Thursday, October 16, 2008

Piecing and Quilting


Last night I finished piecing little David's quilt just (barely) in time for his 2nd birthday, which is tomorrow! I am so glad to have the piecing done at last and can't wait to finish the entire thing so it can be used. I sewed it all by hand and feel really fulfilled in seeing this take shape before my eyes. I seem to be slowly weaning myself from the machine. You just have so much more control over your seams and matching up points when you hand sew, plus you can take it with you anywhere.

I began this quilt top about two and a half years ago when I was 8 weeks pregnant with my little son. At the time I was fairly despondent as I had recently lost my first baby and was worried about loosing the new precious little life I carried within me. My mother had me pick out some fabric and bought it for me and told me to make a quilt for the baby. How wise she was! It was just what I needed to get my mind off the unpleasant possibility of miscarriage and looking forward to the joys of a new little one. Since I didn't know at the time if I was having a girl or a boy I chose colors that could be either-or.

The quilt is shown on our big bed but it is only a twin size. At least, I think it is a twin size. Does anyone know the standard dimensions for a twin size quilt? And should I use a printed fabric for the backing or white? And should it be tied or quilted? I am not sure what would be the best to do!

Of course, now that THIS quilt top is done, I am planning out another one for me and David using all my horded dress scraps. My goal is to use up all my scraps and to get the top pieced before the new baby arrives. Problem: I am using the Drunkard's Path block and I did the math yesterday and I have to cut out 1,302 pieces before I can even start the piecing. How long will THAT take me? I guess now that the boys are napping I better start!

Love,

Sarah

12 comments:

  1. What a lovely quilt :-) How beautiful! Thank you for your prayers and everything. God Bless you dear friend.

    Love Lauren

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  2. what a lovely thing to make your son! I always commend people who quilt, I'm not sure I have the patience for all that sewing!

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  3. How lovely, Sarah! It really is beautiful...

    Personally, I think it would suit this quilt best if you finished it off by quilting it, rather than with ties. But it would look great either way!

    ~Emily

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  4. Its beautiful, Sarah! Great work and what patience you have!

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  5. Oh it's beautiful! Personally, I would tie it, you can always quilt it later if you want, but this lets him start using it right away. And that lets you get started on your next quilt sooner. ;)

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  6. It is a lovely quilt! Wonderful:-) I don't know how to quilt..so no advice there, but I am wondering do you do all of your sewing by hand or just quilting?

    Have a great day!
    Sommer

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  7. http://www.carolina-quilts.com/site/472586/page/99754

    That site gives you quilt dimensions. The quilt is beautiful!

    Paris

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  8. hi sarah you made such a lovely quilt. i am a quilter and for a childs quilt i like it tied with yarn because after the quilt is washed the yarn puffs and makes little fluff balls. if you dont have a quilting frame i have a suggestion for the large quilt you will be making for you and david do it in sections. if you do it in 4 sections making sure that everything matches up at the end its easier to quilt because you wont have all the bulk all over the place. once its quilted you sew the sections of the quilt top together then connect the back sections together then quilt where it was sewed together. i hope i am explaining this so that you understand. also i know you dont know me but since you will be working on a quilt for your bed i would be honored to make a baby quilt for your soon to be new addition to you lovely family. i would do it in 1800's repro fabric with cotton batting it would be hand pieced using quilting thread and hand quilted using 100% mercerized thread(quilting thread has a coating) i am not sure what pattern i would use yet but it would be period correct. i dont know how blogging works so i guess you can leave me a note under comments. please let me know asap if i can make it for you this way i can get started. have a wonderful weekend God Bless janice

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  9. May I suggest large borders for your drunkard's path quilt? ~smile~
    Laura

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  10. Great job on the quilt! I started knitting my son a "blanket" about 2years ago and It still is not done.It has gotten put aside for all sorts of other projects but I want to finish it this fall/winter!

    I am tagging you to do the "I've come to realize" survey on my blog.:) (If you *want* to)

    Angie :)

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  11. I like the quilt! I really like hand piecing and quilting. I have always admired the “Drunkard’s Path” quilt; I just don’t like the name! I just saw you tagged me. I’m behind on my bloging right now.

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  12. Thank you all for your kind words and great advice! I decided I would tie it, for now, and later perhaps go back and do quilting. That way, the ties can act as a sort of basting stitch for me! :) I'm ready to do the tying this afternoon when (Hopefully) both boys will nap at the same time and I can have the floor as a large workspace. . .

    Sommer, no, I don't handsew everything. I use my machine a LOT but lately have started to hand sew some things I ordinarily would machine stitch just because it is portable, relaxing and handy. :) I need to learn to use a thimble though. I have a dreadful calloused hole in my middle finger on my right hand from pushing the needle through fabric!

    Janice, your offer is VERY generous indeed! My email if you want to contact me is david_sarahmeister@mchsi.com

    I feel the same way about the name "Drunkards Path", Nicole! In fact, when I told David what the name of the quilt was, he didn't believe me at first! I found out it does have other names like Oregon Trail and such. . .so perhaps I'll use an alternate name if/when I ever finish this thing! (so far, I have almost 150 pieces cut out which I cut indivudally. Then last night I had the brilliant idea of stacking the fabrics and cutting out several layers at once. WHY didn't I think of that before?).

    Thank you all again!! You're such dears!

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Thank you for your lovely thoughts!