last month I had the audacity to put forward a resolution that I would post at least once a month on this blog. at the time this seemed like a realistic goal; it's not like a month goes by without me working on something in the studio.
february hasn't been all that productive in terms of quilting projects despite piecing a large bed quilt (86x90) (at least this is large by my standards, I generally make wall-hangings, baby quilts, or lap-quilts) . I didn't have any pressing projects on the board, so I got it into my head to make a bed quilt for my daughter em. I made her a bed quilt in 1997 when she graduated from high school and it was very loved and very used and right now it is ....well in tatters...the plan was to use the day of the dead fabrics that em bought a while ago. early on in the project I told her I was finally going to use the day of the dead fabric. told her my idea was to pull out the various colors that were in the main fabrics and just use stuff from my stash and have the quilt be somewhat scrappy. she was enthusiastic. early on, I asked if she would come up to the studio so she could see what the 'plan' was and how it was looking so far ....she replied, "no, I want to be surprised, I always like what you do"
famous last words.... both the accompanying fabrics and the pattern I selected for the quilt didn't pass muster! I learned em doesn't care for yellow/golds/brown..... or at least not to the extent I incorporated the colors into the piece and she also wasn't very keen on the pattern and thought the whole thing was just way too masculine looking....
investing a lot of time into a quilt that doesn't please the intended recipient kind of takes the wind out of one's sails.... but that's cool, this isn't the first time I made something that didn't work out...but the other times it was me that didn't like the product... and I know it won't be the last....unless I suddenly quit quilting and that's not gonna happen!
the quilt is so large I couldn't set it up in my normal spots....didn't quite fit on the studio felt wall and no way it could hang on the line outside. only thing I could think of was to put the top on a bed; well I learned that's a problem when there are animals around!well, it does seem that all the animals really seem to like the quilt.... I do too....but as of now, the quilt will be set aside the back and the quilting will have to wait until I figure out its fate.... for now I think I'm going to play with a palette of bright batiks and start something nice and small....
