Where do I even start with this one…first off, it is wrinkly and I’m not sorry. It was the hottest day of the year and I literally took two photos and we went back inside.
I didn’t finish a quilt in almost a year and a half because of this quilt. Several changes in my schedule left me with little time for crafts. I had so many other projects ‘in the works’ during this time that it was difficult to actively dedicate time to this specific one…not to mention that I had to start over several times which left me with little desire to work on it at all.
I made the mistake of mixing low quality fabric from a craft store with high quality fabric from a quilting store. All I have to say to that is NEVER AGAIN! I never cared much before, but it made such a difference. I finished a fourth of the quilt and had to start over. Not only that, I had to toss all the fabric because it was so wonky, there was no saving it. Then I bought more new high quality fabric (which for me meant driving an hour and fifteen minutes one way). Then I had to take it apart again because I needed more stabilization.
By the time I started over the third time, I was over it. I believe I began this in the November of 2022. It is now summer 2024 and it is finally done.
THE POSITIVE PART: For this quilt I was given the following requirements: Twin sized, llamas and mountains, you can do whatever you want with that.
Instead of paper piecing my llamas together (because I honestly forgot I could do that), I decided a year in that I should embroider them on. I decided to french knot them because of course they had to be fluffy! It took over 30 hours per llama. I was sick during every break I had between Christmas and Spring this year so I spent a lot of time sitting on the floor, tying knots. I am very happy with how they turned out and I think it the little bits of embroidery here and there (sunflowers, water and cloud movement, birds) add to the texture of the quilt.
After spending so long on this quilt and being so burnt out, mostly due to lack of time and annoyance at bad fabric, I began to think that perhaps I was done with making quilts. Not because I wanted to be done with quilts, but because I was feeling defeated by not having finished one in so long. Making quilts felt unobtainable…BUT THEN…I was asked to make a t-shirt quilt for a sweet and wonderful senior girl that we know. I put the llamas on hold and began to work on that. Graduation was in a few months so I had a project with a deadline. Putting that together so quickly inspired me to work on several other projects I had laying around. After being in a rut for almost two years, I finished 6 quilts in the span of 5 months.
This quilt took me forever and was difficult for me but I am glad I finished it. I think I looked at it for far too long because what I see is over 100 hours of french knots next to a relatively plain background, but I know the little girl who receives this quilt will see a portal to a tranquil world. I know looking back on it I will forget everything else about it and see what she sees.
Quirky Quilts 