I tend to bounce around from craft to craft, not staying long enough to completely master it, but enough to get a feel for it and be comfortable doing it. also, have noticed that i tend to change crafts with the seasons. winter? lots of heavy yarns and knitting almost every night (it keeps my hands warm). spring? open windows, beautiful watercolors splashing across the paper.
and now, heading into summer? quilting. what did I get myself into?! i keep cutting out squares. place the template on the cutting mat, slice, slice, slice, slice. trim frayed threads. go back over random spots the rotary cutter missed. move the template. slice, slice, slice, slice. trim frayed ETC ETC ETC. I've got hundreds of lovely tomato red, sky blue, and white squares (some patterns, some not, except for the white, which are solid) and am not done with this step yet, even though I've got tons of these things lying around; when i started out on this project, i was going to stick with square blocks of color, not attempting a more intricate pattern - not for my first quilt.
was. was! for some reason, i decided that slicing each square into two triangles and alternating 8 colored patterned and white triangles into a pinwheel shape to form a square (really, I have no better way to explain it) would be a better idea. way to add onto the time necessary to make this thing!
i can do it. it just feels like it's taking forever. i'm not an impatient person; it's just that i don't have tons of time to work on this project, and also that i'd never used these tools before, so it's moving along at such a slow, excruciating rate.
(and all this time, there's this little tiny voice that pipes up inside my head sometimes. "what? you, making a quilt?! you won't finish this thing!!" and then it nearly dies of laughter.)
the past couple of days I've been eyeing it, the stack of fabric on top of the cutting mat, sitting in the corner of the living room, as though it's an animal I'm worried is going to make an attempt on my life. walk carefully. don't make eye contact. it can smell fear.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
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3 comments:
This is why I couldn't quilt. It seemed like it should be quicker and easier than it really is. My mom can make a quilt in an matter of hours, so I thought it was like that for everyone. Until I tried.
Can't wait to see the completed project!
i tend to skip beginner crafts when starting a new hobby too. i did that knitting. made gloves on db needles with an intricate pattern. why make potholders if you hate them?
quilting scares me a little. i've got my own little animal in a box here: an entire quilt cut out but have yet to do the sewing in all the three years i've had it. eep. i'm afraid it will take forevah. but you can do it, danika. please. inspire me.
Thanks, you two, I feel like I have a bit more courage now.
Abbey, I totally agree with you on the knitting thing; I HATE potholders, and also, if you tackle something more challenging at the very beginning, it won't scare you later. :)
I did, however, knit up a storm of blue, brown, and cream-coloured blocks for an afghan, oh, about four years ago...until they discontinued the yarn part-way through. In the dresser in my room at my parents' house, there's an entire drawer full of those blocks. Good GRIEF, dänika.
Now I'll have to finish this quilt, if I want to be able to rescue a shred of project self-esteem. :P
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