Lili’s Quilt

Lili quilt 12This is the front of Lili’s quilt.  This is one of the main things I’ve been working on this month.  I got it done in about one week from start to finish.  A record for me.  I did almost nothing else during that time.

Lili quilt 6This is the first quilt I’ve ever done machine quilting on.  I’ve been wanting to learn to do this for years.  Lili’s quilt is the biggest of the four quilts I’ve made.  The first three were baby quilts and this one is roughly twin sized.

Lili quilt 10I watched almost all of Alias and the first season of Arrow while making it.Lili quilt 1I had no real plan ahead of time.  I only knew that Lili (a four year old girl) likes pink, red, and purple.  Having found no good purple prints I decided to break up the red and pink with black.  It’s much bolder than I originally imagined, color-wise.  Kind of punches you in the face, but that’s okay because Lili is a girl with major moxie and some day she will have no problem punching people in the face who get in her way.

Lili quilt 3Ad-libbing a quilt allows for all kinds of weird stuff to happen as you go along.  Like stripes that don’t quite match up, not enough of one fabric or another, and good surprises like unexpected cool piecing.

Lili quilt 2This is the back side of the quilt.  It’s asymmetrical.  On purpose by surprise.  The irregularities in this quilt would shame my mom’s sister who is one of those precise quilters who follows patterns and makes every seam match up PERFECTLY because otherwise – THESHAMETHESHAMETHESHAME.

Having been a costumer and a professional seamstress I know how important it is to make things perfect if you’re selling them.  I will rip seams out until they’re just right when making things professionally.  But quilting, for me, is the one sewing project where I let myself just have fun and let things develop organically.  I start with an idea and then let it just unfold.  I do try to do a good job sewing it but I’m not taking seams out when points don’t match perfectly or my lines aren’t ruler straight (though they usually are anyway).  Quilting is my free-range sewing time.  I get to do whatever the hell I want with it.  There are no rules.

I’m really pleased with the way Lili’s quilt turned out.

Now I’m working on the quilt I started 6 years ago in McMinnville.  I broke my machine while machine quilting it.  I’m about half done.  So tonight I’m going to finish the quilting and tomorrow I go to my friend Chelsea’s house to get a lesson in binding.  Because I suck at binding quilts and while I could continue to suck at it I think I would get more satisfaction if I could learn to do it better.

If you don’t have many (or any) spare blankets in your house you should start making quilts.  I have only two spare blankets and only one of them is full sized and it’s shredded to the point of almost being useless.  I am appalled at this whole situation because what if there’s an emergency or an apocalypse and we need extra blankets?

One quilt down and many more to come!

2 thoughts on “Lili’s Quilt

  1. Beeje

    Thanks for the fun read. I stumbled upon this post because I Googled “I suck at quilt binding” and was thrilled to find a kindred spirit whose final result is quite impressive. My favorite part of your post was “This is the back side of the quilt. It’s asymmetrical. On purpose by surprise. ” Like you I am hoping to get better at binding, but somehow it’s just not happening. Couldn’t possibly have anything to do with my utter and complete lack of patience, of course not. I’ve tried following MANY tutorials but the back, or whichever side I do second, looks absolutely horrendous. I can’t stitch in the ditch to save my life, at least on a machine, and I have yet to resort to hand stitching due to the aforementioned lack of patience. If the binding gods should favor you with blessed insight I do hope you’ll be willing to share with those who remain binding challenged. Good luck and thanks again for the giggles.

  2. angelina Post author

    I’m so glad you stumbled on this post! My friend Chelsea sat me down and taught me the binding tricks- she says you have to see it in person to GET it. On the quilt I just finished (post with pics coming really soon) I did a much better job. But I did it by hand because I can’t make the stitch in the ditch look very good either. What you have to do is put on a movie or tv show you really love and make a cup of tea or pour yourself a whiskey – whatever – and do it by hand. If you don’t have a quilting friend to show you how to bind in person – maybe you could go to your local quilting store for a demo? In any case – I still suck at binding but that won’t stop me from enjoying quilting!

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