Improv Diary

I haven’t made a quilt in a very long time (blankets don’t count) so I thought I would use the other wool blanket I inherited to quilt in my own way, and to get a little hand stitching in, which I love (it’s true). Because the wool balnket is nice and thick and fluffy, I didn’t use batting, but just quilted the wool with a cotton/linen backing.  I’ll bring this finished piece to Quilt Con in Austin this week because Debra and i will be holding workshops on “Drawing with Thread” and thought it would be a quilty example of our technique.

I hand basted both layers together, which took a lot less time than you would think – the stitches are big and you feel like a cartoon character sewing this way. I have used safety pins to baste layers together in the past, and I think I now prefer this way because things really don’t shift.

After it was securely basted together, I stuck it under the needle of what now seems like a tiny sewing machine – it only seems small when you are trying to cram a lot of fabric under the arm. I had drawn a paper airplane super big across the front and used a straight stretch stitch to lay down a nice bold line. I also drew some clouds that were stitched in light blue (not bold enough for the photos, but you’ll see).

The binding was a charcoal gray sheet I had lying around. It has a bit of a sheen, which I thought was a nice counterpoint to the wool and linen. I sewed strips together, folded them in half, and sewed the folded strip to the wool side of the quilt – the raw edges of the strip and the quilt aligned and a 1/2″ seam stitched. The folded edge was then wrapped around the raw edge of the quilt and hand stitched in place. this took some time, but it was very enjoyable. I even played Monopoly at the same time (I never want to play that game again without a project going at the same time).My stitches aren’t prefect, but I love how it looks. The binding is neat and crisp.

It might not photograph well, being of a subtle design, but the overall effect is very pleasing to me. It is reversible, though the cotton/linen side is much nicer against the skin. I guess my question is this: is this a blanket or a quilt? Come by and touch it if you are coming to Quilt Con, and I hope you are.