Quilting Each Day Keeps the Psychiatrist Away

I truly believe that quilting is medicine for the soul. It is addictive, but also something that soothes the savage beast. When I was twelve, I copied my sister's shorts pattern onto newspaper and then cut them out and sewed the seams by hand. I was off and running in the world of sewing. My first sewing machine was an old Singer Treadle that my hubby bought for me for $10.00. The tension was terrible, but it sewed! When I was pregnant with the first child, he bought me a Brothers machine and I happily made my maternity clothes.
I made plenty of little girl's clothes and little boy's shirts for a nephew for about twenty-five cents. I just sewed and sewed. My sister-in-law got a Singer Golden Touch and Sew in the seventies and I had to have one like it. I sold the Brothers to the woman across the street and moved on up to my Singer. It saw me through grade school clothes, prom dresses, a leather coat for my youngest (which she outgrew in about six months) and even a wedding dress for a friend's daughter. Once my hubby was earning better money, I asked for a Pfaff and gave the Singer to my daughter-in-law. The quilting bug had bitten by the time the kids were out of the house and even though I was happy with the Pfaff, I coveted a Bernina Artista. The husband was spending too much money on raising quarter-horses at the time, so he didn't complain when I spent over $3000.00 for the Bernina. I love that machine like it was one of my kids. The Pfaff is my back-up machine, but it is living at my oldest daughter's house, because her old White quit working and I had given her quilting fever somewhere along the line.
The little critter on the right is part
of an embroidery card that I finally started using on the Bernina and I put together a baby quilt for an unknown baby boy. It is ready to be quilted and the backing is pieced and the binding is ready. Someone just needs to have a baby!

I can't seem to get myself down to the actual quilting, when there are so many fabrics calling my name and so many wonderful patterns to challenge my ability. I need to learn to finish what I start before going on to the next project.
I take some of the really big quilts out to a professional long arm quilter after piecing them. I save my quilting fingers for the ones where you can show off the tiny little stitches required to call myself a quilter. The needles are so tiny (size ten or twelve Betweens) that they make holes in your fingertips. Ouch!
This quilt is called a charm quilt,
because the pieces are all different fabrics. It is a king size and I made four pillow shams to match. I have a queen size just like it--- it wasn't big enough for our king and I am stocking up on quilts for my grandkids, so I just did a repeat. The dust ruffle has dragon flies all over it and I sewed the ruffle right onto the box spring cording. It sure helps keep from tucking the skirt in with the sheets when you make the bed.
I saw this pattern in a quilter's magazine and had to give it a try. For someone who didn't do too well in Geometry classes, I have learned to figure out how quilt pieces work. This one is a standard bed size and is mostly Batik fabrics, which I really love. I found a pattern recently and have to start collecting half yard Batiks again. Sigh! I can't wait to go to Bettsville, Ohio to The Door Mouse Quilt Shop --- they have so many fabrics that I could stay all day just correlating things.
Now we come to the quilt that shames me. I bought the fabric to make a quilt for my older brother. It is huge --- big enough to be a bedspread for a king size bed. I managed to get the blocks pieced and put together. I began hand quilting with a hoop and really enjoyed quilting the open blocks. Then I did "stitch in the ditch" around the colored pieces in the odd blocks. I was slow--- I admit it. My brother died six years ago! And --- the quilt is still not done. There is a huge amount of quilting needed on the pieced border and since he died --- I have not felt like getting it done. I could finish it and give it to his widow, but she has been remarried for almost two years. Like I started out to say, quilting will keep the psychiatrist away,but procrastinating will drive you nuts!