Wonky flimsy

Well! It's been a long time since I posted about anything quilty but I am happy to report that I spent time in the sewing room and accomplished something. Ta-Da! I have my wonky quilt from the Lazy Gal class in one piece!

I did some quick housecleaning yesterday and then went up to sew. On Saturday I had cleaned the sewing room and even rearranged furniture so there was no excuse not to go up there and work. My sewing room is definitely not ideal as I realize everytime I sit down to sew. The sewing machine table is too small, the ironing area is behind some boxes, the cutting table is set so things fall off behind. Even rearranging I ran into problems, but I guess a sewing room is a room of an on again-off again love affair. Stuff in drawers and boxes and baskets that need to be peered through to remember what was put there to begin with.

I kept coming across the hearts that I had been making for Tonya's class here and there in various piles and even other rooms and I thought,

"Gee. It's almost Valentine's Day. A simple Valentine's quilt shouldn't be hard to make with all these hearts already here."

WHAT WAS I THINKING!!! I have to use these hearts in my Wonky quilt and as it is, since the class theme is already about what we love, it is as close to a Valentine Quilt as I need to get this year! Soooo.... Get up there and work on the quilt Tanya! At least get a few more hearts under your belt!

Once the quilt was spread out on the floor and I could see where I needed more hearts my head started spinning and pretty soon I had a house and heart "smoke". I backed myself into a corner at one point since I couldn't figure out how to put my pieces together without sewing around a corner (Basic rule. Start with the smaller pieces first. Do not attempt to put small pieces in after the bigger pieces are made.) I ended up tearing out seams and redoing things, positioning and repositioning and by the time the afternoon rolled around I wasn't about to leave this quilt until it was all in one piece. I finished around 4:00 yesterday.

Hmmm. Why is the top of the quilt 8 centimeters narrower than the bottom of the quilt? With the add and cut away system (very little measuring) it just kept getting bigger. I have sheared off some of the sides at the lower end but it still isn't an exact fit. Now to get some borders on it.

I'll start auditioning fabric sometime this week so you'll see the quilt in this stage a few more times. Does it want solid borders? Pieced borders? More words? And what color(s)? It seems to me that a border is a very important part of a quilt but the end is so near that I tend to throw together simple borders just to be able to have reached a workable goal.

Tetsu found the Wonky quilt on the floor when he was looking for a clean shirt and came downstairs asking,

"Is that a quilt for us? That's my kind of quilt! Lots of color and a mixed-up pattern!" (I wonder if he realizes that mixed-up pattern is actually a bunch of words!) "I claim this one when you get it done!"

That's one of the nicest compliments as I've had in a long time!