…..

The birthday day was approaching rapidly….

Hand binding takes some time…..

*whew*

Finished

Chris looked at me, as I finished it two days before Perry’s birthday, and poked at me about being done with “time to spare”

Yeah, right, barely!

Way too close for my comfort….

Birthday!

I stuffed (literally!) the quilt into a box and wrapped it with panache.  Perry once told me that he likes wrapped up presents. 

That is so not me. …

I’m not the fancy wrapper type of person

(Except for myself and clothing!)

But, I had some gold wrapping paper in the attic, and found some beautiful gold ribbon (wired ribbon that we use on the Christmas tree actually).  The finishing touch was an embroidered flower that I had in one of my bins… I KNEW things like that would come in handy!

I actually got into the wrapping bit much more than I thought I would!  I guess I should just consider it another form of art.

I brought the fairly heavy box to Perry’s.  There was NOTHING about this box that screamed “It’s a quilt”…..  In fact, it was quite the opposite.  The box was square, and seemed too small for a queen sized quilt.

Finally, it was time to open it….

I swear, I was vibrating with excitement….

Would he like it? 

Did he really know what it was? 

Had I given away the secret at some point? 

And was he just being polite in not mentioning?

Perry started opening it… I knew the exact moment that he realized it was a quilt…

The look that went across his face is something that I cannot describe, but will never forget.

Something encompassing surprise, amazement, gratitude and love….

Success for me on so many levels…..