I am not a quilter, but I am the cause of quilting in other people!
By hvedra
@hvedra (1619)
December 20, 2011 4:17am CST
At the weekend a friend of ours came to stay. She's always done needlework of one kind or another and she has recently joined a quilting group and we were looking at design sources because she wants to start a quilt in the New Year. She wanted something a little bit different to what the others in the group were doing but nothing madly complicated.
I have a good general design source book which has patterns from all over the world and from different periods of history - Ancient Rome, Tudor England, etc. We hit the page on Ancient Egypt and started looking at some of the designs because she has an interest in it anyway. The Eye of Horus, Ankh, scarab and other symbols are striking but not too complicated to incorporate. I suggested if she used a lot of blue and gold (like a lot of the Tutankhamun treasures) she could have a really amazing quilt to create.
So there you go, my friend is now starting to design what will be an amazing Egyptian quilt and I get to watch her create it.
Aside from doing your own crafts, do you think of things for other people to do or pick up designs because you think they might like them? Has a little chit-chat ever turned into a major project?
2 people like this
5 responses
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
22 Dec 11
Sounds amazing. I am getting back into quilting after about 20 years of not doing any. I just recently finished a "T-shirt" quilt for my 11 yo Grand daughter. It is made up of fronts of t=shirts that she has worn through the years that meant something to her. I have been "saving" themfor the last 4 years and finally just had enough to construct it. I have picture of it here. I am doing another like it for my 5 yo grand daughter. With her...being only five and collecting for 4..didn't have enough t-shirts so I got fabric of themes that meant something to her...Tinkerbelll, the five Disney princess. ANd still, needed 2 more so instead of just my "signature label" on the back, I printed out a special song we sang and made it a block and her cousin (11 yo) wrote something to her about things they have been doing and used those as blocks. Turned out great! The memories just make me want to cry! Funny how a t-shirt can create such emotion!!!!
But I am trying to find a new quilt to start and want to do the piece work (my fav is applique blocks). I have a few sites I peruse and found a pattern for one with squares and rectanbles and triangles sewn together for a really nice grouping. My problem in crafts is matching colors. I just fight so hard to find the match! Takes me longer to design it than it does to sew it together! I dont know why, but in all the years and years of crafts and sewing, you'd think I'd have that mastered, but still....after 45 years of sewing..I still fight that problem!
I have never had a friend that likes crafts as much as I do..not even in my family! And they dont' really like getting my crafts as gifts. They are great items, but for some reason, they just dont' like handmade stuff.
Yours sounds awesome and I hope you post status and pics of it!
1 person likes this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
9 Jan 12
Thanks for BR... hope to see your quilt soon! I just ordered some charm paks and have great plans for some quilts...and some pillows and placemats!
1 person likes this
@writersedge (22563)
• United States
21 Dec 11
This reminds me of last Christmas. A friend of mine wanted to embroider pillow cases to give to a relative. So I let her borrow tons of books and she chose the simplest design of a flower possible. She repeated it across the case end and her sister loved it.
1 person likes this
@rogue13xmen13 (14403)
• United States
21 Dec 11
That's a good thing, isn't it?
People are making quilts based on periods of history which is something that will keep that history alive.
I love history, and I think that anything that keeps history alive is a good thing.
@jillhill (37354)
• United States
20 Dec 11
Quite often it does. When I go to my friends in Wisconsin there are tons of ideas that turn into major projects....but then again most of my friends are into crafts so we do share ideas. I think the quilt will be beautiful! I love the idea...especially the colors!
1 person likes this
@3SnuggleBunnies (16374)
• United States
20 Dec 11
Well kinda sorta. I found a unusual pattern book for crochet and told my Aunt about it before I knew it I was scanning pages so I had patterns for her to do. She got really intrigued by the carrot scarf and has made a couple of them. Myself, I haven't made anything in the book yet. I like the stuff but what I like is complicated and so help me if I made the patterns I liked out of that book and the kids lost them, I'd loose it big time!
1 person likes this