Monday, October 3, 2011

One Swoon Block.

No lie. I think this is the only thing I've sewn in a month.

{Faith} September Swoon Block

Well, I've done some other things, too, but this has taken a LOT out of me!

It's a Swoon block, designed by Camille Roskelley of Bonnie and Camille/Bliss fame.  There are 81 pieces, 65 of which are triangles (HSTs or Flying Geese). It finishes to 24 1/2".  Can you believe it? One block? 2 feet square? Some of you have kitchen floor tiles as large as that!

I made it for the {Faith} Circle of the do.Good Stitches bee. As usual, the story behind this quilt, and the family it is going to is just heart-breaking.  And as much work as this was, as challenging as it was for me, I tried really hard to have a good attitude while I was working on it, knowing that the family who gets this quilt is going through WAY worse than the 8 hours I spent working on it. The biggest challenge for me, besides finding the right colors, was just the precision with which I had to sew it. It's a very specific pattern that required a very exact 'scant 1/4" seam'. And since there were so many points coming together, Ramona suggested I press the seams open. (She just made an entire Swoon quilt in like, a day, or something ridiculous like that. She is a machine!)  I think I spent as much time at the iron as I did at the sewing machine! :)

But seriously, folks. One of the things I LOVE LOVE LOVE about modern quilting is the ability to create something beautiful without that kind of precision. Yes, I believe in accuracy and quality craftsmanship, but being a recovering perfectionist, precision is not my best friend. :)

And I'm pretty sure the only swooning I did was after midnight one night when I had already spent 4+ hours on it and I was nowhere near finished.

6 comments:

  1. well it was worth it….and you said you were afraid of hst…… hum…..

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love these blocks, i'm in the process of working on some myself, once you get going, they move along faster and seriously, beautiful! nice work!
    http://knotted-thread.blogspot.com
    )if you'd like to see my adventures with swoon blocks haha)

    ReplyDelete
  3. its just lovely...even more so because of al the work you put into it!

    ReplyDelete
  4. It looks great!!! 81 pieces sounds a little nuts hahaha!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. It is beautiful! I can't believe it has so many pieces. I keep thinking of picking up this pattern, but now I am not so sure!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Just beautiful! I love how 'our' quilt is turning out!

    ReplyDelete

What are you sewing?