Pragmatic, Except When …

I consider myself to be pragmatic. I tend to think sensibly and realistically. This is true in almost all areas of my life except when … it comes to my sewing and quilting projects. 

In my work life I like to complete projects in a well-orchestrated timeline. As soon as the last piece of an extended project is completed, I file it away.

My sewing life is controlled chaos. I always have multiple quilting projects going on. They get completed but maybe not in the order they began, except when … I have been asked or commissioned to make something.

In Spring 2020, I, as most people, began to work remotely due to COVID-19. My husband, a high school math teacher, began working from home as well — in the upstairs study. Since I was recovering from two major surgeries, I choose to work in the guest bedroom. Soon I was referring to it as Metro District office 2.0.

Spending so much time at home I could not help but think of potential decorating updates. This can be an unending endeavor. My pragmatic side reminded me that we planned to live in our current home only a few more years, thus significant updates would not be sensible.

I am not big on seasonal decorating. I put a few things out at the beginning of Spring and Fall. The fall décor stays in place until I decorate for Christmas. Christmas décor always comes down by New Year’s.

While I appreciate seasonal decorating from an esthetic viewpoint, I do not have the space — display and storage. Additionally, I think about having to move all that STUFF and shudder.

But I had a redecorating itch to scratch so I turned my attention back to my office. What the guest bedroom needed was a rotation of quilts to lay at the foot of the bed. As you could imagine there is not a shortage of quilts in my house. Nonetheless, what the rotation needed was seasonal quilts.

After hours of searching, I happened upon Erica Arndt’s patterns on her website. I purchased the Vintage Quilt Bundle. The bundle includes designs for the four seasons plus Vintage Glory that is a charming Fourth of July themed quilt.

There are quilt kits out there for each of the vintage quilts but choosing the fabrics and making it an original is one of the many things I enjoy about the quilting process. I decided to tackle the Vintage Fall quilt first.

I methodically searched for the fabrics I needed. Once I found those, I studied the pattern closely before making a plan.

• There are 550 pieces to this quilt, excluding the borders.
• Each truck has 27 pieces.
• Every truck would be a different fabric
• The pumpkins would be a different fabric based on size.

I needed labels, labels for each piece that would be a different fabric. The label would have the piece name (truck, tree, etc.), the coordinating letter as it is in the pattern instructions, fabric choice, size of the cut and number of cuts.

While cutting and labeling, I started the search for the “perfect” fabrics for the Vintage Christmas quilt. One never knows when that “perfect” fabric will appear.

While looking through the selection of fabrics at Box Car Quilts I came across a tone-on-tone fabric that had white Christmas trees on a white background. This would be the “perfect” background fabric for my Vintage Christmas quilt.

As I finished the Vintage Fall quilt, I sensed I needed to carry the aqua color into the outer edges of the quilt. Instead of an additional border, I did a flanged binding.

Initially, the dots in the Vintage Fall backing fabric appeared yellow, but once placed alongside the fabrics used in the quilt top the dots took on a green tone like the green inner border.  

I did not think the binding of the Vintage Christmas quilt needed anything extra. I choose to use the same red fabric for the inner border and binding. I choose a red gingham fabric for the backing for a classic look.

I am still gathering fabrics for the Vintage Spring quilt and have already purchased the backing fabric for Vintage Summer. For both of those quilts, I will use the same organizational process as Vintage Fall and Vintage Christmas.

In the past several months I have been organizing my sewing room. I have quilt patterns and the fabrics in boxes in the order I hope to make them. There is a queue, but it is fluid.

As I purged and donated a lot of fabric, I vowed to not purchase any new fabric except when … I need to for the completion of a quilt. (Or do my best to not purchase a fabric I can’t live without.) My not so pragmatic side can’t bear the thought of a missed fabric opportunity.

Thank you to Christ United Methodist Church – Plano and Holiday Warehouse – for providing beautiful backdrops for my Vintage Fall and Vintage Christmas quilts, respectively.