Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Diary of a New Quilter

A year ago if someone had told me I would be this obsessed with quilting now, I would have told them they were crazy. Quilting? As if. I've always been into crafts and I knit and crochet a lot, but to me, quilting sounded so ... old school, so vintage, so traditional, none of which are words and aesthetics that I cared for.

That all changed when I saw modern quilting. First, it was patchwork using modern fabrics as part of the zakka movement. Being a total Japan-o-phile, I naturally gravitated toward the zakka books, and I noticed all of my favorite pattern had patchwork. What made me marvel is that even though the fabrics used in those patchwork projects were scraps, and didn't necessarily match, the end result was still so beautiful and charming. Then, I saw the modern quilts, using bright colors, bold fabrics, and beautiful quilted texture that didn't have a hint of old school or vintage.

I browsed quilting classes on Craftsy, but was quite intimidated, because they had titles like "Foundation Paper Piecing Made Easy", or "Free-Motion Quilting How To." I didn't know what any of those words meant. I literally knew nothing, nothing about quilting. I thought it meant patchwork, and that was about all. At the time, I sighed and wished that Craftsy would offer a "This is the quilting class for you if you barely know how to use a sewing machine, much less know anything about quilts". Then, one day, I found it! Charming Baby Quilts by Amy Gibson was released, and it was described as a 1st class in a learn-to-quilt series. I was so excited. I loved the blanket she demonstrated, it looked fresh and modern, not vintage-y at all, and the class looked like it didn't assume I knew, well, anything. On top of that, I was 7 months pregnant, so there was no better time than to make a baby blanket.

I finally dived in, and though it was much harder than I anticipated, and I ran into a lot of roadblocks along the way, I know I've found my next big thing. For the last few years, it was all about knitting and crocheting, that was what kept me sane during the long hours with my babies being fussy. But now, I've also made room in my life for quilting. I couldn't believe it at first, but there was no mistaking the rush of emotions I felt when I saw quilting books, or stacks of fabric, or stacks of folded quilts. It reminded me a lot of when I first developed a crush on my now-husband ... no explanations, no reason, no logic, just pure infatuation and obsession.

I guess I found my new obsession.

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