Yesterday I pulled out the box with the grey wool pieces in it.
Immediately I could tell it was not big enough for a king sized bed. Now I'm thinking I may have thought to sew it into a wall hanging. Who knows at this point? and who really cares?
It did have the blocks numbered but for some reason I was missing one of the blocks. I remember at one point there was a layout sketch but it was not in the box.
My attempt at abstract leaves balanced between "not bad" to "laughable".
I thought the whole composition would be lovely covered with big funky hand embroidered stitches and motifs. Throw in some wooden beads and bold buttons too.
It set off a wave of nostalgia about living in a household with 3 males. With my determination to make my own life, being pulled to the past isn't necessarily where I want to go.
As I pondered it I asked myself some pro and con questions.
Given all the unfinished handwork projects currently filling my spaces, would I really sit down and embroider this piece? Or, maybe would I give myself permission to embroider this piece guiltfree.
I admitted the idea of just buttonholing the shapes & keeping the embroidery simple appealed to me.
I could use brightly colored threads. I could pull out my collections of big wacky beads and buttons & get all funky with those too.
The shapes? not that crazy about them all these 25 years later.
The colors? same; although they would be a good background for brighter colors.
What would I do with it when it was finished?
I really didn't see the need for a new wall hanging. I have 3 right now I would rather hang in my house that beg to be finished more than this piece.
But, it could be a very nice wall hanging to usher in the fall season and I could keep it up until I pull out my Christmas wall hanging.
Looking at the pictures again this morning tells me I'm not entirely ready to abandon it.
I would like a nice warm wool quilt for the winter season.
I looked through my remaining wool yardage. I have enough to sew a newly designed wool quilt (and a few more). There was a small collection of square patches already cut too. I had used the rougher more masculine wool for a quilt for my nephew and his wife about 8 years ago. They live in the Pacific Northwest and seemed to appreciate the quilt.
I could use the Pendleton wools I've been saving from the 1980s. If anyone should have them, it should be me. They would make a very nice warm quilt.
The day was slipping away. I didn't want to become frustrated with a project taking up my whole Sunday that probably wasn't going to see the light of day again soon. I left the wool quilt for awhile so I could embroider one of the Antique Butterflies. I knew I could accomplish that before evening appeared.
Just to keep the process simple, I chose the 1st butterfly in the collection in a medium size (9 x 6 inches). An hour and a half later I had my butterfly. WOW! it's gorgeous!
It's arrival opened up new possibilities for the wool quilt. It also sent me back to my other embroidery collections.
One collection I haven't really used is a huge Jacobean floral collection. Like the butterflies they are labor intensive and they use a wide variety of thread colors. But gosh, I love the abstract look of Jacobean flowers. This is just one of the pretty blocks I have in my embroidery stash.
That sent me straight to Pinterest looking at some layout ideas. So many possibilites!
Now the questions are:
How much do I want this wool quilt?
Would I be happy with patchwork?
Do I want to add embroidery?
Do I think the butterflies would be compatible with the Jacobean florals?
The embroidery adds a serious amount of work to the project. There would also be questions about the direction for finishing it. I could simply machine quilt around the patches without disturbing the embroidery.
I could hand embroider the seams with simple embroidery stitches.
Then do something like tie the different corners.
Is this wool quilt a distraction pulling my focus away from my summer plans to sew as many community quilts as possible?
Or is it a project deserving renewed interest?
It does fall into the "let's get some old UFOs finished" and "it would be fun to use my embroidery machine more" and "I already own the designs" arguments.
And what about finishing the wool leaves piece as a wall hanging? Suddenly I have 2 projects. See how that happens?
One advantage to the embroidery machine is its ability to stitch with minimal attention; dependent upon the designs. In the case of the Jacobean floral and the Antique Butterflies, there is a long time between thread changes.
It sounds like if I can decide on a basic layout, I have the supplies and the time to stitch a lovely wool embroidered quilt before the winter season is upon me.
Immediately I could tell it was not big enough for a king sized bed. Now I'm thinking I may have thought to sew it into a wall hanging. Who knows at this point? and who really cares?
It did have the blocks numbered but for some reason I was missing one of the blocks. I remember at one point there was a layout sketch but it was not in the box.
