WIP Wednesday!

The supernova quilt top is this close to being completed! Extra-long weekends are awesome for getting a move on projects!

So here's a look at the 4x4 sewn together, and the borders laid out but not sewn on.


Borders are going to be a mite tricksy, because my seams are...well...inexact. Sounds so tactful, doesn't it? "Inexact." Frankly, I reckon they'd make any of the bloggers I follow throw their hands up in horror...and they don't even have to sew them!

*coughs* So, inexact seams. Which means the distance between the starburst verticals varies between 15" and 15.5" according to the individual blocks. (I did say they were inexact!) So I'll have to do some careful pinning and probably some sewing-on-the-run to make sure the seams actually meet up where they're s'posed to.

I've only just begun contemplating the back and whether I'd like to do some piecing on the back. I have a bunch of fabric lengths from the top that should probably be used - although I'm thinking about making another postage stamp quilt with them.

The truth is that my backs are usually a plain cotton sheet, with edge-to-edge computer-patterned machining c/o Thirroul Custom Quilting. They do lovely work, and I adore the designs. Jo, who runs Thirroul Custom Quilting, has been awesome to speak with about patterns and designs, and I love looking at the quilts her other customers have brought for her to work on. Before I discovered the quilting blogosphere, her workshop was the place where I was most heartily reminded that I'm a beginner at this and have many miles to go!

I know there's a fair amount of disdain for sending quilts away to be quilted, but the truth is that the joy of quilting for me is in the design and piecing. I love the colours and fabrics, the patterns and geometry of piecing; the 'will it, or won't it' of putting it together and the problem-solving aspect of how to make it as fast and efficient a process as possible.

I've machine quilted my own quilts, and hand-quilted a couple of baby-quilts. It took forever, looked clumsy, and was a deeply unsatisfying experience.

The truth is that if I had to quilt my own quilts, it would become a chore and I wouldn't enjoy quiltmaking. And I wouldn't get the lovely works of art that computerised machine quilting produces, because I can't do that with either hands or machine myself - I don't have the time, the hands, or the equipment to create that kind of artistry.

And isn't that why we're in this hobby? To have fun and be artists - each in our own way - and incidentally to make something useful that will function for years and possibly even decades or centuries?

Or maybe that's just my humble beginner-quilter perspective on quilting?

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Other WIPs
1. S and V's quilt binding
2. C and K's quilt binding
3. AD's Sanctuary quilt
4. My own quilt binding

...I should probably face it that the binding is never gonna get done...