Quilting Callouses

 It's been so long since I last blogged, I'm going to pretend it was just yesterday.

Well, sort of.  

Because of a big snow storm that blew in on Wednesday, I've had an entire week off from my part-time job, and truth be told, I'm a little tired of knitting.  Not good, since I have 5 days left to finish my February socks for the Self-Imposed (inflicted) Sock of the Month Challenge.  But I'll get to that...

So, I was looking around for something different to do, and spied the quilt I pin-basted last summer, just lying in a basket, forlorn and neglected.  I have struggled for the months since it's basting with a quilting pattern.  I tried a few different ways, even cut out some templates, but didn't like any of them.  On Wednesday, I pulled out the graph paper and template plastic and came up with something I liked.  I found the right color of quilting thread, found an old packet of size 9 sharps, and went after it.

I quilted an entire square that day.  But I didn't like the inset, the little handle of the fan.  I still haven't pulled this one out, but have used a small heart in the others that I've quilted so far.  I've quilted a square each day, and boy!  the lack of quilting callouses is quite painful!  Every once in a while, I really jam that needle in hard!  But mostly, it's so soothing, so relaxing.  I quilted my way through 1980-2005, and just dropped it cold when I got my first loom.  The rocking motion my hand makes, the satisfying effect of tiny stitches on cotton, the finishing of a project started so long ago, it's all magical.

In 1996, I lived in Paris, went to culinary school, but had lots of time when I needed something else to do besides be a tourist in between classes.  I found a quilt shop, Le Rouvray, in the 5th arrondissement near St. Michel Metro.  A woman from Michigan started the shop when her husband was transferred to Paris, and there were no quilt shops.  I never met her, but her staff was wonderful.  They were very helpful, and two of them spoke fluent English, which I sometimes needed, just to let my brain think in one language.

The fabric in the fans was made in France, and they warned me that it would be harder to sew through.  I pieced it all by hand, then stuck it in a box, and only saw it once in a while in my sewing rooms in the next 19 years.  They were right about it being a little harder to hand sew through, and now it's a little harder to hand quilt through, but it's not too bad.  The yellow fabric, and the blue border which you can't see here, are Kaufman fabrics, normal for the 1990's.  I've lost the blue I had for the backing somewhere in my travels, so I had to go to a local shop here to get new backing.  They had something close enough, and I used cotton batting for an old-timey kind of look once it's washed.

I've been hand quilting and heavily beading the quilt in the top of my blog title page, more on that another time, but I wanted something simple this week.  It's 42 squares, plus a wide border, and I have 4 squares done, so don't look for this to be finished any time soon.  And it will probably go on a wall.  Being 20 years old makes it not at all my current vision, but I will resist the urge to bead or embroider it.  It's a great t.v. project, a wonderful mind-emptier of a project.  

I think it's calling my name.  Back to quilting!