Love, love, love, this completed quilt

This morning I woke up feeling proud, accomplished, and satisfied. Last night at 9 p.m., I knotted my thread, cut it, and let out a sign. I finished hand sewing the binding to the back. After 18 months, I finished my quilt.

This one was my favorite—no really. I know I say that each time I work on a quilt, but this one is special. This one challenged me. This one honed skills I didn’t have when I began more than 18 months ago. This one has certainly beefed up my quilting resume.

My only disappointment, and that may be too strong a word since I’m elated with this quilt, is that it wasn’t my own design. I’m not sure why I’m stuck on that element, because I only choose to make quilts from patterns I love and want to complete, but creating my own design is the one thing I want to master. I want to sit down with graph paper and colored pencils, or at the computer keyboard and let my imagination run wild.

I’m not sure this will ever happen. After all, every quilt I make since my first quilt was complete in 2003, is uniquely my own, always one of a kind; it is similar to others, but always different. Despite all the people who have sewn this quilt commonly known as Afternoon Delight, no one has this one. The pattern, designed by the late Sue Garman, will have been made by hundreds, and perhaps even tens of thousands of people. Mine is but one of those, but still, this one is all mine. Though it was Garman’s pattern, I collected all the fabrics. I picked the the colors. I decided on the quilting designs. And, of course, I did all the cutting, piecing, hand applique, and quilting.

I have no way of knowing if I will ever achieve this element of my quilting journey—designing my own quilt. I’ve modified existing designs, which could qualify as making them my own, but in my mind, it isn’t quite the same. I hope I can someday achieve designing, but who knows. If I never do, that is OK too because I love quilting. I love every quilt I’ve ever made.

And the list is long for those I still want to make—traditional patterns—like Grandmother’s Flower Garden, Double Wedding Ring, and so many more. I plan to stay busy as long as my fingers still function and my eyes still see, despite a growing difficulty.

I’d have to go pretty far though to love a quilt as much as this one. I loved making this one. I’m enamored with this quilt. It turned out so much better than I imagined.

Finishing a quilt is always joyful, but this one has taken my breath away. I’ve loved every stitch.

Hand-quilting; I just can't stop

I first decided to hand quilt my latest quilt – “Afternoon Delight,” a 2020 Block of the Month project designed by the late Sue Garman for The Quilt Show. I finished the quilt top in February, more than a year after I started it. I was pretty iffy on my choice of hand quilting or machine quilting because I really love free-motion quilting on my domestic sewing machine. And, machine quilting is so much quicker. I realized I could have a finished quilt in a much shorter time if I do it by machine. I have never even considered sending a quilt out to be quilted by someone else even though the result of professional quilting is spectacular. So for me, the question was simply one way or the other.

As I’ve stated in a prior post Quilting challenges, my last hand-quilting endeavor was a bit of a disaster. While I loved hand-quilting in the past, a few years ago, I am older now. My eyesight isn’t what it used to be and I have tendonitis in my arms, some carpal tunnel in my hands, and I’ve never really found a way to be completely comfortable. I never learned how to quilt on a frame. I’ve only quilted on my lap with a hoop.

When I’ve hand-quilted in the past, I used a 16” round hoop once used by my husband’s grandmother. You might say I inherited it. Granny made lots of beautiful quilts, one of which I wrote about: Remembering Granny and her quilts

The last time I hand-quilted I tried using no hoop at all, which was definitely easier, but that method had other problems for me. I spray-basted the layers together and they easily shifted without the tension a hoop provides.

My brain went back and forth on my whether to hand quilt or machine quilt this lovely piece of work, one of the most complex quilts I’ve ever made. But, as so many quilters will attest, this quilt spoke to me. It wanted to be hand-quilted, largely because so much of it was done by hand. Once I made the decision, I reasoned that this was my best and really, only option.

I decided to try my hand, no pun intended, on a small quilt hoop on a stand. I had no idea if I would like this thing, but it did have many advantages, such as its complete customization. The quilt can be turned 360º and the frame can be moved from its upright position to a different height and rake to make using it more comfortable. The biggest advantage for me though, is that it would provide a place to keep my quilt while in progress. I could easily scoot the entire thing out of the way when I’m not using it, and scoot it back to my chair when I want to quilt.

I guess I’m happy with what I call ‘my baby quilt frame, because all I want to do now is quilt. Thankfully the weather has been cool and rainy, so quilting for hours at a time, while I listen to audio books is just about a perfect way to spend a few happy hours. I am using wool batting for the first time. Although I would never consider myself a great quilter, that is the beauty of this – I don’t have to be great to create something beautiful.

I am very pleased at the simple design I have come up with and how it looks on the finished blocks. I am about halfway done at this point. When I wake up, I just can’t wait to get a few things done around the house so I can sit back down and quilt. I quilt in front of the television; I quilt while I listen to the readings of my audible books. I quilt to music.

Could there any better therapy for the pandemic year from hell? I don’t think so.

Here is a sneak peek at how things are going. 

I guess Kasey thinks this one will be hers. I always have the greatest quilt critics, although they never seem to have found a quilt they didn’t like. This one will be no different.