Quilting and Sewing

I've become really obsessed with quilts. I spend more time than I care to admit looking at them on Pinterest before I go to sleep. When I lay down it is like a kaleidoscope as patterns and colors flash in my head rendering beautiful hypnogogic hallucinations. I have a hard time falling asleep because I am literally too excited about all the amazing possibilities of quilting. I started liking them in 8th grade home-ec where we learned to sew pinwheels and I made my mother a "surprise" blanket at home. How surprise could it really be when I am sewing on her machine and consistently asking for help? She might have even had to sew the backing on to her own surprise quilt, of this I can't be certain. Those silly pinwheels, they stuck with me and after I had Rivers I was inspired by them again. I made this travesty of a quilt which caused me to stop thinking about quilting for a good long while. I still like the colors but I sewed it quickly and carelessly and some of the seams are starting to slowly spread further and further apart. Then Gus came along and the little feller couldn't be left out and sew (Freudian slip here, for reals) I knew I had to suck it up and make another.

I had made all of Gus' bedding and changing pads for his room so I had a lot of coordinating scraps. The crib bumper got put on the back burner because I knew I wouldn't be using it for several months. He recently started getting his foot stuck through the slats and while I tried to use one of the mesh breathable bumpers, I got sick of the sight and he started rolling well so I knew it was time to make the bumpers. At this time I had already started on his quilt and I needed to know how much of the fabric would be left over from the bumpers to use in the quilt so I had to finish project B (bumpers) before I could continue on project A (quilt) which I was more excited about.

I needed 14 yards of piping. That means 14 yards of bias tape. That means, bleh. I really dislike sewing bias tape and it always looks terrible when I'm done. So 14 yards of the junk sounded terrible. I stumbled across this continuous bias tape tutorial and I am a changed woman. It required two seams and some cutting along some lines and within 20 minutes I had 16 yards of bias tape. Perfectly spaced, beautifully diagonally sewn, seams matching up bias tape. One of my favorite sewing tricks to date.

The bumpers came together pretty quickly and I am glad to say they are done. Very glad. I have so much leftover fabric from them that I can't wait to add to Gus' quilt.

Safe, yes. Pretty? No.

The pattern I settled on for the quilt is driving me bonkers so at this rate it may be done in time for Gus to take it to college. Last night I pulled two blocks out because some of the HST's had been sewn in the wrong direction. I fixed them this morning and when I laid them back down I saw two more that were wrong! Someone is messing with me while I sleep. I think I have them all fixed but I keep trying to stare at them cross-eyed hoping any mistakes will be more visible. If I sew the darn thing together and later find a mistake....oh it won't be pretty.

Are you staring at it cross-eyed now?