My One And Only Quilt Project

Ah. I am happy now.

A 3 year unfinished project has finally been folded and placed in a special drawer.

I can go into 2010 with a clean slate. This project was hanging over my head for two Christmas holidays...I really thought I would finish it last year.

I took a classic quilt making class a few years ago and learned how to hand stitch a quilt. Each panel took hours and by the fifth panel I was thinking how crazy it was for me to be hand-stitching when I had two sewing machines in the other room. But, I had decided it was important to at learn the original method for making a quilt.....later I can use all the technology I want.

So I pieced it all together but was stalled when I realized I had no desire to do all the final top stitching. You know...all the swirly stitches that make the quilt look so pretty.

Then along came my Janome machine this summer. I was so surprised to receive a quilting board attachment. The machine was already pretty great...but this acrylic extension table meant I couldn't put off sewing my quilt for very much longer. It was a sign. All I needed was some extra time between One of A Kind show deadlines.

And of course, the very important free motion stitching option.

This means you can sew in any old direction you want. Look at those swirls!

It took me almost four hours to sew swirls all over the entire quilt. It was worth it.

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Now that it is done I can honestly say that I definitely don't plan to make a hand-stitched quilt any time soon. I would have to be stuck somewhere without my tools and electricity for me to succumb to that idea again.

An all-machine stitched quilt.....well, that's a possibility.