Not Another Quilt?

You may recall that a few weeks ago I told you about my unfinished quilts, two large patchwork quilt tops still waiting to be edged, layered, quilted and bound. You would think under the circumstances the very last thing I would do the week before going on holiday is start a new big project like another quilt but…

I can explain!

Forty years ago in 1984, as a young woman I moved to America with my then husband and an eighteen month old toddler. I was a competent knitter and seamstress, able to knit a sweater or run up a pair of curtains but up until then I would say my needlework was practical rather than creative. Back then in the UK if I wanted fabric or yarn I would venture into London’s West End and the extensive fabric and haberdashery department of John Lewis as we didn’t have much available locally. Probably now John Lewis the last place I would look as the haberdashery, yarn and fabric department has been so diminished but that’s another story. However, on arriving in Boston, Massachusetts all those years ago I was amazed at the selection available. Virtually every shopping mall had its own large fabric and yarn shop including an extensive creative craft department.  I was spoiled for choice. I bought skeins of rainbow coloured embroidery floss plus beautiful, printed fabrics and I began to sew. I made embroidered dolls, soft toys and Christmas stockings as well as several cross stitch samplers. But I was also bewitched by all the examples of beautiful patchwork quilts, despite having no idea how to begin to make one, not that I was going to let that stop me. So, when I spotted a pattern for a quilt made entirely of blocks featuring appliqued vehicles I knew I had to have it. Not only had I never made a quilt before, but I had never tried applique either… well, how hard could it be!

Quite hard as it happens. I don’t actually remember opening it up and reading the instructions, but I assume I must have done it at some point, and promptly put everything back in the bag because it seemed so complicated and overwhelming. And my little toddler who was obsessed with cars and anything with wheels never did get his ‘Transportation Quilt’.

Another baby and a move back to the UK followed in the next three years and the pattern managed to come back with us, to be stored in a box in a cupboard. Now and then I would find it again, take it out and try once more to understand the instructions, only to decide it was far too complicated. And none of the other boys had quite the same obsession with vehicles so I lacked the motivation.

He loved that he could change gear, even if it was only an ‘automatic’!

By the time I actually had the skill and knowledge to tackle this quilt there seemed little point as all four boys were far too grown up and once again the pattern was consigned to the back of a cupboard because I could never quite bring myself to get rid of it.

But now my eldest son has his own little boy who is just as obsessed with cars, wheels and monster trucks and watching him drive around the garden in his own toy car, parallel parking and reversing around corners with a skill to be envied, I decided it was now or never. Squares of fabric have been cut out, the pattern has been studied and I have begun, and two of the twenty blocks have been completed.

There is quite a bit of hand embroidery required on each block but after finishing the tractor block I decided I would rather adapt the designs and use the machine where necessary. A couple of the blocks also feature vehicles very specific to the US, such as a yellow taxi and a yellow school bus so I may even try replacing them with a London black cab and red bus if I feel brave enough to attempt designing from scratch.

Eventually when all the blocks are made it is somehow all magically sewn together and quilted onto a backing fabric all in one go. I keep reading the sparse instructions and thinking it sounds like some form of witchcraft, but I will worry about that when I come to it. For now, I will continue to work slowly finishing one block at a time, each one different so lots of fun to work on. If I focus on the block I’m working on and don’t think about the completed quilt it feels achievable! The only photograph to guide me as to what the finished thing should look like is the small one on the front of the pattern pack, so I tried to do some research to see if there are any other quilts out there on the internet that have been made to this pattern but there’s not a lot to help me. Although I did discover it was a 1981 Better Homes and Gardens pattern, there’s not much more information than that. I will continue to muddle along sometimes making it up as I go but I still have a feeling this might be finished before those other two quilt tops ever get to see the light of day.

But not this week because if all goes to plan I won’t be sitting indoors sewing when you read this but I’ll be out and about with my sketchbook. Hopefully I’ll be back to tell you all about it next Sunday morning.