What It's Like to Make a Quilt Sometimes - Meadowsweet Quilt
Sometimes, a quilt finds itself so full of stops and starts, it's hard to believe it's actually finished! But I find that for quilts like this, the finish is even sweeter.
How Long Quilts Actually Take
Over the past few weeks, I've been working on old quilts in progress, making decisions about quilts that are waiting for them, putting effort to get almost finished quilts across the line, and I've noticed something. Many of my Works in Progress (WIPs) are around 2 years old. It's surprising for me, because I never start a quilt, thinking that it will probably take me two years. The inspiration and motivation that gets me cutting fabric and basting it to paper shapes feels solid enough to carry me through to completion, smooth and easy. It turns out, that's rarely the case. There are the occasional few that get my undivided attention from start to finish, but mostly, I will make a quilt while it's easy, and then stop when the flow gets interrupted.
I started this Meadowsweet Quilt in early February '23, two years ago exactly. I cut the barrels from scraps, basted them, stitched them into these lovely, big flowers, and let them sit.
When You Hit an Obstacle to Easy Progress
I had chosen these blue backgrounds before I had chosen the scraps, and was pretty chuffed with myself for this choice because I'd been careful with the blue scraps I included in the flowers. I wanted to be sure I had maximum contrast once I'd appliqued them. I wanted them to POP! So I was pretty downcast when I finally went to the effort to remove papers, press the flowers, tidy up my cutting bench, cut background squares, glue the flowers to the backgrounds, and pop them up on my design wall. The flowers on the denim didn't pop. And to me, it made the whole quilt feel muddy and messy.
I left the blocks on my design wall for a few days to see if I felt differently about it in different lights of the day, or after the initial disappointment wore off, but I felt the same. I peeled the flowers from the denim and packed it away again.
Making Adjustments
Some time later, I decided to use low volume prints in place of the denim and I'm so glad I did! Stitching these sunflower-like flowers onto whites and creams felt so bright and happy, where the denim was more stormy and moody. I loved how they made the aqua and blue striped woven (an old one from Ruby Star Society) look fresh and clean.
When I laid out all the blocks, and cut all the edge triangles, ready for the final push to turn it into a quilt top, I realised something so disappointing - I was one block short! Ugh, don't you hate that!? Did I lose it? How long should I look for it before I make another one??? I set it aside again, hoping that it would turn up. I did eventually find that block, mysteriously placed in a different WIP box, after I finally pulled out my shapes and scraps and background fabric and made another one! ;P
A Perfect Pairing
After my rocky progress, I was so glad to find this bright, flowy floral by Jen Hewitt in my yardage stash! Doesn't it pair perfectly? I love the contrast of the pink and blue, and the contrast of the natural flowers with my quilt's geometric ones.
I got Evie, always keen for pocket money, to baste it, ready for quilting.
Just after this photo was taken, my machine jammed up and is still, as I write this, getting repaired, so though I was hoping to quickly whip this through my machine and be done, I decided to hand-quilt it. I'm glad for that choice. I enjoyed sitting down with the quilt, slowing down, and taking it all in. It's a different posture to "finally getting this thing over with!" It gave me a chance to enjoy the scrappy fabrics (something I love to do because they're often the last pieces of old favourites - especially if I cut them out 2 years ago!), the contrast of the machine applique and hand quilting, the easy flow of long straight lines stitched a little out from the seams. After finishing these lines, I quilted inside the flowers, and then began the outsides, and there I faltered. I don't enjoy the stopping and starting and moving the quilt around of fussy hand quilting. I decided to leave it there and finish it.
What It Takes to Make a Quilt
Last night, after the weekend's rain had cleared, Tim and I walked the quilt and the dogs down to our local Botanic Gardens. We're so lucky to live walking distance from this beautiful place! And taking these photos, I was mulling over what to write here. As a business owner and pattern designer, it can be tempting to hide the challenges of making a quilt and only talk about the fun and colour and ease. As a consumer, it can be tempting to only buy things that promise to be fun and easy. But sometimes making a whole thing out of nothing, from start to finish, moving through obstacles and changing direction, can be hard. And just because it's hard, (or harder than you expected) doesn't mean it's not worthwhile, or that you're doing it wrong. It just means there was more to it that you thought you were signing up for.
Finishing this quilt and seeing it laid out like this (and also strewn over my couches this week, and used for snuggles while it waited for photos) reminds me that the "more than I bargained for" is worth it. I love this quilt, and all the more because I listened to my gut and unpicked flowers and re-cut backgrounds. I love that I stuck with it and reaped the reward. I love it's happy, bright simplicity that makes the snags I hit along the way feel small and distant.
Do you have a quilt that's fighting your efforts to make progress? I highly recommend that you keep going! Take one step after the next after the next. They don't have to be all at once or in a straight line, because making decisions, making mistakes, changing course all takes time and it's okay that it does. It doesn't mean you're doing it wrong, it's just all part of the beautiful, perpetual learning we undergo as makers.
Make Your Own Meadowsweet Quilt
Meadowsweet Quilt is actually a simple quilt! ;P The English Paper Piecing is all single, straight lines, and the applique can be done easily by machine top-stitching. If you'd like to make a quilt of your own, grab it in the shop below!
Leave a comment