Thursday, August 7, 2014

Quilt on a Clothesline - Nine Patch

Although this feature has had a rough start (read my previous post) I am excited to share my second quilt today.

After taking the class on basic quilting, with lack of time and interest I bound my first quilt without finishing the quilting and continued making dolls and dried and silk flower arrangements - a home grown business I was in before I made my first quilt. It seemed like I was working every waking minute of my day. It was difficult to manage with three kids so I stopped making dolls and focused on being a full time mother.


In 1996 we moved to Seattle. I didn't have heart to get rid of my fabrics so I packed my precious yardage along with my belongings. I did not know what I was going to do with it but it was FABRIC! How could I not take it with me? Having grown up in a middle class family in India, waste not want not was the only way of living.

Two years after moving to Seattle, I took my fabrics out of the box and decided to make a quilt. That's right, there was almost six years of gap between my first and second quilt. What made me decide on making a quilt and not dolls? The temperatures...It was always too cold, I thought I was saving money by making a quilt from what I already had. I set up my little TV cart that I used as the sewing table and plopped my Singer sewing machine on that in a corner of the play room. 

I taught myself how to piece blocks all over again with the help of only book I owned. 

Nine- Patch made with leftover scraps from doll making.

You can tell by the colors, they are not my usual colors..What a contrast, right?   

With three children under the age of nine and husband who often traveled on business, I found myself enjoying sewing during the little pockets of time in the evenings. After the day of running around chaotically, having a systematic process of cutting the strips and piecing them into nine patches was fulfilling. I had no clue how or if it was going to be quilted. I was just having fun looking at colors, fabrics and being proud of those perfect points. Which by the way looked as if they magically appeared, every single time!


I had planned on hand quilting the quilt. I owned a machine that did not have capacity to lower the feed dogs, neither did it have a darning foot nor a walking foot. Not that it would have made any difference! I did not know what was their purpose in the first place.


I thought it would be nice to have some white space to show off my hand quilting...So I used muslin for the borders. It's been 16years since this top was made...it's still not a quilt.


Even though these colors are not my favorite, there is something peaceful about it. Like an antique quilt, I will always treasure this because of it's significance.

This quilt helped me make first quilting friends in Seattle. One evening my son's friend's mom came to pick her son up after the play-date. I had just finished the top and it was hanging on the banister. As soon as she saw it, she asked, "Do you quilt?" and added, "You should join our quilting group, we meet once a week and it would be nice if you came." And so it began - A wonderful friendship with Rhonda, Patty, Janey, Diane, Susan and Sandra. They were all experts at quilting and hosting. I was so new to everything!
 
Each of them had son or daughter in my son, Gautam's grade but not in the same classroom. I took my daughter to the weekly meetings. She loved playing with Patty's daughter and looked forward to seeing her. It was great to meet them and share quilts and life.

It still seems like just yesterday!

As far as this quilt goes, I am happy to have used up all of the leftover fabrics. All good memories stitched in those jewels like patches. Some day it will be finished.
 
Have a great weekend you all! 

26 comments:

  1. Wow a real trip down memory lane for you! Just what a quilt should be all about! And you can never have too many 9 patch quilts, they are one of my favourites!

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  2. Well I love this quilt and the story behind it. I really hope you do hand quilt it and finish it. The beginning of your quilt journey it has a story to tell….and its nine patches :)
    Kathie

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  3. Is beautiful, you really should finish it. Very classic yet a different palette of colors from traditional. Nice story and truly your first quilt top.....at least large one. And really the beginning of your quilting journey.

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  4. I think this is a lovely quilt. Especially since it led you to friends and other moms. I did have to laugh about the muslin borders.
    I have also made dolls and bunnies but not as good as yours and not for a long time.
    maybe this winter I'll make a few. I still do love a soft dolly

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  5. I agree with Christine - you should finish it. I love my log cabin and it took me 15 years to quilt and I didn't like it either, lol

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  6. So now I know how you started down your quilting path! You are right very different colors than I am used to seeing in your work. Great story!!

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  7. Sujata, your quilt on a clothesline feature is so heartwarming, you have a beautiful talent both for quilts and penning your thoughts. Thank you for sharing your precious memories. This quilt has a sweet innocence to it, just like you have said, the nine patches shine like jewels and white is so peaceful!

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  8. What a sweet story to go with a sweet quilt. You will never regret finishing it, so I encourage you to do so. It has too many memories to not enjoy it! Thanks for sharing this story, I really enjoyed it, and glad I found your blog!

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  9. And whether you do or don't choose to finish the quilting stage or not, I hope you put a copy of this post with the flimsy ....

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  10. Loved your story (history) and I love 9-patch quilts. I just made another one with very old scraps. It holds many quilt memories.

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  11. Suharta, so lovely and soothing too, reminds me of one from my childhood, my Mom didn't quilt, but my Grandmother did. So sewing and quilting skipped a generation to me.
    Suharta, you write such lovely, personal posts and I'm so glad to see you finished this quilt!

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  12. I think it's fun to see where we started! This has been my goal this summer, to finish the many tops hanging out in my cupboard. But it's sometimes hard to finish a quilt that no longer speaks to me- and my taste in color has changed over time too. I might consider dyeing the whole top hot pink! (I dyed a skirt that was too timid (tan) and loved how the original print still showed up, but now with more color (green) around it….) Your quilt might have too much sentimental value for such a crazy idea. :D

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  13. It is beautiful and peaceful and has such a beautiful history! I CAN see you in though...the kind of crazy order to and beautiful contrasts of colors that on each other like your vibrant quilts....you are still in it! Truly a beautiful post and quilt!!

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  14. It's beautiful! I hope you will finish it someday. It makes me want to make a simple 9-patch on point too. Simple is best sometimes.

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  15. This simple nine patch led you to a group of quilting friends - what could be better? I bet you will fall in love with this quilt once it is all quilted up. I look forward to more of your Friday features.

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  16. So lovely to hear how you made friends at a quilt group - I never really did that, or had the opportunity, something I miss. It's a lovely quilt top - you could use it as a curtain if you didn't want to quilt it! www.dawnchorusstudio.com

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  17. The colours do look rather subdued for you but it is a lovely quilt made more lovely by the memories surrounding it!

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  18. Hi, Sujata. I'm liking your "quilt on a clothesline" project. The stories related to quilting are always so interesting. Your second quilt does look like an "old-fashioned" one--very lovely and pleasing. You have traveled so far!
    best, nadia

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  19. Wow, and that was only your second quilt! Beautiful and it has a vintage charm.

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  20. I didn't know you made dolls! How cute. Interesting connection to quilting.

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  21. What an encouraging post! Thank you so much for sharing. You made beautiful choices.

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  22. ^Do finish it - its gorgeous

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  23. That's a very inspiring personal story. The fact that your tastes have changed (or maybe just developed along with your quilting know how) is reassuring because I struggle with color and fabric choices and haven't quite figured that part out. And I wouldn't worry about finishing the quilt. Some quilts were just meant to be unfinished.

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  24. We all have those fabulous UFO's and yes, it might be time to take care of their finish, as I try to do with mine.

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