Quilt #2

For years and years my mantra is "I can't sew." And by can't I meant that if it involved more than a straight line or *gasp* a square, then that leaves this chickadee right here out. 

Need help with jewelry making? No problem. 
Need help designing a blog layout? I'm your girl. 
Need a hand learning how to Coptic stitch?  Let's go.
Need something sewn for you? Sorry.  No can do.

Or at least that's what I told myself for too many years to count.  And then, after a huge undertaking, this project of epic proportions happened.  Followed by this one.  It took a little time and a whole lot of patience, but as it turned out I can sew, and I'm not half bad at it either.

I've been wanted to make another quilt almost as soon as I was done with the first one, but balked at the work involved and tucked my idea away into the "to be completed" file in my brain.  Quilting is hard.  I didn't have a rotary cutter or a self healing board for my first one, so it was just a trusty pair of scissors and I trudging along through the many hours of cutting out quilt blocks.  It was a process, not one that I'll ever decide to take on again.  In an effort to get the sweet little pink lap quilt that I wanted to make for myself (because as a mother of 2 rough and tumble boys, sometimes you just need a little pink) I thought that I would cheat the hard work of quilting by making a rag quilt.  Raw edges, no seam binding ... piece of cake.

Not quite.

Where my last quilt only took me about 2 weeks to finish this one took me about 5 months.  Granted I didn't work on it every day and I actually went weeks at a time without even glancing at it, but that was all because after I got a taste of the work involved in rag quilting I didn't find it fun at all.  I'm an instant gratification kind of gal when it comes to my crafts.  I like to see results quickly.  Quilting is not for people like me.

But I moved along, even if it was at a snails pace.  And eventually my pile of fabric because a beautiful little lap quilt that I intend to use when I'm sitting outside reading this Spring while the boys play.  Purchasing that rotary cutter and self healing mat certainly helped things along.

The end result: 
A very tired and sore hand as a result of snipping a million little bits of fabric.
A billion little strings covering every inch of my floor and filling my washing machine and dryer lint trap.
One beautiful and happy scrappy rag lap quilt which I'll love forever. ♥

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