My attempt at abstract leaves balanced between "not bad" to "laughable".
I thought the whole composition would be lovely covered with big funky hand embroidered stitches and motifs. Throw in some wooden beads and bold buttons too.
It set off a wave of nostalgia about living in a household with 3 males. With my determination to make my own life, being pulled to the past isn't necessarily where I want to go.
This one needs the most help, I think. ^^^
Just a little of the wools I have.
As I pondered it I asked myself some pro and con questions.
Given all the unfinished handwork projects currently filling my spaces, would I really sit down and embroider this piece? Or, maybe would I give myself permission to embroider this piece guiltfree.
I admitted the idea of just buttonholing the shapes & keeping the embroidery simple appealed to me.
I could use brightly colored threads. I could pull out my collections of big wacky beads and buttons & get all funky with those too.
The shapes? not that crazy about them all these 25 years later.
The colors? same; although they would be a good background for brighter colors.
What would I do with it when it was finished?
I really didn't see the need for a new wall hanging. I have 3 right now I would rather hang in my house that beg to be finished more than this piece.
But, it could be a very nice wall hanging to usher in the fall season and I could keep it up until I pull out my Christmas wall hanging.
Looking at the pictures again this morning tells me I'm not entirely ready to abandon it.
I would like a nice warm wool quilt for the winter season.
I looked through my remaining wool yardage. I have enough to sew a newly designed wool quilt (and a few more). There was a small collection of square patches already cut too. I had used the rougher more masculine wool for a quilt for my nephew and his wife about 8 years ago. They live in the Pacific Northwest and seemed to appreciate the quilt.
I could use the Pendleton wools I've been saving from the 1980s. If anyone should have them, it should be me. They would make a very nice warm quilt.
The day was slipping away. I didn't want to become frustrated with a project taking up my whole Sunday that probably wasn't going to see the light of day again soon. I left the wool quilt for awhile so I could embroider one of the Antique Butterflies. I knew I could accomplish that before evening appeared.
Just to keep the process simple, I chose the 1st butterfly in the collection in a medium size (9 x 6 inches). An hour and a half later I had my butterfly. WOW! it's gorgeous!
It's arrival opened up new possibilities for the wool quilt. It also sent me back to my other embroidery collections.
One collection I haven't really used is a huge Jacobean floral collection. Like the butterflies they are labor intensive and they use a wide variety of thread colors. But gosh, I love the abstract look of Jacobean flowers. This is just one of the pretty blocks I have in my embroidery stash.
That sent me straight to Pinterest looking at some layout ideas. So many possibilites!
Now the questions are:
How much do I want this wool quilt?
Would I be happy with patchwork?
Do I want to add embroidery?
Do I think the butterflies would be compatible with the Jacobean florals?
The embroidery adds a serious amount of work to the project. There would also be questions about the direction for finishing it. I could simply machine quilt around the patches without disturbing the embroidery.
I could hand embroider the seams with simple embroidery stitches.
Then do something like tie the different corners.
Is this wool quilt a distraction pulling my focus away from my summer plans to sew as many community quilts as possible?
Or is it a project deserving renewed interest?
It does fall into the "let's get some old UFOs finished" and "it would be fun to use my embroidery machine more" and "I already own the designs" arguments.
And what about finishing the wool leaves piece as a wall hanging? Suddenly I have 2 projects. See how that happens?
One advantage to the embroidery machine is its ability to stitch with minimal attention; dependent upon the designs. In the case of the Jacobean floral and the Antique Butterflies, there is a long time between thread changes.
It sounds like if I can decide on a basic layout, I have the supplies and the time to stitch a lovely wool embroidered quilt before the winter season is upon me.
Join the Conversation!
Any suggestions? Ha! ha!
I feel like I’ve had many of these conversations with myself lately. My bottom line is whether making the project will bring me joy, and then, (but somewhat less important) what I will do with the finished piece. Good luck with your deliberations, though it seems you’ve come to a decision. The good thing about quilting is that hand work is usually minimal, so you can be very selective about handwork projects that are important to you.
ReplyDeleteI guess the real question is, do you have something else you'd rather be doing?
ReplyDelete