Baby Shower

For the past two weeks I've been working on a quilt for a girlfriend's baby shower. It was a pretty big project because part of the project included appliqued journaling on the quilt back. The quilt top didn't take too long, but the back seemed to take forever and as usual I was constantly second guessing myself about the style and the detail.

I should probably preface this with a short paragraph about my artistic style. I love folk art. I think it's fantastic that anyone can open up the creative floodgates and produce a spectacular piece of original art. Some people love scrapbooking and although I've tried, I've never been able to express myself through scrapbooking. Some people love to paint or take photographs. I've tried painting, I can take mediocre photographs, but neither is my strong suit. But when it comes to artwork, creativity and expressing myself through a medium, sewing is my muse and these days quilting is my passion.

I had developed a unique and professional style when it came to garments and interior projects. I've taught classes to friends and clients alike and have had great success with lesson plans and student retention, but quilting has always been just a little more difficult for me to really grasp.

I think it's partially because quilting is so subjective. Quilting doesn't have to be perfect. It tells a story and paints a picture for people to admire. When I was in Kuwait, I told my best friend that I was interested in crazy quilting and sure enough once I arrived in Israel I started probing a girlfriend and fellow seamstress for information on everything quilting related. I've bought books, I've had books given to me, I've experimented with all sorts of techniques and I'm amazed at the flexibility and freedom one has when quilting.

But among all the different styles and theories, my absolute favorite expression in quilting is free motion quilting and hand embroidered piecing. In my head I have an idea of how this should all work, but the reality is I'm still trying to figure out exactly how to get my ideas onto the fabric as vividly as they are in my mind.

So, this particular quilt was quite a challenge for me. I had decided that I wanted the front to be very traditional, but I wanted the backing to be very abstract and folksy. I quickly completed the quilt top and moved onto the backing. Once I had pieced the back I was ready to gather all of the journalling for the applique. I asked all of the women to write a little note to the mom-to-be or baby on white fabric with permanent fabric pen. Once I had all of the journal entries, I cut them into squares triangles and hearts and I appliqued them to the back with a satin stitch. Then, I framed most of them with hand embroidery to give it that hand made feel.

It was here that I encountered a problem. I guess you could say it was a lesson learned. I hadn't allowed enough overage for the backing, which normally wouldn't have been an issue, but due to the nature of the applique the backing needed to be substantially larger than the quilt top to offset the fact that the backing fabric lost it's give because of the applique. So, I ended up making the binding fold over the quilt's edge and overlap the backing creating a frame. It wasn't exactly what I had in mind, but it worked.

Each time you put so much effort into a project you want it to be just perfect. I'm fairly sure that the recipient loved it and I loved making it.