For the past two years, there's been an elephant in our house. Technically, it's mostly been confined to my sewing room but there have been a few forays to the first floor where it could do a full-body stretch. The elephant, AKA Pepper (she reflects my sewing personality, which can be a bit fiery,) began as a lovely little jelly roll of a fabric collection designed by Corey Yoder for Moda fabrics. I fell in love with Yoder's Pepper and Ash fabrics four years ago when I first saw them in one of Yoder's Instagram posts. Her quilts are amazing. I've sewn for most of my life, but quilting is not one of my strengths nor do I really love to make them.
I loved the Pepper and Ash collection so much, I scoured the internet for a jelly roll of the fabrics. I may have gotten the last one in existence. This is not an edible jelly roll -- it's a bundle of fabric strips that measure 2 1/2″ wide by 44″-45″ long. Most jelly roll bundles contain 40 strips of fabric in a variety of coordinating colors and prints. They're fun for a number of reasons, not the least of which is that they're pre-cut strips. It's easy to sew the strips together for a variety of projects -- quilts, pillows, etc.
Here's the thing about sewing. You can be really good at it (I am) and you can really love it (I do.) But long projects are not high on my list of fun things to do. I love doing alterations because they're usually fairly easy (insert tongue in cheek here.) I've made wedding dresses and prom dresses and though they turned out perfectly lovely, I shudder at some of the memories. (Exception: I truly love making anything for my daughters.)
So... quilts. They're not easy and they require care, thought, and a strong composition (i.e., grounded, centered.) I can handle the first two, but grounded? Nope. So for months, I stared at that jelly roll before I finally unrolled it and actually thought about what I could make.
Then the pandemic shut-down hit and I needed something to occupy my free time. While looking at a book of jelly roll projects, I found a manageable quilt design that seemed doable. I spent weeks sewing the strips together, managing to ignore the fact that at some point I'd have to think about when I finished the top. Would I have a professional quilt it? Would I finally tackle the oh-so-complicated quilting option on my mom's Janome sewing machine? (That's the other elephant in my sewing room -- she told me to take it home with me a few years before she died and more than six years later, I have yet to plug it in.)
Last week -- two years after I began -- I finally decided to knot (tie) it rather than having someone else quilt it. I had donated my mom's quilt frame, so had to come up with an alternative. Our antique dining room table isn't the right shape or size and while we have hard wood floors that accommodate the size of this quilt, it's easier on my back to double the width of my sewing table by setting up a rectangular table beside it. I knot in sections and roll it up as I finish a section.
Last night, I finished the quilt and tonight we laid it on the floor and took a photo from the top of a ladder. I'm pretty happy with the result!
Sewing is therapeutic for me. The challenges are good for me to tackle and once I'm past the tough parts, I feel pretty good. The best thing about sewing? There's always another project on the horizon. Mine involves making a new cover for an 80-year-old silk blanket. Stay tuned...