You'll Never Believe It!

There has been progress on the quilt project. Yeah, that quilt.

I was itching to do some sewing, any sewing, other than mending. Even though it is nice to see the mending pile slowly disappear.

Being able to move the sewing machine to a higher surface, allowing me to sew while standing up, I was able to chip away at the pile of squares that I had accumulated. And the nature of the sewing allowed for breaks whenever the leg or knee became sore or swelled. Before I knew it this happened.

Recently completed.
Apologies for the blurry picture.   

Previously completed. 

It is amazing what can come together when you're limiting in the type of sewing you're able to do! But I'm going to take a break from it now as I decide how I want to finish it. Do I just join the edges or do I make a border? Should I purchase stuffing/padding or use an old blanket for the middle section?

I'll admit, I'm not a "quilter" and in this project I took short-cuts whenever possible. And I'm sure I will take a few more short-cuts. Heck, the ladies in my sewing class made fun of me because I was ignorant as to which direction the seams were to be finger pressed.

Sew, why did I undertake this project?

The shear volume of the fabric scraps that were either too big to throw out or the that did end up on route to the landfill were making me feel guilty about my sewing hobby. I had to do something.

I was holding onto to fabric scraps used to make baby overalls for my now seventeen year old nephew and little lass dresses my nineteen year old niece once wore. That's insane. I even have scraps from the very first shirt I made in a Home Economics class from when I was in high school. I had a lot of scraps to chose from and work through.

I was inspired by a woman who was making a quilt that she donates to a local charity. Can you believe that was over two years ago that I started this project?

What happened in those two years was something pretty incredible. That pile of scraps became a memory quilt. Mama R became quite smitten over the the stitched pieces. It became something priceless as memories flooded over the small squares that laid on the floor. Over the years, she helped with cutting squares and pressing as I stitched the pieces together. It became a joint project with more memories stitched into the little squares. This became a project of love that saved me from cabin fever settling in these past few weeks.

Happy Sewing!