Q is for Qrazy (and Quilt)

At the end of last summer I stumbled upon an Instagram feed of a crafting/sewing woman in Scandinavia. In one post she was making quilted squares of fabric from old scraps. It looked very easy. See her post here.  I thought "if you connected a lot of those squares together you could make a quilt". And so began my journey into making my first quilt, something that I never dreamed I would try. That first post discovery led me to countless other IG feeds, blogs, and YouTube video tutorials. I jumped in headfirst not really knowing what I was getting into. It turned into quite a crafting sojourn, that lasted over FOUR MONTHS, but I finally finished my first quilt. It was not always easy but I am VERY satisfied with the end result...and I have a new hobby that I adore. 

So here are a few snapshots of the process (with the finished quilt at the end)...

The traditional way of quilting is to create a top of various fabric pieces in some sort of pleasing pattern, then you sandwich it on top of batting and a backing piece of fabric. After that you quilt this big and cumbersome thing which is not easy. But back int he 1980's a technique became very popular where you sew various quilted blocks together piece by piece. This is a lot easier to manage on a domestic sewing machine. That's where I started, I began amassing these 8" by 8" squares made out of all kinds of fabric, anything I could find, old material I had in the back of closets, old clothes, old jeans, pillow cases, sheets, you name it. I got Scott to give me old clothes of his and I even started looking for old clothes at yard sales, anything was fair game to use. I then supplemented it all with fabrics I bought online and at places like the Sag Harbor Five & Dime and Walmart. 

Here are few samples, I ended up needing NINETY-NINE squares (!) altogether. 

As you can see, I decided to go with a nautical them, aside from basic hues of blue and green, I incorporated lighthouses, anchors, whales, sharks, sailors, mermen, all things I'm obsessed with. Not to mention that I do live in Sag Harbor, an old whaling town. 

This part of the process took the longest. I averaged an hour to an hour and a half when sewing each square depending on how intricate the pieces of fabric were. You can do the math to figure out how long it took me to get to 99! How satisfying to see that final stack of squares it was. 

In my research, practically everywhere said that to sew all the squares together you need what's called a 'walking foot' attachment for your sewing machine. Basically, it pulls the fabric thru the machine not only from the bottom but from the TOP as well. This is what they look like...

The problem is that my vintage Kenmore is so old it took a LOT of hunting to track down the right resource that carried one that would fit my machine. After many dead ends, I found a vendor on eBay that had the right foot. It was not cheap, about $60, but it was ABSOLUTELY worth every penny. It made the sewing way, way easier to maneuver. 

Before I started connecting the squares, I needed to layout all of them in order to find the most pleasing layout. I wanted to spread out various fabrics and colors so that patterns weren't repeated too close to one another. I did this on the floor of my bedroom on top of an old sheet, it was the only space big enough to lay it all out. 

I numbered the rows and pinned Post-It notes to them so that everything was organized when I finally started sewing. Having this picture helped also. 

You start by connecting one row of squares horizontally. I had 11 rows. 

Then you connect all the rows together starting from the middle rows and working out from there, first the top rows, then the bottom ones. This is how it looked from the back, you can see the quilting of the fabric pieces thru the batting. 

The next stage is to add the backing fabric. I didn't want to piece together more rows of fabric so I discovered that many people use bed sheets for this. Purists don't like this solution for some reason but it's a lifesaver, saving money and time. I had a hard time finding the right pattern of sheet. I found this one on Kmart.com. I liked it because it was blue, sort of modern, and the pattern would hide a lot of sins in case my stitches turned out wonky. It turned out great on the latter point. If I had to do it all over again, I would choose a cotton sheet (this one was a synthetic), but it's fine. It's very soft. 

In an ideal world I have a huge work table to lay out these big pieces to pin the backing fabric to the top and batting. I have no such thing. YouTube rescued me again.  There were a few videos on how to attach the backing on a very small table. It's not easy but I managed. I did it on the kitchen counter, the only place with a large surface. I didn't want to do it on the floor to save my knees and back, besides, I didn't want to put my lovely creation on the floor to get dirty. 

The pinning took an entire afternoon, there were over a hundred curved safety pins in all. 

Trying to sew this big thing on my sewing machine was the one thing I feared the most. I had nightmares about how to do this. Again, the internet taught me that it could be done. You roll up each side and persevere. It's like wrestling an alligator but it's possible. All it takes is patience. Thank God for the walking foot and my good ol' Kenmore, that thing is built like a tank. It worked like a champ. 

Next was adding the binding. I had found a nice fabric for cheap online, I think it was from Joanne's, a blue pattern that looked like an old bandana. You have to cut several long strips and attach them end to end on the bias, another process I learned from YouTube. 

Here's the quilt without the binding folded up. 

And here are the binding strips. 

Sewing the binding took another whole afternoon. After all that, here's the--drumroll please--finished piece. I'm super pleased with how it turned out. It's not perfect by a long shot, very 'hamishe' like everything I make, but you learn that quilting forgives a lot of sins. You don't see little imperfections, you're just left with the cozy comfy end product. 

As a coda, I had several squares left over, I had made extra in case the overall design needed adjusting. I  turned three of these into pot holders, Christmas gifts for my nieces and nephew. 

And as a second coda, I took a few of the leftover blocks and made a table runner. I think it's a little thin for the dining room tho. It will look a lot better on the bistro table we use on the front porch next spring. 

60 is the new 40

Yesterday was my Big One: I turned 60. It's hard to believe. It doesn't feel like that many years have passed...but time does fly. It turned out to be a great and memorable day. 

 

We woke up late and had a big breakfast of oatmeal with blueberries and bananas, one of my favorite meals. 

My gift from Scott was this neat metal racoon (my spirit animal) for the yard. See, I call the house "Racoon Hall", so it's a perfect talisman. It's a die-cut piece of metal that you nail into the side of a building, a fence, or a tree. It rusts and ages over time. Not sure where it will be placed just yet, stay tuned. Here's a pic from the maker:

We went back to bed for a long afternoon nap, it was that kind of day...

Afterward, we got cleaned up and had dinner at a beautiful restaurant in East Hampton, 1770 House. It's  in a lovely Inn. 

The room was warm and cozy and very Christmas-y. 

I had the most delicious dinner:

First course was Brussels Sprouts & Granny Smith Apple Salad

Bacon, Golden Raisins, Parmigiano Reggiano, & Lemon-Anchovy Dressing.

My entree was Roasted ‘Painted Hills’ Striploin with

Marrow Emulsion, Sauteed Spinach,  and Pommes Allumettes. 

We has a side of parsnip puree and finished off the meal with a sticky date cake with ice cream and caramel sauce. All of it was simply perfect. 

When we got home there's always something that goes wrong, right? Travis had thrown up in his cage! Scott had to give him a quick bath and we had to rinse off the cage in the backyard with the water hose. Aside from this snafu, it was a terrific day, everything that you could hope for.