It is everything I love about a quilt. It is everything I love about quilting.
Recently, I have been trying to shift my quilting focus towards trying all the hard things. I want to look at patterns and designs and feel empowered instead of scared. I want sewing and quilting to feel like a journey. Personally, I believe that perfecting my craft is part of the fun and that you have to know the rules in order to break them. I am proud to consider myself a quilter within the tradition and I embrace my quilty forebears. Someday, we can sit down with a cup of coffee and I will share my opinion on all the divisions quilting (modern, traditional, art, oh my). For now I will just say, we are all quilters.
When I first saw Jen Kingwell's Steam Punk quilt, I loved it. But then, the little voice inside my head told me that I could not make that. It was too hard. Templates. Curves. Appliqué.
On a whim, I went for it. I ordered the pattern, I ordered some acrylic templates. I opened my scrap bins. I combed through my stash.
Each block was an adventure. I didn't have a plan. I just started making blocks. There was some intense fussy cutting and a large number of cats (honestly because I have a lot of cat fabric in my stash, no particular design plan).
Because rainbows.
Then, all of a sudden, I had all of the blocks.
Over a couple of work trips, I hand appliquéd. It seemed to go fast.
Scraps on the back. I guess we could call this improv?
It is not perfect, I could probably point out all the mistakes. It is mine and I am so proud of it.
Quilt Stats:
Name: Bacon Punk
Size: approximately 71" x 71"
Pattern: Steam Punk by Jen Kingwell
Quilting: Shell free motion quilting with Aurifil white thread
Finished: April 2015
