It's hard work not doing anything creative. My fingers twitch with memories of knitting, and all I want to do is get spinning to whip up some new yarn in a thousand different jewel tones I've imagined since I started feeling ill. Still, it's not that bad. I've done a bit of planning, organising, thinking.
And, best of all, I remembered about this quilt which has been "in progress" for about two years. It has been hiding away, tucked in between the pages of a notebook on my bookshelf. It is the "Animal Alphabet" quilt from Don'tLookNow.
It's a smallish quilt with lots and lots of applique shapes in a hundred different fabrics/colours. I bought the pattern at the quilt market two years ago, and have been slowly making my way through the various shapes ever since then.
I have chickens, all cut out and stuck in the book, waiting to be appliqued on to the quilt front. I also have alligators, elephants, fish, jellyfish, newts, monkeys, and sharks. The unicorns are missing their Us, and the yaks are more-or-less traced but not cut out yet.
And, best of all, I remembered about this quilt which has been "in progress" for about two years. It has been hiding away, tucked in between the pages of a notebook on my bookshelf. It is the "Animal Alphabet" quilt from Don'tLookNow.
It's a smallish quilt with lots and lots of applique shapes in a hundred different fabrics/colours. I bought the pattern at the quilt market two years ago, and have been slowly making my way through the various shapes ever since then.
I have chickens, all cut out and stuck in the book, waiting to be appliqued on to the quilt front. I also have alligators, elephants, fish, jellyfish, newts, monkeys, and sharks. The unicorns are missing their Us, and the yaks are more-or-less traced but not cut out yet.
The giraffes might well be my favourite with their long orange necks and giant ears.
... or the dinosaurs, with their Flea Market Fancy Ds and purple spikes.
I have already cut out all the shapes from A - S, so there are only a few left to do. Then comes the hard work: each shape needs to be placed correctly on the quilt top, bonded, and then outlined stitched in zigzag in a corresponding colour. That's a lot of thread. And a lot of stitching. I feel quite tired thinking about it all.
The only colours I'm missing are the browns, but I'll get there. This lovely selection of rainbow colours arrived by post this morning. Thank goodness for online shopping. I shall have to sew up lots of brightly coloured things in the future to make it all worthwhile. Yellow. Who has yellow cotton? Not me, before today!
After all of that stitchery, there's some trupunto work which may or may not be skipped, lots of tight quilting which may become lovely loose lines, backing and finally binding. No wonder it's taken me so long to get this far. I'm in no rush. I hope to add a few animals each week and slowly make my way through the remaining steps. This is only one of two quilts-in-progress waiting to be finished; this year is looking good for getting things done ... even from bed!
