Sew Me Silly !!!: This is Exciting!

Wow!!!!!

I am so happy. I finally finished the postage stamp quilt. This little baby has been going for a long time- I think I started about 1992/93.

I saw the image of a similar antique quilt in an American book or magazine, cannot remember which. I chose colours similar to the one in the book to try and simulate the antique look. I strip pieced the blocks- remember making lots of mistakes and it being tedious. I was always in such a hurry that I didn't take enough care with the strip sewing. After piecing the top I sun-bleached and then tea-dyed it. The top was then put in a box for one of the many moves I made over the years ( 19 in the last 25 years) and only resurfaced about two years ago when I unpacked a box of sewing materials.

About 10 years ago I packed all the sewing away, gave away my sewing machine and nearly all my fabrics and most of my books and had decided not to sew again - that was until my daughter became pregnant with my granddaughter. We sat and planned quilts and then it all began again- the obsession, the boxes started to get unpacked looking for any scraps I had suitable for a baby quilt.

When this surfaced I was a little sad. On one hand it was amazing that it had held together, but the sewing was so bad. I remember not having much money and sewing it together with blue cotton and the machine tension was wonky. I had given up on the top due to its dreadful piecing but in bringing it out again I fell back in love with the design.

The first thing I had to do was to stabilise the piecing. I ironed stabiliser onto the back over all the holes and stitching that had become undone over time. I hand sewed other bits and have had to darn the odd hole. I then decided that if I was going to keep the quilt - and there were moments I thought I should just throw out or use under a new top - I should machine quilt and hopefully cover all the other bad stitching.

I quilted in straight lines each side of the strips earlier this year. Not too tidy but seems to suit the odd antique look. I didn't have any backing fabric and felt the quilt top was not worthy of spending 60 dollars or so on a back so went op-shopping. Found some gorgeous ochre brocade and embroidered curtaining. I cut to fit and attached after the quilting was done.

I stitched the turkey red bindings on to two parallel sides of the quilt and somehow it got put away again. They were hemmed down today during the power blackout. I decided after my last blog post to finish this quilt tonight so went on a hunt for the other two binding strips which I had packed away wit the house inspections happening. Took a while to locate. I found them and stitched them on tonight and have just finished hemming the bindings down. This quilt was a priority for the UFO project. I decided that no matter how odd and badly stitched it was the design was so nice and if I take my glasses off or look at it from a distance it still looks great.

So here it is, 5 September 2010, some 17 or 18 years after it was begun, it is finished!