2020 in Quilt
Added 2022-12-14 01:26:54 +0000 UTCIn January of 2020, I started a journal quilt. At the start of each month I wrote a few sentences about how I felt in that moment, and then I would illustrate it by cutting out and assembling images from my stack of collage-fodder magazines and books. From that picture, I would base my quilt square using fabric and embroidery.
This is another one of those situations where if I had taken the time to research how to do it correctly first then I never would have gotten started, so instead I just… started.
The 12 blocks dramatically changed size over the course of making them, because I hadn’t originally considered how they’d need extra fabric margins to sew them together. None of them are symmetrical or have straight seams because that requires doing basic math and, baby?, my brain literally can’t compute like that. I finished the last of the illustrated blocks sometime after 2020 concluded, and then I did not touch it again because I just didn’t understand how to size the white fabric pieces to connect them all together.
It was only with the help of two friends who came to visit over this last year, 2022, that I was able to have them calculate and configure how to piece it all together for me. If not for Clare Bayley and Karine Charlebois, this project would have remained a stack of embroidered blocks, stuffed in a bag and damned to one of my Unfinished Project stashing spots.
Oh, it’s all hand sewn, by the way.
When I started hand sewing it in 2020, this was because even if I had possessed a sewing machine (which I didn’t), I wouldn’t have known how to use it. So, hand sewing was my only option!
(SIDE NOTE: Now it is 2022 and, thanks to the stunning generosity of a reader who had some bonus Amazon points, I now do possess a sewing machine and, thanks to Karine’s infinite patience, I now have actually officially used it as of a few days ago. However, the quilt is [so far] completely sewn by hand.)
I’ve cut out the batting(?) that’ll be the cushy middle layer and now I just need to find the right fabric for the back. The one I picked out new from Spoonflower a couple years ago just doesn’t have the right vibe now, and I would love to repurpose a sheet or tablecloth or curtain from a thrift shop instead.
Lots of mistakes! Lots of successes! Lots of “this is sufficient”s! I’m happy with it.
Comments
Ooh, I did my first full size quilt in 2020, for my sister, I made the squares look like Polaroid snaps of things from our childhood and her achievements and such. It ended up bring double the size I intended, because I too did not understand HOW. MUCH. FREAKING. MATHS is involved so I had to keep adding bits to it. The biggest thing that helped when I was sandwiching the batting between the front and back layers was adhesive spray glue. Gives it just enough staying power to do the quilting part of the quilt without having to fiddle around with a load of pins. Just something to look at!
Sharon Hughes
2023-01-10 20:44:46 +0000 UTCOhh I'm so happy to see this again! And yay for patient teacher friends n_n
The Ferret
2022-12-16 02:12:26 +0000 UTCI have a daily "tiny drawing" habit where I have done just that - all ink, no pencils! BUT when it comes to painting . . . too hard for me to give myself that permission. I received an art kit for my birthday last week that has acrylic gouache - equally exciting and terrifying. I will follow your lead - especially thinking about your amazing quilt; I think my mantra will be "better to get unhappy results than no results at all." (a little wordy for a mantra, but I'll make it work. 😅) Thank you for sharing your perspective! ❤️
Tamara
2022-12-15 20:31:30 +0000 UTCBefore I start any project or comic page, I tell myself “Give yourself permission to suck”. I’d never be able to start if I held myself to my own standards of doing a “good job”. It’s better to be unhappy with my results than to never get any results at all, y’know?
Erika Moen
2022-12-14 21:06:34 +0000 UTCThank you! 🥰
Erika Moen
2022-12-14 21:02:33 +0000 UTCJournal quilting? Yes please! *Especially* for the shitstorm that was 2020. So beautiful, and tactile - and I love your "I'm just going to dive in and do this" and "this is sufficient" dispositions.
Tamara
2022-12-14 19:50:17 +0000 UTCThis is so gorgeous! :D
Penny Gotch
2022-12-14 10:18:33 +0000 UTCOh my gosh, congrats on your first embroidery project!! If Patreon supported images in comments, I'd ask to see a picture. Thank you so much for your kind words and I'm sorry for your loss. One of the things I appreciate about fiber art is how it can quite literally connect us to the people and places we care about, either because we're using the skills someone taught us or we're using fabric from people and places that mean something to us or, at the end, we have this physical object that can- by being touched or worn- connect us to the people and places we love and hold in our memories.
Erika Moen
2022-12-14 04:17:28 +0000 UTC🔥👋👋🔥 <------hot little hands
Erika Moen
2022-12-14 04:08:12 +0000 UTCAhhh!! I have always admired your embroidery, and now I'm nearly done my first embroidery project - I started about a month ago! Also, props for hand sewing an ENTIRE QUILT. I want to start quilting too, not least because my wonderful grandmother (who passed away this year) was an incredible quilt artist. (I'm talking, like, dude, some of her quilts could be mistaken for PAINTINGS. She was incredibly talented and skilled.) At the moment, I'm over here in the corner of People Who Own a Sewing Machine, Great But How Do I Use It? One step at a time, I suppose. Anyway, I find your fabric art (and the stories/honesty behind them) incredibly inspiring, thank you so much for sharing!
Brittany B.
2022-12-14 03:14:02 +0000 UTCI can't wait to hold this object in my HOT LITTLE HANDS
Lucy Bellwood
2022-12-14 03:04:11 +0000 UTCWahaha thank you for noticing! I'm actually having fun replying over here? Like, it's a much smaller crowd and it feels a lot, well, "safer", I guess?
Erika Moen
2022-12-14 02:44:48 +0000 UTCIt freak'n does Also, I see you out here power-answering these comments and I know you can struggle with that. Making me proud again, you!!!
Mandy Wright
2022-12-14 02:24:47 +0000 UTCHaha, thank you! Yeah, 2020 feels like a time warp.
Erika Moen
2022-12-14 02:20:05 +0000 UTCAhhhh, I remember this!!! So happy to see you picked it up again! 2020 was like... a decade ago now... I feel... so weathered... ...but this gives me hope.
Mandy Wright
2022-12-14 01:44:00 +0000 UTC
