This is from the 1996 JoAnn Fabrics, QBOM – Quilter’s Garden. I had made it a personal challenge to piece this entire quilt by hand. I initially started this project pre-circa-2004.
I drove a truck between 1994 and 2004. During that time, I frequently complained that I was not able to indulge myself and sew as much as I wished. For a short period of time, I even had my sewing machine with me on the truck, but that was almost more trouble than it was worth….
After that brief interlude, I was relegated to sewing only when I was home between trips. Since we were out on the road for three to five weeks at a time, and then only stayed home for three to four days — I didn’t get much opportunity to sew. (Not to mention, how busy you can imagine that I would be — trying to get caught up from being away from home for a month, and then trying to fit in the normal chores that would be completed during that time-frame, but only having a few days to complete them.)
I finally realized that I was not going to get anything accomplished by complaining, and the only way that things were going to change would be if I changed my thinking. This is when I began sewing by hand.
If you were to ask me which I prefer, I really don’t know what I would answer. I love sewing by hand, and I also love sewing by machine. Obviously, machine-piecing is so much faster. However, due to the circumstances of my life between 1994 and 2004, I probably pieced the same number of hand-pieced blocks, as I did machine-pieced.
The Quilter’s Garden QBOM is the first project that I ever sewed entirely by hand. As you compare the different blocks, you will be able to see a definite progression in my sewing abilities.
Violets I – In Progress, originally uploaded by quiltnomad.
This is the first version of the Violets block. This block is hand pieced and hand appliqued. For some reason, I was rather enamoured of this block and purchased extra kits to stitch. I don’t specifically remember my reasoning now. I think that part of the reason may have been that I found a super-good deal on the kits and they were marked way down on clearance at the end of the year. I think I also wanted to make some extras for pillows for my mother, who likes violets.
You can see that the applique stitches are rather large, in comparison to later blocks from the same pattern.
Violets II – In Progress, Violets III – In Progress
There is a story for why this block is not finished yet — why the leaves are appliqued and it is still waiting for me to add the ruched violets:
In 2003, we had a minor disaster in our truck. Incident, perhaps might be a better word. It could have been a disaster of monumental proportions. It happened one day that we were home for the weekend. We parked the truck in the driveway, and slept in the house.
The next morning, I went to the truck and opened the driver’s side door. A cloud of smoke billowed out when I opened the door, accompanied by a foul, melted plastic smell. A panicked investigation revealed the culprit: the night previous, when exiting the truck — somehow my husband or I had bumped the burner knob on the stove, so that it was just barely “on”.
That would not have been much of an emergency, except that my plastic tackle box sewing kit had been sitting on the burner.
We were left with a melted puddle of plastic on the burner, and a horrendous odor. After much cleaning and airing out, I managed to eliminate most of the smell. I did not lose too much from my sewing kit, but one of the causalities was the pre-cut strips of purple and lilac fabric that was to have been ruched into the violets.
I did learn my lesson — remove the knobs from the stove when not in use so that they could not so easily be accidentally turned on. And not to put anything on the burner that did not belong there.
Violets III - In Progress « The Fox and the Hedgehog said,
September 20, 2008 at 1:49 pm
[...] patches. I still could “un-stitch” the leaves and restitch them where they should be. Violets I – In Progress Violets II – In Progress Opinions? Myself, I just can’t make a decision right now. [...]
Violets III - In Progress « The Nomadic Quilter said,
September 20, 2008 at 5:59 pm
[...] of how the block should be: Violets I – In ProgressViolets II – In [...]