Friends, I am so excited!
I, a longtime admirer of quilts and quilters have finally made one myself. Not
only did I make it, I designed it. I have bought many quilt patterns over
the years. I have admired the finished projects, but never had the
courage/skill to make my own. With my knee surgery and recovery, it has been
awhile since I have entered a contest. Always up for a challenge, when I saw
the quilt contest on Pattern Review, I thought it was time to pull out one of
those patterns from my stash and finally make one.
I chose a popular and fun
pattern, I pulled fabrics, then nothing. I was completely unmotivated and
uninspired to cut it out. I took a step back and thought about why I wasn't
able to move forward. My conclusion was I couldn't make someone else's quilt
when I had one of my own in my head. I have had a quilt design in my head
for years, but not being a quilter, didn't know how to
execute it.
I have
access to a laser cutter and have been playing with various media, wood, cork,
foam and acrylic. Once I calculated the settings to cut fabric, I knew
applique was a viable design option to finally make mine. I was inspired and excited
to figure out how to do it.
Given my
skills, I decided on a quilt-as-you go and applique techniques for mine.
You may remember that
Little Miss was teased by a child on the playground about having
"weird" hair. I began designing Natural Hair love, fabric and
embroidery designs to remind her of her awesomeness. I have expanded on
that theme with this small scale "Good Hair Day" quilt. It features
three girls with the fun hairstyles of Afro puffs, an Afro and Dreadlocks. It
showcases hairstyling tools and accessories and the words "Big Hair, Big
Dreams".
Once I got started, I
made many faces in various hairstyles, skin tones and accessories. I was all
in! I was on the way to making a king size quilt when I rechecked the rules and
discovered the size was limited to 36 inches wide!
It was a good thing I
checked because I didn't know how much work was involved. The fabric
blocks are cut to size and quilted to cotton batting. I used various stitch
patterns on each block as a testing ground for the techniques.
The appliques are fused and sewn to the top fabric to create the blocks.
I had a hard time choosing the text for this quilt. We had a long list of text for this quilt. In the end, she went with "Big Hair, Big Dreams".
The appliqued quilt blocks and batting are
stitched together to make the top. The quilt is then backed and then bound.
Because this is a wall hanging quilt, I added a rod hanger to the back.
As a first attempt, I am very happy with this! Little Miss loves
it and can't wait for her bed sized quilt. There is a fine line between self-awareness
and self-deprecation. I see the errors in this process and know it is far from
perfect. I will make refinements in the process before moving forward with. I
have a gaggle of girls in my sewing room and I am excited to improve on the
future makes.
If you would like to see the other entries, and possibly vote for mine, I would appreciate it. Voting is open now! Click here!.
Thanks and happy sewing,
Bianca
